Claude
Lorrain (1600-1682)
Claude Lorrain, French painter, who, like Nicolas Poussin was one of the great
masters of 17th-century classical landscape painters. Drawing its inspiration
from classical antiquity, this school of painting presents nature as harmonious,
serene, and often majestic. Subject matter is taken from Greek, Roman, or
biblical sources, and human figures in the landscape are often depicted in
pastoral or antique dress. Claude's particular contribution to the ideal
landscape was his masterly treatment of light. From his early paintings, which
have strong, dramatic lighting effects, to his later ones, which are softly
drenched with limpid light, he was unsurpassed as a illuminist.
Claude, who was also known by his
pseudonym Le Lorrain, or as Claude Lorraine, was born in the duchy of Lorraine
(from which his name is derived). He traveled to Rome before he was 20 years
old and, with the exception of one trip back to France from 1625 to 1627, he
lived in Rome all his life. His principal teacher was the Italian painter
Agostino Tassi, who taught him the elements of landscape, seascape, and
perspective. He was also influenced by the German painter Adam Elsheimer, whose
strong depiction of light Claude adapted and refined, and by the Italian
painters Annibale Carracci and Domenichino, whose monumental landscapes led him
to enlarge his scale.
The gradual evolution of Claude's
style falls into three main periods. In the first, his landscapes often featured
slanting light and employed other experimental lighting effects. He also painted
idealized scenes of seaports, usually with ships at anchor in a harbour flanked
by palaces. In Harbour Scene (1634, Hermitage, St Petersburg) he shows
the sun on the horizon, and characteristically uses the sun to give the painting
depth. Forgeries of his work began to appear in the 1630s, and to aid to their
identification Claude began
 compiling his Liber Veritatis ("Book of
Truth"; British Museum, London) in about 1635. In it he sketched drawings
of almost all his paintings, creating a record of his work. In the second phase,
which began after 1640, his paintings became more tranquil, bathed in a warm,
even light. Their subject matter is drawn from Classical or biblical sources, as
in Landscape: The Marriage of Isaac and Rebekah (1648, National Gallery,
London). During the 1660s, the third phase, although Claude continued to work in
his prior mode, some of his works showed a tendency towards a more visionary,
symbolic style, with a colour range of cool, silvery tones and a renewed use of
dramatic lighting.
 Claude died in Rome on November 23,
1682. His art influenced later Dutch, French, and especially English landscape
painters through the middle of the 19th century. J. M. W. Turner was especially
indebted to Claude and was inspired by his compositions.
Extract from Microsoft Encarta
Lorrain’s masterful drawings and etchings, usually
pastoral landscapes of the Roman countryside, sometimes including
religious or mythological themes, were highly prized by the
English aristocracy visiting France and Italy on their grand tours
in the 18th Century. Done in sepia, these drawings and
etchings found their way into most of the great English noble art
collections. In 1819, Richard Earlom in London published his Liber
Veritatus, a beautifully engraved set of Claude Lorrain
drawings and etchings in private collections. The prints are
aquatints in sepia, with copperplate engraved titles. Sizes vary
from 8" x 10¼" to 9¼" x 12¼". In
1840, F. C. Lewis in London published another number of Claude
Lorrain sepia drawings and etchings in his Liber Studiorum. |
