Claude Gelée (c. 1604/5 to 1682) acquired the name Lorrain from his birthplace
in eastern France, although he spent virtually all his life after 1627 in Rome.
He specialised in landscape painting, being fascinated by the scenery and ruins
in the countryside surrounding Rome and also being inspired by the quality of
light in that part of Italy. He developed a means of including the sun as the
direct source of light in his paintings, thus sending foreground and
middle-distance objects into sharp relief. His method of composition was to use
sketchbooks on his many trips into the countryside and to build his studio
paintings around these sketches, many of which were highly detailed.
Claude introduced classical themes into his
paintings from the late 1630s onwards, by painting figures from mythology or
the Bible to add focus or emotional force to his landscapes. They were
therefore additions to landscapes, as opposed to being direct portrayals of
mythical stories set against a natural background.
However, his style gradually developed
towards a more idealized view of nature and his choice of subject matter also showed
a growing empathy with the ancient world. Later in life (he continued to paint
to an advanced age) his work acquired a heroic or epic quality in which the landscape
became more closely involved with the story of the characters being portrayed.
However, Claude never went as far down this road as his contemporary Nicolas
Poussin, for whom the figures were always dominant and the landscape served to
add emotional emphasis. Claude was primarily interested in the scenery and
atmospheric effects, and the figures, even when relatively large, never held
pride of place in the overall composition.
Landscape with the Judgement of Paris
Claude’s first known work with a
mythological theme was a “Landscape with the Judgement of Paris” that dates
from before 1640. This was a theme that Claude revisited on several occasions,
one example being a painting now exhibited in Washington’s National Gallery of
Art that is dated 1645. A notable feature of this latter canvas, confirming the
point made above, is that it is precisely as named, a landscape first and the
Judgement of Paris second. The eye is taken to a distant prospect of a sea,
islands and cliffs, guided by the perspective and the use of light, as well as
the framing of rocks and high trees. To the left of the canvas, in the near
foreground, are the figures of Paris and the three goddesses that, between
them, occupy no more than 10% of the entire canvas and are seemingly there
merely to add interest to a landscape.
Landscape with Aeneas at Delos
A later example of Claude’s use of
classical themes, that can be seen in London’s National Gallery, is his
“Landscape with Aeneas at Delos” (see picture above). This is one of six works that Claude painted
towards the end of his life on subjects from Virgil (another regular source of
inspiration was Ovid’s Metamorphoses). In this example, the characters of Aeneas,
Anchises and Ascanius are being greeted by the king of Delos who points to a
massive tree that was part of the story of Apollo and Diana, the island being
sacred to them. Again, the figures are not the main focus of the painting, but
they are at least linked to it as opposed to being purely incidental. One of
the buildings in the painting, doubling as the Temple of Apollo, is the
Pantheon at Rome, as sketched by the artist and transposed to a mythological
context. This was a device frequently used by Claude, such that many familiar
landmarks from the environs of Rome ended up in unexpected places.
The Enchanted Castle
One of Claude’s Lorrain’s best-known works
is “The Enchanted Castle”, which is properly titled “Landscape with Psyche at
the Palace of Cupid”, the more familiar title only being given to it in 1782, with
the painting itself dating from 1664. This painting is believed to have
inspired John Keats to write his “Ode to a Nightingale”, having been impressed
by the sense of melancholy and loss that it conveys. The scene is of Psyche
sitting alone and looking towards the castle of Cupid that occupies the centre
of the canvas. Cupid has abandoned her after she has broken his command not to
look at him after dark. The castle itself looks to be an imaginative
combination of building styles, incorporating classical elements with others
that are contemporaneous with the artist’s time. The main emphasis, as ever
with Claude Lorrain, is on the effect of sunlight and shadow. The sun appears
to be low in the sky to the rear of the castle, so that the landscape on either
side is bathed in evening light but the foreground, where Psyche sits, is
thrown into shade. This heightens the emotional impact of the painting, in a
way that earlier paintings by the artist tended not to do.
Claude Lorrain’s landscapes, whether based
on classical themes or not, often have a sense of mystery about them. The
actual scenes, being classical in the sense that they portray the Italian
countryside, either in reality or as half-imagined reconstructions, are certainly
beautiful and are seen in a highly romantic light. Their distribution about
Europe in the 18th century, being bought by many aristocrats and
landed gentry, encouraged rich young men to undertake the “Grand Tour” to see
the remains of the classical world for themselves. The paintings also inspired
the construction of reproduction classical landscapes to surround the great
houses that were built in 18th century England, complete with
mock-Roman temples and follies. Many of these survive to the present day, such
that glimpses of Claude Lorrain’s romantic classical vision can still be seen
in places such as Stourhead in Wiltshire.
© John Welford
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