The herd returning in stormy weather

Claude Lorrain, born Claude Gellée, called le Lorrain in French and traditionally just Claude in English

(c. 1600–1682), was a French painter, draughtsman and engraver of the Baroque era. He spent most of his life

in Italy, and is one of the earliest important artists, apart from his contemporaries in Dutch Golden Age

painting, to concentrate on landscape painting. His landscapes are often turned into the more prestigious

genre of history paintings by the addition of a few small figures, typically representing a scene from the Bible

or classical mythology.

By the end of the 1630s Claude was established as the leading landscapist in Italy, and enjoyed high prices for his

work. These gradually became larger, but with fewer figures, more carefully painted, and produced at a lower

rate. Almost all his painting was done in Italy; before the late 19th century he was regarded as a painter of the

'Roman School'. His patrons were also mostly Italian, but after his death he became very popular with English

collectors, and the UK retains a high proportion of his works. 

He was a prolific creator of drawings in pen and very often monochrome watercolour 'wash', usually brown but

sometimes grey. His studies for paintings are of various degrees of finish, many clearly done before or during

the process of painting, but others perhaps after that was complete. This was certainly the case for the last

group, the 195 drawings recording finished paintings collected in his Liber Veritatis (now British Museum). He

produced over 40 etchings, often simplified versions of paintings, mainly before 1642. These were till recently

widely regarded as much less important than his drawings, though art collector and historian Andrew Brink

has powerfully argued that not only do they match the mastery and execution of Claude's paintings, but are

seminal to the establishment of 17th- and 18th-century aesthetics in England. This gave rise to the English

pictorialism in art and landscape architecture that would have international influence in the nineteenth and

twentieth centuries. Put simply, go to an English country house garden and be reminded of a Claude painting

or etching!

'Claude etched in bursts and produced a number in groups. What comes through is his use of multiple biting

of the plate to produce atmosphere. <em>The Cowherd</em> from early on his career is a true masterpiece of poetic mood

but so is <em>Departure for the Fields</em> from 1640 and <em>The Herd Returning in Stormy Weather</em> from a decade later.

...The drawings and etchings give you a closer understanding of just how carefully Claude worked to achieve

the extraordinary sense of the idyllic scene which so impressed his contemporaries and later artists...'

(Adrian Hamilton, 'Claude Lorrain: The foreign fields that inspired our finest landscapes', <em>The Independent</em>, 24

October 2011).

There are two impressions of this print in Te Papa's collection. This one was donated by Wellingotn art collector

and philanthropist Sir John Ilott. The other (1965-0012-30) was donated in memory of Harold Wright, London by his widow. Wright

was a London art dealer and longtime friend of Ilott.

Sources:

Andrew Brink, <em>Ink and Light: The Influence of Claude Lorrain's Etchings on England</em> (Montreal, 2013)

Adrian Hamilton, 'Claude Lorrain: The foreign fields that inspired our finest landscapes', <em>The Independent</em>, 24

October 2011, http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/claude-lorrain-the-foreign-fields-that-in spired-our-greatest-landscapes-2374938.html

Wikipedia, 'Claude Lorrain', https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Lorrain

Dr Mark Stocker     Curator, Historical International Art       June 2017