River Landscape with Herdsmen

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Artist: Claude Lorrain (French, 1604–1682)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 65 × 94.5 cm
Museum: SMK – National Gallery of Denmark
Rights: Public Domain Mark

This landscape is not a real-istic depiction of a specific location, even though the Tiber valley and its castle ruins were often the subject of the artist’s open-air studies. The artist has created a landscape that surpasses nature itself, a so-called ideal landscape. Hills and mountains disappear gradually into the gradient aer-ial perspective where the colours of the sky and earth merge on the horizon.

Our eye travels smoothly through the various planes of the image, where shepherds with their flock, walkers and ferries provide variety. Claude’s landscapes were keenly collected, especially by art aficionados among the aristocracy and clergy. Originally from Lorraine, Claude lived and worked in Rome throughout most of his career. For many years he kept a modest home in Via Margutta near Piazza di Spa-gna, a favourite haunt of foreign artists in Rome.