Claude Gellée is a painter from Lorraine who moved to Rome in 1615 to learn the traditional craft of Lorraine: baking.
After arriving in Rome, he was first a cook for painter Agostino Tassi who, when he discovered his gift for painting, decided to teach him the basics. Influenced by the landscapes of Annibale Carracci, he gradually acquired its own unique style where light and atmospheric effects played a major role, after a trip to Naples where the islands and the bay probably left a lasting impression.
Blunt reveals that, in addition to his training in the Tassi workshop, in particular Claude learned his art as a student of Paul Bril and Elsheimer, the latter having “… including the poetic possibilities offered by light enveloping the entire landscape with evanescent effects of dawn and dusk, and a panorama which opens up to infinity in contrast with the foreground full of patterns.”
Neighbour of Poussin in Rome, they become friends – a friendship that will last their whole lives – especially when they met again as part of a team in the Roman countryside in Tivoli to draw from nature, accompanied by Sandrart and sometimes Gaspard.
About 1638, the two artists were among some of the best painters of Rome to decorate the Buen Retiro Palace in Madrid.
His recognition in Anglo-Saxon countries is such that he is known simply by his first name “Claude”.
Further reading:
• The Lorrain works in the Joconde database
• claudelorrain.org, a site with more than 250 of Lorrain’s works