Lorrain, le

(1600-1682) (Claude Lorrain; Claude Gelée)

   painter and engraver

   Born in Champagne, near Mirecourt, Claude Gelée, or le Lorrain as he is better known, is with nicolas poussin one of the greatest masters of 17th-century idealized landscape painting. of peasant origin, he followed his brother, a wood engraver, and settled in Fribourg-en-Brisgau. Impoverished and nearly illiterate, he then left for italy and probably worked in Naples. In Rome in 1619, he worked for the landscape artist Agostino Tassi, who introduced him to painting. Returning to France in 1625, he worked eventually for the duke of Lorraine but then left again for Rome (1627), where he stayed for the rest of his life. By 1637, his work was being recognized and appreciated by Pope Urban VIII and various French and English architects. He dedicated himself to landscape painting and did numerous scenes of the Roman countryside, with his particular contribution to the idealized landscape genre being his masterly treatment of light. His stylistic evolution falls into three main periods. His early landscapes often feature slanting and other experimental light effects, especially in harbor scenes (Port de mer au soleil couchant, 1639, louvre). At this time (1644), he also began compiling his Liber veritatis, a collection of skteches of his works, to guard against forgeries. After approximately 1640, his work became more tranquil, as he used warmer and lighter tones (Les Quatres Heures du jour). Finally, during the 1660s, although he returned to his earlier themes, Le Lorrain shows in his work a tendency to a more symbolic and visionary style, with a cooler color range (Psyché devant le palais de l'Amour, 1664), that often depicts an imagined antiquity.