The Wooden Bridge (Rebecca and Eliezer)
1638–41
Medium
Etching on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 12.6 × 18.9 cm (5 × 7 1/2 in.); Sheet, cut within platemark: 13.4 × 19.5 cm (5 5/16 × 7 11/16 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
57651
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This etching corresponds closely to a drawing and a painting the artist made for Cardinal Angelo Giori between 1640 and 1641, and thus is dated to that time.
Art Historical Context
Claude Lorrain’s etching *The Wooden Bridge (Rebecca and Eliezer)*, created between 1638 and 1641, captures a serene pastoral landscape that subtly incorporates the biblical encounter between Abraham’s servant Eliezer and the young Rebecca. Working in Rome during this period, Lorrain was already celebrated for his luminous, atmospheric depictions of nature, and this print exemplifies his skill in translating those painterly effects into the graphic medium of etching on ivory laid paper. Etchings like this one allowed Lorrain to reach a wider audience beyond the wealthy collectors who purchased his paintings. The delicate lines and tonal gradations evoke the soft light filtering through trees and across the wooden bridge, drawing the viewer into a tranquil world where everyday nature and sacred narrative coexist. Measuring just over five by seven inches, the compact sheet rewards close looking, revealing Lorrain’s masterful balance of architectural elements, figures, and expansive sky. Today housed in the Art Institute of Chicago’s Prints and Drawings collection, the work offers a window into seventeenth-century printmaking and Lorrain’s enduring influence on landscape art. Its quiet beauty continues to invite viewers to appreciate both the technical refinement of etching and the timeless appeal of idealized nature.
About the Artist
Claude Lorrain · 1604–1682
Claude Lorrain (c. 1600-1682), born Claude Gellée in the village of Chamagne in northeastern France's Duchy of Lorraine, stands as one of the most influential landscape painters in Western art history. Orphaned by age twelve, his journey to artistic mastery was unconventional—beginning with apprenticeships in pastry-making and inlay work before destiny led him to Rome around 1620, where he would s...