Alain Mérot, published by Éditions Gallimard, 2009
How did the landscape known to this day as “classical” come into being? What was behind the rise and fall of this ideal form in Western European culture in the modern age? Initially considered minor and decorative, it gained independence and dignity through the careful study of nature, from the Renaissance to the 17th century. At the turning point of this evolution, the works of Poussin and Claude Lorrain, thanks to their supreme skill, broke away from the vast number of creations rivalling historic painting.
This delectable or even meditative art, which reflects various “discourses” in the tradition of the Renaissance renewed by the Counter-Reformation, stood out among the culture of the time and was a response to the expectations of an educated audience. As a kind of witness to a lost world, and a particular relationship between man and nature, landscapes are thought to take the art world back to a certain era. Alain Mérot, who had already written, among other things, a history of French painting in the 17th century, therefore strives to restore its uniqueness and to better understand its continuing importance.