French 1600-1682 Claude Lorrain Galleries In Rome, not until the mid-17th century were landscapes deemed fit for serious painting. Northern Europeans, such as the Germans Elsheimer and Brill, had made such views pre-eminent in some of their paintings (as well as Da Vinci in his private drawings or Baldassarre Peruzzi in his decorative frescoes of vedute); but not until Annibale Carracci and his pupil Domenichino do we see landscape become the focus of a canvas by a major Italian artist. Even with the latter two, as with Lorrain, the stated themes of the paintings were mythic or religious. Landscape as a subject was distinctly unclassical and secular. The former quality was not consonant with Renaissance art, which boasted its rivalry with the work of the ancients. The second quality had less public patronage in Counter-Reformation Rome, which prized subjects worthy of "high painting," typically religious or mythic scenes. Pure landscape, like pure still-life or genre painting, reflected an aesthetic viewpoint regarded as lacking in moral seriousness. Rome, the theological and philosophical center of 17th century Italian art, was not quite ready for such a break with tradition. In this matter of the importance of landscape, Lorrain was prescient. Living in a pre-Romantic era, he did not depict those uninhabited panoramas that were to be esteemed in later centuries, such as with Salvatore Rosa. He painted a pastoral world of fields and valleys not distant from castles and towns. If the ocean horizon is represented, it is from the setting of a busy port. Perhaps to feed the public need for paintings with noble themes, his pictures include demigods, heroes and saints, even though his abundant drawings and sketchbooks prove that he was more interested in scenography. Lorrain was described as kind to his pupils and hard-working; keenly observant, but an unlettered man until his death. The painter Joachim von Sandrart is an authority for Claude's life (Academia Artis Pictoriae, 1683); Baldinucci, who obtained information from some of Claude's immediate survivors, relates various incidents to a different effect (Notizie dei professoni del disegno). John Constable described Claude Lorrain as "the most perfect landscape painter the world ever saw", and declared that in Claude??s landscape "all is lovely ?C all amiable ?C all is amenity and repose; the calm sunshine of the heart"  Related Paintings of Claude Lorrain :. | Village Fete | Landscape with Goatherd | Landscape with Abraham Expelling Hagar (mk17) | Landscape with a Sacrifice to Apolio (n03) | Trees,Figures,and sheep (mk17) |
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konrad magi(1878 to 1925),was an Estonian landscape painter. He was one of the most colour-sensitive Estonian painters of the first decades of the 20th century, and Magi works on motives of the island of Saaremaa are the first modern Estonian nature paintings. Magi received his elementary art education from the drawing courses of the German Artisans Society of Tartu (1899?C1902.) At the same time, he was keenly engaged in theater, violin, and various sports. Magi continued his art education as an unattached student in Saint Petersburg (1903?C1905.) In the autumn of 1907, he went to Paris. There Magi studied at a free academy. From 1908 to 1910, he lived in Norway. In 1912, Magi returned to Tartu, where he worked as an art teacher. In Åland, he created delicate plant vignettes in the style of Art Nouveau: Kahekesi (Two together; 1908; China ink drawing). In Paris, Magi was influenced by Impressionism and Fauvism, which had a significant impact on his colours: Lilleline vali majakesega (A flower field with a little house; 1908?C1909), Norra maastik manniga (A Norwegian landscape with a pine; 1910). From 1918, the influence of Expressionism is manifest, fostered by Mägi extreme sensitivity and emotional response to the anxious times: Puhajarv (Lake Puha); 1918?C1920), Otepaa maastik (Landscape of Otepaa; 1918?C1920). Also influenced by Expressionism are his big figure compositions Piet?? (1919), Kolgata (Golgatha; 1921). Konrad Magi - Rannamaastik (Beach landscape)Magi new artistic period, begun on a trip to Italy, brought calmer tempers: Varemed Capril (Ruins in Capri; 1922?C1923). Along with nature pictures, he painted flowers and portraits. Magi mostly beautiful female models express the Art Nouveau ideal of beauty: Holsti (1916). In his later portraits from the 1920s, a more serious temper is expressed: Madonna (1923?C1924).