The period between 1600 -1750 is referred to as the baroque period, which is the period
immediately following the Renaissance, marked by great advances in scientific thinking and an
energetic infusion of novel elements in the artistic arena. This period came during the
Counterreformation, sweeping through Europe in the 17th-century, supported by the Church, and
its chief exponents were found in the Catholic countries. The painting of this era is marked by
the artist's attempts to recreate classical motifs, in defiance of the new philosophies sweeping
through the age. Thus we have landscapes with a dreamlike quality, and a conscious restraint in
the use of colors and technique. Artists in this period laid emphasis on studying the effects of
light while creating their works, with alternate spaces of “intense lighting and dark shadows”
called chiaroscuoro.They used dark colors to heighten the sense of drama.
(http://arthistory.suite101.com/article.cfm/claude_lorrain#ixzz0Eq3BnR9Q&B)
Paintings of the baroque style show a dynamism, in contrast to the static mood of the
Renaissance. They achieve a sense of movement by placing composition along the diagonal,
instead of vertical. The paintings of the age were infused with the vitality and vigor, which had
taken hold of Europe after the counterreformation.
The artists of this period took the landscape from merely being “the background of
paintings in which the figural subject was primary,” to a celebration of the landscape itself.(
http://www.berkshirefinearts.com/?page=article&article_id=218&catID=3) During the
Renaissance, landscape was treated as an adjunct to the primary figural subject and served as
merely the background. In fresco decoration it appeared as an “ornamental interlude” in
opposition to the main figures. The artists of the baroque era took the landscape and “endowing
it with a new grandeur” pushed the details and incident to the realms of secondary objects. This
style of painting was marked by Pastoral themes, and the artist tried to recreate Virgil’s Arcadia
as the locus amoenus (pleasant place), where shepherds could lead the days in otium (leisurely)
pursuits. ( Freedman, et al.) Baroque works of art stressed upon the idea of creating pleasurable
emotions but without any vulgarity, and keeping it “simple and natural’ based on the concept of
les bienséances (decorum) (http://www.fathom.com/course/10701023/session5.html )
The classical landscapes of the baroque age painting is marked by vast open spaces, with
an architectural structure, usually a dilapidated fort or castle, which is placed their so as to “order
the landscape through a symmetrical placement of geometricized forms.’
(http://www.knox.edu/academics/courses-of-study/art-history/baroque-print-show/lorrain--flight.html) The baroque style was practiced predominantly in Catholic countries of Europe, and
so, many of the important pieces of art of the period can be traced to Spain and France, who were
staunch Catholics.
Some of the most important of French classical baroque artists were Claude Lorrain,
Simon Vouet and Nicolas Poussin, and more than one third of the output in the genre consists of
landscapes. These artists show a distinct Italian influence, especially that of Carracci. The
Spanish masters of this genre of painting were Zurbarán and Jusepe de Ribera, taking their
inspiration from Caravaggio, while Diego Velázquez, acknowledged as the greatest Spanish
painter of the time and court painter to Philip IV, shows in his work a mastery over color and
tone.( http://www.history.com/encyclopedia.do?articleId=218471)
For my research paper, I have chosen the work of Claude Lorrain, entitled View of
Tivoli, 1642-44, in Gallery 6 of The Legion of Honor in San Francisco, a work which combines
all the elements that made Lorrain a master of this school of painting. This painting combines
Pastoral characters, such as the herdsmen, taking the cows across the river, followed by a
shepherd dog. The party seems headed back home at sunset. The scene is framed by thickets of
trees on both sides of the canvas, and in the distance can be seen the outline of a castle or fort. It
ia most probably the ruins of the Temple of Sibyl, as suggested by Michael Miller in his “Claude
Lorrain Landscape Drawings fro the British Museum at the Clark.”
