Today, I would like to introduce Claude Lorrain, the “Father of Landscape Painting.” It is because of him that people began to take landscape painting seriously as a subject.
Claude Lorrain: The Father of Landscape Painting
- Claude Lorrain (1600-1682) was a French landscape painter who brought landscape painting into the mainstream aesthetic. His work had a profound influence on European landscape painting and later landscape artists, including Impressionist painters, earning him the title of “Father of Landscape Painting.” Lorrain’s landscapes established the aesthetic standards for what constituted a good landscape, and later generations even designed private gardens based on his paintings. His epitaph reads: “An outstanding landscape painter who masterfully depicted the light of sunrise and sunset.”
- Lorrain, whose full name was Claude Lorrain (also known as Claude Lorraine), was born in a small village in eastern France and spent most of his life in Italy. When we refer to someone as the “father” of a particular field, there are typically many successors who build upon their legacy. However, Lorrain is unique in that no one after him has been able to surpass his methods and subject matter. Therefore, in the realm of classical landscape painting, Lorrain was both the first to establish the genre and the one who perfected it.
- Landscape painting became one of the most important genres of painting, symbolizing a significant shift in artistic ideas. At the time, landscapes were merely considered backgrounds for portraits and could not stand as the primary subject of a painting. In Western theological thought, landscapes were seen as a “lower” form of art. Religious beliefs held that the highest subject matter was the image of God, followed by humans created by God, then human-made objects such as buildings and still life, with landscapes at the bottom. Lorrain made a major contribution to bringing landscape painting into mainstream aesthetics.
- Before Lorrain, artists had attempted to create landscape paintings, but they were typically only distant views in works that still focused on human figures. These works could not be considered true landscape paintings. Lorrain was the first to create large-scale landscape paintings where the human figures, though still present, were minimized to a tiny area, depicted with just a few simple strokes.
- Lorrain chose to paint landscapes partly because other subjects had already been mastered by most artists, leaving room for exploration in landscape painting. Additionally, Lorrain had a temperament that was akin to that of a carefree, wandering soul, enjoying excursions to the outskirts of Rome, where the natural landscapes often sparked his creative passion. Lorrain was not highly educated, and even his signature was awkwardly written. As a result, his landscape paintings differed from the more intellectual works of artists like Poussin. Lorrain focused more on creating a lyrical atmosphere, returning to simplicity, and pursuing the most original, natural landscapes to evoke feelings of beauty and longing in people.
- Lorrain’s landscape paintings not only set the standard for what was considered a good landscape but also established the aesthetic criteria for beautiful landscapes. His works often conveyed a sense of golden sunlight bathing green vegetation, creating an idyllic effect. These landscapes were largely imaginary, created before the invention of plein air painting. Remarkably, Lorrain began to shape the demand for real landscapes by creating fictional worlds. People began to seek real landscapes that resembled those in his paintings, believing that only a landscape that reminded them of Lorrain’s work could be considered a good one.
- Lorrain’s observations of the sea were unprecedented, as no one had seriously painted seascapes before him. Nearly two hundred years after Lorrain, the British painter J.M.W. Turner became the master of seascapes, but Lorrain had already explored this field long before him and deeply influenced Turner. Lorrain’s famous work, Harbor at Sunset, will remind you of Monet’s Impression, Sunrise, as it is said that Monet referenced Turner’s seascapes, and Turner’s inspiration for the theme of sunrise came directly from Lorrain. This illustrates Lorrain’s profound influence on later generations of artists. Before Impressionism, Lorrain was essentially the only artist seriously studying the genre of landscape painting.
Lorrain – Sunrise, currently housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the United States. Lorrain was the first artist to paint large-scale landscapes. Although human figures are still present, they have been reduced to a very small size.
Lorrain – A Seaport at Sunset, currently housed at the Louvre Museum in Paris. Lorrain’s observations of the sea were unprecedented, and his influence on famous British painter J.M.W. Turner, as well as later Impressionists, was profound.
Turner – Dido Building Carthage, currently housed at the National Gallery in London, was inspired by Lorrain’s work.
Monet – Impression, Sunrise, currently housed at the Musée Marmottan in Paris.
Tip
Look for “Lorrain-style landscapes” in British private gardens.
Lorrain’s aesthetic standards for landscapes even influenced how people judged the beauty of a scene. If you travel to the UK, you can visit many private estates and gardens, especially during sunset. The view will surely remind you of Lorrain’s paintings. This is because when people designed private gardens at the time, they directly referenced Lorrain’s works.
