Historical Figures Codexery

Claude Lorrain

Baroque landscape painter who introduced sunlight into art

Claude Lorrain

Claude Lorrain · via Wikipedia: Claude Lorrain · Public domain

Claude Lorrain, born in the Duchy of Lorraine around 1604 or 1605 according to contemporary sources (his tombstone gives 1600), created many landscapes but executed nearly all his work in Italy.[1][2] His landscapes were not typically groundbreaking, but he did pioneer the depiction of the sun and streaming sunlight in many works, a feature seldom seen previously.[3]

Quick Facts

Birth name
Claude Gellée
Born
1600 or 1604/5
Birthplace
Chamagne, Duchy of Lorraine
Died
21 November or 23 November 1682 (aged 77/78 or 82)
Place of death
Rome, Papal States
Field
Painting
Movement
Baroque

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

Claude's early biographies were written by Joachim von Sandrart and Filippo Baldinucci, both of whom knew him personally at different periods.[4] In Rome he became a servant and then an apprentice to the landscapist Tassi, who taught him drawing and painting.[5] About 1636 he began cataloguing his works in a volume he named the Liber Veritatis, making pen and wash drawings of nearly all his pictures.[6] He died in his house on 23 November 1682 and was originally buried in Trinita dei Monti.[7][8]

Sandrart wrote that Claude performed poorly in village school and then became an apprentice to a pastry baker; later he journeyed to Rome as a cook with other bakers and cooks, eventually working as a servant and cook for Tassi, who later made him an apprentice and taught him art.[5]

What the cited sources add

The National Gallery catalogue entry notes that Claude's painting "A View in Rome" (1632) may show the view from the top of his house in Rome.[9] That same source states that the distant view in the painting includes the church of Santa Trinità de' Monti, where Claude would be buried.[9] The catalogue also explains that the figures in that painting are unlike those in other Claude works, and some commentators have suggested they were painted by another artist, though pentimenti indicate one artist was likely Claude.[9] In Dostoevsky's novel "Demons", the character Stavrogin describes a Claude painting in Dresden as "The Golden Age" and recounts dreaming of its scene of the Greek Archipelago.[10][11]

Stavrogin says the dream showed "the cradle of European man" and "the first scenes of the mythological world"[10][11] The character reports waking with tears and a feeling of happiness unfamiliar to him.[10][11]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Claude Lorrain" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Sonnabend, Whiteley, 2011, 18. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Claude Lorrain" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: technically part of the Holy Roman Empire; Kitson, 6; Kitson, 6, 9–10 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Claude Lorrain" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kitson, 6 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Claude Lorrain" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Sonnabend, Whiteley, 2011, 9. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Claude Lorrain" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Sonnabend & Whiteley, 9–10 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Claude Lorrain" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kitson, 53–55 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Claude Lorrain" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: freelancis, "Claude Lorrain / Coast View with Perseus and the Origin of Coral"; Kitson, 31; Wine (1994), 101 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Claude Lorrain" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Sonnabend, Whiteley, 2011, 19. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wine (2001), 122; image on NG page. facts only, no text reused. nationalgallery.org.uk
  10. "Stavrogin’s Confession and The Plan of The Life of a Great Sinner, by F. M. Dostoevsky-A Project Gutenberg eBook", www.gutenberg.org. facts only, no text reused. gutenberg.org
  11. Wikipedia, "Claude Lorrain" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Stavrogin’s Confession and The Plan of The Life of a Great Sinner, by F. M. Dostoevsky-A Project Gutenberg eBook", www.gutenberg.org (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Claude Lorrain (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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