This rare, double-sided sheet comprises two studies, one of a landscape and the other of a tree, by Nicolas Poussin, a founding figure of the French grand manner. A new discovery, it joins a group of landscape drawings, presumably made en plein air, that offer evidence that Poussin's classicizing landscapes were based on the direct observation of nature.

On the recto (above) is a drawing of a palm tree with lush foliage and rough bark. Detailed studies of individual landscape motifs are otherwise unknown in Poussin's oeuvre, although lone palm trees do occupy prominent positions in several of his paintings, where they identify the setting as the Holy Land. On the verso, Poussin has created an expansive landscape with an economy of means. Although the composition does not appear to be connected to any extant painting, the distant, craggy peaks, the stand of trees to the right, and the tree used as a repoussoir on the left are all typical landscape elements in Poussin's repertoire. Typical as well is the curving diagonal axis by which the eye travels from foreground to middle ground.

The first owner of this sheet was Paul Fréart de Chantelou (1609–1694), the artist's close friend and patron.