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 :. | Coast Scene with Europa and the Bull | Landscape with Cephalus and Procris reunited by Diana | Landscape with the Marriage of Isaac and Rebekah | Seaport at Sunset | Landscape with the Finding of Moses |
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emil osterman
male model and pupils. ca. 1892 royal academy of fine arts
Paul de Vos
(1591e1592, or 1595, Hulst-30 June 1678, Antwerp) was a Flemish Baroque painter. De Vos was born in Hulst near Antwerp, now in the Dutch province of Zeeland. Like his older brother Cornelis and younger brother Jan, he studied under the little-known painter David Remeeus (1559-1626). He specialized in monumental animal scenes, especially hunts for aristocratic patrons, that are heavily influenced by Frans Snyders (to whom his sister Margaretha was married). De Vos became a master and joined the guild of St. Luke in 1620. As was frequent amongst artists in Antwerp, De Vos frequently collaborated with other painters. He painted animals in hunting scenes and armor in mythologies by Peter Paul Rubens and his studio. He also worked with Thomas Willeboirts Bosschaert, Erasmus Quellinus II, Anthony van Dyck, and Jan Wildens.
Pieter de Molijn
(6 April 1595 - 23 March 1661) was a Dutch Golden Age painter and engraver born in England. He was baptized in the Dutch Reformed Austin Friars church in London. Little is known of his early training, but he probably traveled to Italy and in 1616 he became a member of the Haarlem Guild of St. Luke. He was a contemporary of Jacob Pinas. He married Geertuyt Huygen de Bie. During the years 1616-1627 he lived in Delft where he remarried after his first wife died. In the marriage notice, his wife Geertruyt de Roovere is from Amsterdam and he is from Delft. De Molijn was possibly a student of Esaias van de Velde. He taught several students, including Gerard ter Borch, Jan Coelenbier, Allart van Everdingen, Christian de Hulst, Anthony Molijn, Jan Nose and Jan Wils.De Molijn was known for his landscapes, but he also made genre pieces, marine scenes, portraits, and architectural pieces. This type of oeuvre is typical for the Italian-bound artists of his day, who paid their way as a jack-of-all-trades. De Molijn died in Haarlem on 23 March 1661.