Claude Lorrain, whom Horace Walpole called “the Raphael of landscape painting” is one
of the leading artists of the baroque period, whose stirring landscapes, serene yet with a notion of
activity, gave a new direction to art in this age. His work used the landscapes of the Roman
Campagna as the building blocks for his imaginative Pastoral scenes. He altered the Roman
countryside, from a dangerous place into “a near state of grace’ (Jessica Dawson) His landscapes
are expansive views of the countryside, framed by “ robust trees… peopled by amiable peasants
herding obedient sheep.” When the viewer looks at the scene, he imagines himself to be at eye
level with the scene, and the gaze is allowed to move freely in the distance cleared of all
obstructions. (Jessica Dawson) Claude Lorrain laid such a premium on peaceful vistas, that even
the Roman countryside, teeming with thieves is transformed into a mythical place where “
herders and their animals can relax and enjoy the sunset.” (Jessica Dawson)
Claude Lorrain’s landscapes place great importance on the use of light and the various
ways in which it appears at different times of the day. In his paintings there can be seen a
compositional technique, based on certain stylistic principles, according to Marcel Rothlisberger,
an expert on Lorrain. These include clearly distinguished background and foreground with a
narrow zone having few large masses. Diagonal to the foreground are placed large features but
with very little details. Gradually receding colors and tone on one side of the painting, move the
focus from large silhouettes in the foreground, to those in the background, which are relatively
small. ( Leupen, pp44-45) In this painting, these features can be discerned clearly, with trees
placed on both sides of the canvas, which serve to frame the composition. Trees are massed on
the left side and come up to almost the centre of the painting. The crepuscular mood is
maintained with the use of dark and light tones and with receding planes. Light tones are used for
distant objects and dark colors for the objects placed in the foreground.
Light and its changes at various times of the day were so important to Lorrain that,
according to Joachim Sandrart, he could be found “lying in the fields before the break of day and
until night in order to learn to represent very exactly the red morning-sky, sunrise and sunset and
the evening hours." ( Miller) In this painting, a work dated after 1640, the artist was consciously
striving towards imbuing his works with the classical style and the influence of the Bologna style
is evident.
Lorraine had perfected something of a formula for his landscapes, and so here we see it,
as tall trees on one side, a ruin in the background, small trees further away in the distance,
figures in the foreground, a winding river which helps the viewer to move his gaze from the
foreground to the horizon, and the sea peeping in from behind. In keeping with the Pastoral
tradition, the figures are dressed in classical costume. (Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009) the
paintings of Lorrain, feature human figures but the main focus of his painting is the sea, the sky,
the land and the trees. Lorrain was directed in his detailed drawings of trees and foliage by the
German artist Adam Elsheimer, under whom he had apprenticed.
The influence of baroque artists on landscapes was not limited only to the canvas but in
later years, their work was transplanted on to the geographical canvas, and some of the most
famous gardens of Europe and England were based upon these paintings. William Kent, one of
the most famous creators of English style natural gardens, based many of his works on the
paintings of Lorrain and other artists of the baroque era. In these gardens he incorporated
statues, temples, winding paths and grow close, and one of them Rousham, can be visited near
Steeple Aston in Oxford shire. The reach of the baroque artist and his dreamy, idealized
landscapes have been thus much imitated and adored.
References
Design and analysis By Bernard Leupen
http://books.google.co.in/books?id=XG9JdhKdZMkC&pg=PA44&lpg=PA44&dq=%EF%82%A
7%09Rothlisberger,+Marcel.+Claude+Lorrain:+The+Paintings.&source=bl&ots=F49jA4azz&sig=cXImJ1MW_bQ6j12CvBw5Rqsh9gw&hl=en&ei=JxQFSryjA8uSkAWa7Yj1C
Q&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7#PPA44,M1
Claude Lorrain. (2009). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved May 07, 2009, from
Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/120438/ClaudeLorrain
http://www.history.com/encyclopedia.do?articleId=218471
http://www.legionofhonorguide.com/
http://www.fathom.com/course/10701023/session5.html
http://www.knox.edu/academics/courses-of-study/art-history/baroque-print-show/lorrain---flight.html
http://arthistory.suite101.com/article.cfm/claude_lorrain#ixzz0Eq3BnR9Q&B
http://www.berkshirefinearts.com/?page=article&article_id=218&catID=3
Luba Freedman, The Classical Pastoral in the Visual Arts (New York: Lang, 1989); Robert
Cafritz, Lawrence Gowing, and David Rosand, Places of Delight: The Pastoral Landscape (New
York: Crown Publishers, 1988); and Paul Alpers, What is Pastoral? (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1996). Jean-Pierre Van Eslande provides an excellent study of pastoral aesthetics
in L’Imaginaire pastoral du XVIIe siècle: 1600-1650 (Paris: PUF, 1999).
http://www.fathom.com/course/10701023/session5.html
Idealized Italy, Transplanted to Britain
Claude Lorrain Never Saw England, but Its Gardens Bear His Mark
By Jessica Dawson
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, June 17, 2007; Page N01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/exhibits/claude-lorrain-the-painter-as-draftsman-drawingsfrom-the-british-museum,1138760.html#editorial-review
http://www.history.com/encyclopedia.do?articleId=218471