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It is known from the Claude Lorrain's early biographers of his constant excursions from Rome, wandering over the whole range of the country, sketching it with the pen, in wash, and even in oils. His surviving drawings confirm the extent and the subtlety of his observation. The variety of the drawings is endless. Some are prosaic notes of a building or a prospect, put down in a hard pen outline. Others are more carefully studied descriptions of a section of the landscape. In the View of Tivoli all these qualities are combined, and we have the poetical rendering of a startling visual impression - the hillside of Tivoli seen against the light. Before Claude no one had ventured to tackle such a subject, and since his time few have done so with success.
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