Smith, John: A catalogue raisonné of the works of the most eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French painters: in which is included a short biographical notice of the artists, with a copious description of their principal pictures : a statement of the prices at which such pictures have been sold at public sales on the continent and in England; a reference the the galleries and private collections in which a large portion are at present; and the names of the artists by whom they have been engraved; to which is added, a brief notice of the scholars & imitators of the great masters of the above schools (Part 8) (London: Smith and Son, 1837)

234

CLAUDE LORRAINE.

Landscapes.
ficent scene is rendered additionally splendid by the brilliant
hues of the setting sun. Painted for Prince Leancourt.
Etched by Dorn. Barriere, 1664, and engraved in the Musee.
4ft. 6 in. by 6st. 6 in.—C. (about.)
Valued by the Experts du Musee, 1816. . 80,000^. 3200Z.
Now in the Louvre.

81. Peasants with Cattle fording a River. In this picture
the eye looks over a wide river to the rocks of Tivoli, from
whose side and under a bridge of two arches, rolls a cataract,
which thence glides along its bed beneath the ruins of a
temple ; many other buildings crown the summits of the lofty
cliffs. The figures which contribute to the interest of the
scene, consist of five peasants, one of whom bears a woman in
his arms while passing the ford, followed by another, behind
whom are the remaining two persons sitting on a bank in the
shade of a tree; the former are preceded by four oxen and a
calf, and one of the beast is slaking its thirst in the river.
Painted for a gentleman at Paris.

82. Women holding a Goat, and Cattle browsing on the
margin of a River. This superb picture, best known under
the emphatic appellation of the “ Decline of the Roman
Empire,11 exhibits a view over a landscape of great extent, and
of bold and sweeping surface, on which are distributed in suc-
cession, memorials of the former wealth and splendour of “ the
immortal city.” The first object which arrests attention is the
triumphal arch of Septimus Severus, standing on the farthest
bank of a river, which ssows along the fore-ground; the next
appears to be the ruin of the once noble theatre of Titus Ves-
pasian, or perhaps that of Flavius, generally called the Coliseum;