The 17th-century artist Claude Lorrain (circa 1604–1682) is considered the father of European landscape painting. The artist’s transcendent ability to capture naturalistic details—particularly light—sets his work apart. Highly esteemed by his contemporaries, Claude’s collectors created actual physical landscapes inspired by his oeuvre.
Studying the Roman Countryside
Claude Gellée was born in a village in the French northeastern duchy of Lorraine. In the English-speaking world, he is simply referred to as Claude. He first journeyed to Italy in his early teens and by 1628 settled permanently in Rome.
What he lacked initially in formal education and training was countered by innate talent in spades. The city was renowned for its vibrant arts community, composed of Italian as well as foreign artists. Claude studied under the landscapist and illusionistic architecture artist Agostino Tassi. In addition, he was inspired by the harmonious classical vistas featured in works by the Baroque Bolognese painters Annibale Carracci and Domenichino, as well as influenced by northern artists specializing in landscapes, such as Adam Elsheimer.
Claude’s distinctive style and artistic skills brought him success by the early 1630s. He merited important local and foreign patrons that included Pope Urban VIII, an assortment of cardinals, King Philip IV of Spain, and French grandees. Prominent subsequent collectors were British aristocrats taking the Grand Tour of Europe during the following two centuries. Enthusiastically, they acquired many of his paintings and drawings, bringing them home to Great Britain. Some of these works continue to reside in private collections, particularly grand country houses, while others were later bequeathed to public institutions. British artists in the 18th and 19th centuries indebted to Claude’s work include Thomas Gainsborough, J.M.W. Turner, and John Constable.
Landscapes by Claude communicate masterfully an environment’s color and light, including distilling a specific time of day and atmospheric conditions. The artist’s work is characterized by a lyricism that evokes an ideal landscape that is natural, but still ordered. Much of his output shows unified outdoor scenes.
‘Landscape With Hagar and the Angel’
“Landscape With Hagar and the Angel” depicts a story in the book of Genesis from the Old Testament. In the biblical narrative, Hagar, an Egyptian servant girl, gives birth to Abraham’s child. She quarrels with his childless wife, Sarah, and then runs away into the desert. When she runs out of water, she places her son, Ishmael, under a bush and prays for God’s salvation. Then an angel appears. He gives Hagar water, and encourages her to return to Sarah and Abraham for God has promised that Ishmael will become a great leader.
This 1646 canvas was created at the height of Claude’s career. It is one of several paintings he did of the story of Hagar. This narrative was also a popular subject in Dutch art during the 17th century, most notably for Rembrandt and his followers. Interestingly, their visual versions focus on figuration, with Hagar and the angel depicted typically as the dominant aspect of the work and the landscape of lesser importance.
In Claude’s “Landscape With Hagar and the Angel,” the landscape commands the most attention. Though Hagar’s story takes place in the desert, Claude shows a picturesque, verdant vision of the Roman countryside softened by hazy sunlight. He distills the essentials of the story: There is a water source in the form of a river; the angel points to a distant town to encourage Hagar to return; with the angel’s other hand, he points to Hagar to communicate God’s promise.
Influencing English Aesthetics
In England during the 18th century, an aesthetic revolt began against the prevailing taste for rigidly geometric gardens. Proponents wanted to develop a natural, informal garden that was more parklike. Inspiration came from classical literature along with images of the Roman countryside, especially as seen in the works of Claude.
In a 2019 television program entitled “Fifty Shades of Green,” the celebrated British gardener Alan Titchmarsh featured Claude landscapes at the National Gallery, including “Landscape With Hagar and the Angel,” as some of his favorite gardens in Britain. He noted that while Claude was painting Italian landscapes, the depictions closely resemble famous British gardens still in existence and universally loved today.
In the show, Mr. Titchmarsh discusses with a curator that when aristocrats taking the Grand Tour returned home with Claude paintings to place on their walls, they were inspired then to replace their formal structured gardens with more pastoral, idealized landscaping. He points to Stowe in Buckinghamshire, amongst other famous gardens, as the epitome of a Claude painting brought purposefully to life. Thus, the enduring importance of “Landscape With Hagar and the Angel” is preserved both by the National Gallery as well as in the hallowed grounds of Britain’s parklands and gardens around that world that take their cue from the English style garden.
