Claude Lorrain

Claude Lorrain (c. 1600/1604–1682) is justifiably referred to as the father of European landscape painting. Basing his work on carefully observed studies of nature, the most important landscape painter of the seventeenth century created Arcadian, timeless, classic paintings, often of biblical or mythological scenes. Lorrain’s idealized landscapes are immersed in soft light, and very early on they excited travelers to Rome doing the Grand Tour—today, many of his works are included in British collections, and the English garden itself was definitely influenced by his aesthetics. In order to protect his paintings from being plagiarized, he drew copies of them in his Liber Veritatis, which, as a work of art in its own right, is an expression of the artist’s belief that his drawings and prints were on an equal par with the paintings. This volume presents 140 of Lorrain’s works, including the “pendants,” which make the artist’s unconventional approach remarkably palpable.   Exhibition schedule: Städel Museum, Frankfurt/Main, February 3–May 6, 2012