This painting is called A Pastoral Landscape. It was painted between 1648 and 1650 (different sources state different dates, all between these two years) by Claude Lorrain. The medium used was oil on copper. I actually found this painting in our A World of Art book on page 482.
Claude Lorrain was a French artist that spent much of his life painting in Italy. He was born to the name of Claude Gellée in 1604 or 1605 (again, controversy with the dates) in Chamagne, Vosges. He moved to Italy when he was very young, about 17 or 18, but didn't really gain popularity until the age of 33. Most of his paintings were of landscapes similar to this one.
What I really enjoy about this painting is the vivid sunset in the background. I am definitely always in awe when I look at the sky, no matter what time of day it is. I think the sky is beautiful day or night, rain or shine. Although, my favorite time to look at the sky is during sunset or sunrise. The colors that the sun makes are fascinating, just like the sky painted in this work of art. It is beautiful. If you also take a look at all the things that are supposed to be "farthest away" in the painting, they definitely have a bluish hue. Perhaps this is due to the use of atmospheric perspective. Weird--I hadn't read the passage in the book about this painting until I had written this much and in the first couple sentences it talks about employing atmospheric perspective! I guess I called that one-haha.
I also enjoy the vivid change in colors of the trees. The ones that appear closer to us are a deep, emerald green as if we were right in the middle of spring. The trees that appear farther away than us appear yellowish, almost like trees do at the start of fall.
From the text, it seems as if this painting were created to give us a balance from our crazy lives and take us to a more serene, calm view that was designed to pull us out of the harsh world we live in a place us in a kind of fairytale, a comforting view "bring[ing] us to a world of harmony and peace" pg 482.
Using oil in painting takes a very long time to dry. This is great because it allows the artist to fix any errors that are made. It also blends well, allowing unique designs and gradients to form. Most importantly, oils do not dry by evaporation. Oils dry basically by a slow, flameless combustion reaction. They are also permanent and durable and can be applied thickly. Lastly, the colors do not change in drying. This is very important because if an artist is trying to portray an image a certain way, say by using watercolors, the end effect will look different then when they started, because the colors tend to look darker after drying. Oils do not have this negative effect.
1 comment:
Ilove the way it seems that you come alive when you talk about the painting. You described it so well the way the colors are set at a certain tone. You seem to know your stuff so well. I am happy that we have come so far in this class that we are able to able to describe exactly everything we want.
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