Claude Lorrain – French Baroque artist, engraver, & draughtsman, died on this day the 23rd of November, 1682, in the Papal States, Roma.

Self-portrait of Claude Lorrain.

As we do not have an exact year of birth, it is thought that Lorrain was in his late seventies/early eighties when he died. Throughout his career, Lorrain made many works of art depicting mythological, Biblical and ancient historical figures- including Cleopatra and the Queen of Sheba. In honour of this Baroque artist, we’ll have a look at his work, thanks to the brilliant website dedicated to his work: http://www.claudelorrain.org/

Below, we have “Aeneas’s Farewell to Dido in Carthage,” from 1676:

Here we have “The Dance of the Seasons” which you will probably find very similar to the “Dance to the Music of Time” by Nicolas Poussin, albeit this is (in my opinion) a crude work in comparison:

Next, we have “Odysseus returns Chryseis to her Father:”

What Lorrain has in his favour is his use of striking colour and an obvious appreciation for classical stories.

This is my favourite work by Lorrain, entitled, “The Bay’s Port with Apollo and the Cumaean Sibyl:”