Marina with Ezekiel crying on the ruins of Tyre
"The fundamental role of the integrating principle to Claude’s art is beyond all doubt. The invariable character of the picture’s structure, the standard set of their chief components, the multitudinous quotations from Classical Antiquity as a generally recognized system of values, testify to an obvious preference for the universal before the individual. In depicting nature, Clause concentrates on those phenomena which are essential to the eternal order of things; he regards sunrises and sunsets as diurnal spectacles from Nature’s perpetual repertory. Repetition, the re-creation of one and the same, is Claude’s guiding principle in his striving to grasp the image of Nature in its entirety." - Sergei Daniel, co-author of Claude Lorrain - Painter of Light, critic of French artwork.
Evening, 1651
“Claude’s spiritualized landscape is populated by many creatures living in harmony with nature’s rhythms. In early Christian symbolism, a thirsting deer was an emblem of a thirst for righteous; Claude’s deer on a riverbank thus appear to have symbolic connotations. Yet they are incorporated into the landscape in a perfectly natural manner, suggestive of no hidden meaning. The symbolic essence is concealed in a world of natural phenomena, as are the deer in the evening shadows among the trees of the forest. This transformation of a symbol into a thing of nature – we might call it a naturalization of the symbol – is a device fundamental to Claude’s landscape art." - Sergei Daniel, co-author of Claude Lorrain - Painter of Light, critic of French artwork.
***Note the deer on the left bank in the center of Evening***
***Note the deer on the left bank in the center of Evening***
Imaginary View of Tivoli, 1642
"It would be correct to say that Claude paved the way for future “typical Classicists”, yet his own art is not of a purely Classicist orientation. Claude’s compositional scheme often shows a prevalence of the principle of subordination over that of coordination, and this brings it stylistically closer to the Baroque. At the same time, Claude’s rendering of space and light – his greatest artistic achievement – opened up new prospects for the development of the realist tendency. It would not be an exaggeration to suggest that even Romanticism, a trend opposed to Classicism, was also greatly indebted to Claude, and that not only in matters of pictorial technique.” - Sergei Daniel, co-author of Claude Lorrain - Painter of Light, critic of French artwork.
Nicolas Poussin's Bacchus, Dionysus
"The work of Claude Lorrain might appear at first sight to have a lack of variety, yet each of his landscapes is permeated with a special appeal, conveying very distinctive thoughts and feelings. He does not strive for the epic and Universal in the matter of Poussin; his narrative is more emotional and he merely touches on philosophical issues, leaving it to the spectator to ponder over them." - Natalia Serebriannaya, "Claude Lorrain: The Artist's Evolution," taken from Claude Lorrain - Painter of Light.
*** Note the differences from Claude's works: the characters play a much more central role. Poussin focuses more on the characters and stories; Claude is more concerned by the emotion evoked through scenes of pure nature. ***
*** Note the differences from Claude's works: the characters play a much more central role. Poussin focuses more on the characters and stories; Claude is more concerned by the emotion evoked through scenes of pure nature. ***
The Trojan Women Setting Fire to Their Fleet, 1643
"All of Claude's works were painted to fulfill specific commissions. We do not know a single piece produced solely at the artist's own prompting. The size and subject of each painting fully depended on the customer's wish. The subject was often of key importance because it could contain an allusion to a particular life story or suit a patron's personal inclinations, and it's safe to assume that the artist's individual style was revealed in the interpretation of the material which he had to handle rather than in the subject itself." - Natalia Serebriannaya, "Claude Lorrain: The Artist's Evolution," taken from Claude Lorrain - Painter of Light.
*** This scene, painted in Rome, was methodically chosen by the prelate Girolamo Farnese; it is believed that he requested this scene to allude to his services combatting Calvinism in the Swiss Confederation.
*** This scene, painted in Rome, was methodically chosen by the prelate Girolamo Farnese; it is believed that he requested this scene to allude to his services combatting Calvinism in the Swiss Confederation.