Claude Lorrain (1604-82) is known as the father of European landscape painting. His influence has been enormous, not only on the art of his immediate followers but on European landscape painters throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. The impact of his art has been felt particularly in Britain, where 18th- and early 19th-century artists, collectors and connoisseurs contributed to a cult of Claude which has left a lasting effect on British attitudes to the countryside.

As a result, Claude's art has become very familiar and we have tended to see Claude through his influence. This fascinating new book, which accompanied a major exhibition of Claude's work at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford and the Stadel Museum, Frankfurt, sets out to re-appraise his work and look at it through fresh eyes. It unites in a single volume, paintings, drawings and prints from all periods of the artist's life, highlighting not only the well-documented similarities between paintings and related works on paper, but also the essential differences between these different art forms.

The range of works reproduced in this book, alongside its critical scholarly text, make it an essential purchase for all those interested in Claude, the landscape and European landscape painting in general. It gives new insight into the creative process and achievement of one of the most enchanting of European masters.

Contributions by: Christian Ruemelin