Yukitaka Kohari, "Claude Lorrain: Seventeenth-Century Rome and Ideal Landscape Painting" Overview and Impressions - The Great Master of Arcadia (Ideal Landscape) Painting, also loved by Dostoevsky
We are pleased to present "Claude Lorrain: The Seventeenth Century and Landscape Painting" by Yukitaka Kohari, published by Ronsosha in 2018.
Let's take a quick look at the book.
The landscape became the ideal of Western Europe. Claude Lorrain loved Campania and continued to paint idyllic scenes that were "beautiful to all eyes. This book depicts the formation and development of 17th-century landscape painting and its relationship to 18th-century naturalism, centered on the artist who created the foundation of "ideal landscape painting" through his exploration of nature. With detailed notes and more than 100 illustrations, this is a specialized book comparable to European and American studies. The book is a valuable source of information on the world of Lorrain's paintings, which are full of poetic sentiment.
Ideal landscape painting was nurtured in the 17th century in Rome and its suburbs, which were blessed with many ancient heritages and mild nature, and continued to exert a great influence on the art world for the next two centuries. It developed on the basis of Claude Lorrain's (1604/05-1682) study of nature in Campania. The poetic landscapes depicted by the artist acted as a catalyst, so to speak, in the history of painting, which later led to naturalism and impressionism. While Roland is the main focus of this book, as a "theory of landscape painting," it also examines many of his contemporaries, including Carracci, Domenichino, Elsheimer, Brill, Tasci, Poussin, Dughet, and Rosa, as well as Valenciennes, Michalon, Corot, and Turner in the first half of the 19th century.
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This book is a fascinating look at the work of the master painter Claude Lorrain, who had a huge influence on the world of European painting from the 17th century onward.
Claude Lorrain was a 17th century Italian painter who had a decisive influence on later European art.
Claude Lorrain's idealistic landscapes (with Arcadia, an idealistic land of the past, as the subject matter) fascinated Europeans who traveled to Italy. The influence of his work has been enormous ever since, and even the great Dostoevsky took a strong interest in Claude Lorrain's paintings. This influence can be seen especially in his late feature "The Minor".
Claude Lorrain's influence on Europe is summarized in an easy-to-understand manner by Yasushi Kimura.The Revolution of Impressionism.and is presented here.
The landscape garden, also called an English-style garden, is a garden style that originated in England. The inspiration for this style came from the work of the Lorraine-born painter Claude Lorrain (Mouthpiece 4/1600-82), who was a close friend of Nicolas Poussin's in Rome.
The genre established by Claude Lorrain is "ideal landscape painting. He painted not realistic landscapes, but freely composed landscapes based on an orderly composition, depicting an ideal world of Arcadia, a time when gods and humans were mixed in the world of classical literature. He also created a prestigious pictorial world by taking classical literature and the Bible as his subjects and clothed them in the garb of historical painting.
His lyrical paintings were loved by the upper classes of Europe, including the Pope and Felipe IV of Spain (reigned 1621-65). In particular, they became very popular among Englishmen who had visited Italy on the Grand Tour (a grand tour of continental Europe that was the final stage of education for the children of the English upper class from the 17th to the end of the 18th century) and were fascinated by the country. Claude Lorrain's influence as a canon for landscape painting was passed on to later generations of landscape painters in France and England. The Englishman Jozef M. W. Turner (1775-1851) is also known to have been deeply devoted to Claude Lorrain.
Like his close friend Poussin, Claude Lorrain, who became the leading figure of French Classicism, was a tremendous influence, and even in the 19th century, "the canon of landscape painting was Claude Lorrain" for the Academy. This would be expressed as a reaction against Impressionism, which painted landscapes with modern values and approaches.
Essentially, the norm for landscape painting in French painting is Roland, not Monet of the Impressionist school, even though they are the same Claude.
Shueisha, Taiji Kimura, The Impressionist Revolution, p. 70-71
The Grand Tour was previously introduced by Toshiro NakajimaThe English Way of Travel: From Grand Tours to Garden CultureClaude Lorrain's influence was tremendous, as detailed in
Claude Lorrain: Seventeenth Century and Landscape Painting" by Yukitaka Kohari is a detailed look at the beauty and theory behind Claude Lorrain's paintings. It is not a biography of Claude Lorrain or a book of his paintings. In his afterword, the author states
In writing this book, I was faced with a choice. I had to choose between writing about Claude Lorrain, a landscape painter, and writing about the ideal landscape painting created in Rome in the 17th century. As a result, I chose the latter. （I have chosen the latter.)
Claude was a painter who wanted to know the ever-changing nature more deeply than anyone else. He repeatedly drew from nature, and he must have believed that his observations, perceptions, and memories of nature would stir his imagination and give life to the oil paintings he created in his studio. As I pondered these thoughts, I began to think that Claude's study of nature may have laid the foundation for his ideal landscape painting, and may have suggested to later landscape painters how to study nature and where to sketch. The composition of this book expanded beyond Rome to include oil landscape sketches of the nineteenth century. I feel that Claude's drawings from nature can only be properly understood if they are connected to the phenomenon of art in the 19th century, although I am likely to hear from readers that it would be better not to deviate from Claude's personal history.
Ronsosha, Yukitaka Kohari, Claude Lorrain: Seventeenth Century and Landscape Painting, p. 246-7
As the author states here, the book does not follow Claude Lorrain's life in detail, but rather explains how his ideal landscape paintings were created and what makes them unique.
It was very interesting to see where the source of Claude Lorrain's beautiful landscape paintings came from, referring to his predecessors' paintings. I was able to feel that new paths are born because of the paths paved by our predecessors.
It is hard to recommend this book as an introduction to Claude Lorrain because it is not a book of his paintings, but I recommend this book when you want to know more about him.
The following book, "Italian Light: Claude Lorrain and the Ideal Landscape," is recommended as an art book.
This is a collection of paintings from the special exhibition "Italian Light - Claude Lorrain and the Ideal Landscape" held at the National Museum of Fine Arts in 1998.
The works in this book are only those exhibited at this exhibition, so you will not find famous works such as "Landscape with Achis and Galatea" introduced above, but you can see many paintings that give you an idea of Claude Lorrain's characteristics.
Moreover, since the works are listed in chronological order with explanations, you can enjoy them while feeling the changes in his style and other aspects of his work. This book is recommended for beginners.
Claude Lorrain was also a favorite painter of Dostoevsky, so it was very interesting for me personally to learn about him.
The above is "Claude Lorrain: Seventeenth-Century Rome and Ideal Landscape Painting," by Yukitaka Kohari, a major figure in Arcadia (Ideal Landscape) painting who was also loved by Dostoevsky.
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