Édouard Kopp

This lovely book highlights key moments of the French landscape tradition from its emergence in the 1600s to its preeminence in the 1800s. The selection of drawings from the Getty's collection shows a variety of techniques, functions, and styles, and includes examples by François Boucher, Vincent van Gogh, Claude Lorrain, Jean-Baptiste Oudry, Camille Pissarro, Théodore Rousseau, and Georges Seurat. Together these images reveal a fascinating tension between a passion for the real and the quest for an ideal. The author provides a general introduction to landscape drawings and brief explanations of each of the works.

Along with drawings, pages from artists' sketchbooks are also included. An exhibition of the same name was on view at the J. Paul Getty Museum from July 28 through November 1, 2009.

Édouard Kopp is assistant curator in the Department of Drawings at the J. Paul Getty Museum.