Claude Lorraine

Claude Lorraine was a French landscape-painter, draughtsman and engraver. He was born in the small village of Chamagne, Vosges, then part of the Duchy of Lorraine. Although his early life is   unclear it is said that he moved to Rome, where he is said to have initially worked as a pastry cook. He was the enployed at the household of Agostino Tassi, progressing from domestic servant to studio assistant.

Claude Lorraine also spent two years in Naples studying  under the German-born landscapist Goffredo Wals it was here that he was deeply impressed by the beauty of the Gulf of Naples, and the memories of  these years will be inspiration for his paintings throughout his career.

In 1627 Lorrain returned to Rome. Here, two landscapes made for Cardinal Bentivoglio earned him the patronage of Pope Urban VIII. From about 1637 he rapidly achieved fame as a painter of landscapes and seascapes. He then traveled the Roman Campagna apparently befriended his fellow Frenchman Nicolas Poussin; together they would sketch landscapes. Though both have been called landscape painters, Poussin would have the landscape as the background to the figures; whereas Lorrain, placed figures in one corner of the canvas, the true subjects are the land, the sea, and the air.

In all of Claude Lorraine landscapes and seascapes he took great care to capture the smallest detail  giving them a very realistic feel. Most of his paintings especially his early work have a strong light source giving his artwork a dramatic presents. Claude Lorraine uses a strong sense of perspective in all his artworks, not only in his use for linear perspective but aerial perspective as well. His painting he manages to capture the depth of the landscapes using the aerial and linear perspective tricking the eye in thinking its viewing a three-demencanal world.