Pastoral Landscape

Claude Gellée, called Le Lorrain, was apprenticed to a pastry chef in his native France, but in 1628 he moved to Rome and studied painting. This work is the best example from his brilliant, pivotal years between 1635 and 1640. His compositions from that time express an awareness of light and its effects gained from his direct experience with nature. Claude was the supreme master of the ideal landscape and the founder of the modern landscape tradition. Previously, landscape as such wasn’t considered a subject worthy of painting. Claude’s influence was felt for hundreds of years by countless artists, including Claude Monet.