- Year of birth: 1600
- Date of death: 23 Nov 1682
- Country: France
Biography:
Claude Lorrain was born in 1600, in the Duchy of Lorraine in a family of peasants. The future master of classical landscape for the first time joined the drawing, thanks to his older brother who was quite a skillful engraver on wood. Little Claude was barely thirteen years old when he accompanied one of his cousins went to Italy, where he spent practically the rest of my life.
The way to the great painting, the boy began with what has become a servant in the house of the Roman landscape painter Agostino Tassi. Here he got a lot of necessary knowledge in the art. From 1617 to 1621 Claude lived in Naples as a pupil of Gottfried of Wels, and there is no doubt that this period has left an indelible mark on the future of the artist’s work. It is here that young Lorraine was fascinated by the sea and coastal landscapes, and this genre in the future has occupied a significant place in his creative legacy.
Back in Rome, Claude appeared again in the house of Agostino Tassi, now as one of the best students.
In twenty-five years, Claude returned to his homeland, where he helped to paint cathedrals of Claude Derue – the court painter of the Duke of Lorraine.
From 1627 until the end of his days the artist lived in Rome. For some time he was doing landscape murals under the order, decorating the cathedrals and mansions. But gradually, he increasingly concentrated on easel painting and often spent day after day in the open air, depicting his favorite landscapes and architectural views. Images of people were given to him, if not difficult, then certainly no inspiration. Rare figurines of characters in his paintings play a purely supportive role, and in most cases drew them not to himself, but his assistants, friends or students.
During this period Lauren has mastered the technique of etching and has reached quite a decent elevation, but by the early forties, he gradually lost interest in this technique and focus on landscape painting.
With 30 years he began to appear very prominent customers: first, the French Ambassador at the papal court, then – Spanish king Philip IV, and later himself Pope urban VIII. Claude has become fashionable and popular, the demand for his work steadily increased. The artist came wealth, he rented a three-storey mansion in the centre of Rome, next to another famous Russian painter, Nicolas Poussin.
In all his life Claude Lorrain was not married at any time, but in 1653, was born his daughter Agnes and this is her after the artist’s death in 1682, inherited all his property.