Claude Lorrain

le Lorrain, Claude
Gellée, called Claude Lorrain, Claude

French, 1604/1605 - 1682

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French painter, draughtsman and etcher (1600—1682)

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Claude Lorrain, The Rest on the Flight into Egypt, 1682, pen and brown ink with gray and blue wash and graphite, heightened with white gouache on blue laid paper, Gift of R. Horace Gallatin, 1949.1.24

The Rest on the Flight into Egypt

Claude Lorrain · 1682 · pen and brown ink with gray and blue wash and graphite, heightened with white gouache on blue laid paper ·  Accession ID  1949.1.24

Claude Lorrain, The Goatherd (Le chevrier), 1663, etching, Rosenwald Collection, 1945.5.71

The Goatherd (Le chevrier)

Claude Lorrain · 1663 · etching ·  Accession ID  1945.5.71

Claude Lorrain, Mercury and Argus (Mercure et Argus), 1662, etching, Rosenwald Collection, 1952.8.238

Mercury and Argus (Mercure et Argus)

Claude Lorrain · 1662 · etching ·  Accession ID  1952.8.238

Claude Lorrain, Time, Apollo, and the Seasons (Le Temps, Apollon et les Saisons), 1662, etching, Andrew W. Mellon Fund, 1978.56.1

Time, Apollo, and the Seasons (Le Temps, Apollon et les Saisons)

Claude Lorrain · 1662 · etching ·  Accession ID  1978.56.1

Claude Lorrain, Shepherd and Shepherdess Conversing in a Landscape (Berger et bergère conversant), c. 1651, etching, Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.4614

Shepherd and Shepherdess Conversing in a Landscape (Berger et bergère conversant)

Claude Lorrain · c. 1651 · etching ·  Accession ID  1943.3.4614

Claude Lorrain, The Herd Returning in Stormy Weather (Le troupeau en marche par un temps orageux), c. 1650/1651, etching, Print Purchase Fund (Rosenwald Collection), 1967.17.1

The Herd Returning in Stormy Weather (Le troupeau en marche par un temps orageux)

Claude Lorrain · c. 1650/1651 · etching ·  Accession ID  1967.17.1

Claude Lorrain, The Herd Returning in Stormy Weather (Le troupeau en marche par un temps orageux), c. 1650/1651, etching, Gift of R. Horace Gallatin, 1949.1.23

The Herd Returning in Stormy Weather (Le troupeau en marche par un temps orageux)

Claude Lorrain · c. 1650/1651 · etching ·  Accession ID  1949.1.23

This horizontal landscape showing ruins in a countryside is drawn on dark parchment-brown paper. The view is framed to the left by a tall leafy tree that reaches off the top edge of the paper and to the right by ruins made up of two columns beneath an entablature. A group of four people sit together in the middle distance at the lower center of the composition while eight animals, possibly goats, graze and rest nearby. The animals, people, ruins, and tree to the left are drawn with brown ink. More trees and buildings in the distance at the center is drawn lightly with graphite, giving it a hazy look.
Claude Lorrain, Landscape with Ruins, Pastoral Figures, and Trees, c. 1650, pen and brown ink with graphite and brown wash over black chalk, heightened with white chalk, on apricot-prepared paper, Syma Busiel Fund and Pepita Milmore Memorial Fund, 1976.8.1

Landscape with Ruins, Pastoral Figures, and Trees

Claude Lorrain · c. 1650 · pen and brown ink with graphite and brown wash over black chalk, heightened with white chalk, on apricot-prepared paper ·  Accession ID  1976.8.1

Claude Lorrain, The Judgment of Paris, c. 1645, pen and brown ink with brown wash over black chalk on laid paper; laid down, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Victor Thaw, 1997.115.1

The Judgment of Paris

Claude Lorrain · c. 1645 · pen and brown ink with brown wash over black chalk on laid paper; laid down ·  Accession ID  1997.115.1

Three women, one man, and a winged child gather near a cave opening within a vast, distant landscape in this horizontal painting. The people are small in scale, taking up the lower left quadrant of the composition, and all have pale skin. Near the lower left corner, the man sits on a rock with his back mostly to us, so we see him in profile. Red cloth drapes around his hips and legs, and his chest and arms are bare. He braces a long staff in his far hand, and raises his right hand, closer to us, and points at the women. He is cleanshaven with a straight nose, closed lips, and brown, shoulder-length hair. To our right, two women stand and one sits on a cloth-covered rock. All three have brown hair that has been pulled back. They also have straight noses, and their lips are parted. The woman at the center of this trio wears a coral-red dress under lapis-blue cloth that drapes across her legs and is held in one hand. Smoke-blue fabric billows behind her. She stands with her body angled to our left, and she looks down at the man in profile. The back of one hand, to our right, rests near that hip, holding the fabric, and she points up with the index finger of her other hand. A peacock with its tail fanned open stands next to her, to our left. The other two women are nude except for a white cloth that partially covers the soft, rounded contours of their bodies. To our left of the peacock and close to it, the second woman holds her drapery so it covers her breasts and her groin. Her body faces us, and she turns her face to look at the central woman. A nude, winged child holding an arrow stands between her and the man. A blue ribbon across the child’s chest holds a quiver of arrows on his back. The third woman is to our right, sitting on a rock draped with a goldenrod-yellow cloth. A white cloth covers her hips, and she leans forward, touching her sandal. A long lance rests under the yellow cloth, and a metal helmet with a red feather sits next to the rock. Six sheep lie or graze along the grassy ground, closer to us. The rocky outcropping with the cave opening rises steeply along the left edge of the composition. A waterfall is tucked into shadows just beyond the cave, and tall trees enclose the left half of the scene. Nearly reaching the top of the canvas, the cluster of trees near the center have dark green canopies. A rocky bank is shown nearly in silhouette in the lower right corner, in front of a deep landscape with a body of water winding through low, marshy areas and a flat-topped formation. Mountains are hazy purple in the deep distance. The horizon comes about halfway up the composition, and the sky above has mauve-pink and lavender-gray clouds sweeping across a vivid blue sky.
Claude Lorrain, The Judgment of Paris, 1645/1646, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1969.1.1

The Judgment of Paris

Claude Lorrain · 1645/1646 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1969.1.1

Bibliography

1961

  • Röthlisberger, Marcel. Claude Lorrain: The Paintings. 2 vols. New Haven, 1961.

1962

  • L'ideale classico del Seicento in Italia e la pittura di paesaggi. Exh. cat. Palazzo dell'Archiginnasio, Bologna, 1962.

1968

  • Röthlisberger, Marcel. Claude Lorrain: The Drawings. 2 vols. Berkeley, 1968.

1978

  • Kitson, Michael. Claude Lorrain, Liber Veritatis. London, 1978.

1983

  • Russell, H. Diane. Claude Gellée dit Le Lorrain. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington; Galeries nationales due Grand Palais, Paris, 1982-1983. Paris, 1983.

1989

  • Langdon, Helen. Claude Lorrain. Oxford, 1989.

2009

  • Conisbee, Philip, et al. French Paintings of the Fifteenth through the Eighteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2009: 95-96.