Claude Lorrain, (French, 1604–1682), An Artist Studying from Nature, 1639, oil on canvas, Cincinnati Art Museum, Gift of Mary Hanna, 1946.102.

Audio Description

This painting, An Artist Studying from Nature, was made in 1639 by French artist Claude Lorrain, who lived from 1604 to 1682 and was active mostly in Italy. It is an oil painting on canvas and was given to the Cincinnati Art Museum by Mary Hanna. Its accession number is 1946.102.

This horizontal painting, about 40 inches wide, depicts a scene set by a river or bay. The blue sky fades to pink as if the sun has just begun to set. A large tree in the center bisects the painting’s middle and backgrounds: to the left is a body of water with hills on the far shore, and a docked sailboat closer to us is being unloaded; to the right stands a stone fortress with two tall towers, with ships’ masts rising just beyond. In the foreground, groups of figures and pack animals move along a road that crosses the painting, leading to the castle. To the right, a group of three men sit by the road, near fragments of ancient architecture; two converse and gesture toward the water while the third sketches the landscape.

Label Copy

This painting, An Artist Studying from Nature, was made in 1639 by French artist Claude Lorrain, who lived from 1604 to 1682 and was active mostly in Italy. It is an oil painting on canvas and was given to the Cincinnati Art Museum by Mary Hanna. Its accession number is 1946.102.

Although born in France, Claude Lorrain spent most of his life in Italy, where he was renowned for his landscape paintings—river and coastal scenes populated with classical architectural elements and suffused with the gentle luminosity of sunrise or sunset. Here, in the foreground, an artist sits near ancient ruins between a harbor and a walled town, absorbed in his drawing. The vista opens on the left with boats and a mountainous coast leading toward the horizon.

The “Berlin 202” included Claude’s Italian Coastal Landscape in Early Morning Light, which, like the Cincinnati painting, depicts an idealized view of the Italian countryside. That painting, and two works by Nicolas Poussin, vividly illustrated the Arcadian, pastoral tradition of landscape painting in the seventeenth century.

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