French Art: The Opening of the Sun
- PINE.
- Jan 10, 2020
- 2 min read
Updated: Jan 10, 2020
The French paintings of the early nineteenth century were restricted to a code of style by the French Academy, which encapsulated the religious aspect of the Renaissance and important figures of the time. Painting in the realms of nature was frowned upon in a passive aggressive way by the Academy until a pair of painters from the seventeenth century; Claude Lorrain & Nicolas Poussin sparked flight & inspiration within the future prodigies that would soon change the populous course of constricted style in the nineteenth century.
Claude Lorrain specifically though had pieces of work ^above that portrayed how fascinated he was with sunlight tones, that gave moods to the landscapes and emotions from natures visuals. The "View of La Crescenza" was a painting that was said to be for him but then was priced on the back for a client. One of his works that gave an accurate display of a building that still exists on the outside of Rome yet unusual in the sense that the accuracy of the landscape isn't 100%. An artists imagination and realistic perspective of their own version of reality. It just seems more impeccable when imaginative qualities are mixed with actual facts, perhaps the juxtaposition of balance between sanity and the insane.
The paintings above (from the top) "A Roman Landscape with Figures" by Goffredo Wals was a significant piece that identifies Wals style, similar to the aspect of Lorrain of nature enthused backgrounds but Wals loved small focal point painting finishes. There isn't a STAR in this piece specifically perhaps the landscapes vast long necks perking then kissing the sun, is of match and beauty to the humans who walk beside it in contentment of their work for it. A system of cycle operation that simply can't play favorites just as nature does. Quite majestic.
Then there is the other Claude Lorrain painting below, "Coast View with Perseus and the Origin of Coral". The main focus on this is the amount of skill and precision that Claude resembled when creating the drawing/painting. Here we see Perseus washing off the head of Medusa who he slice & diced recently, his Pegasus in the corner he flew on to get to the a shore of rock formations and trees perhaps a hidden jungle in the depths, not sure. Regardless, the detail of the shading on the rocks, trees brown finish on the leaves, gray yellow skies depict a fresh morning that hasn't yet reached its peak shine of yellow and orange tones. This is a perfect example of how obsessed Claude was with light in comparison to the sun, light architecture.
These light architectural paintings from Claude display just how incredible and moving light itself can be. These are just paintings of imagination but if one was to see this exact piece in person and know its history, along with the immense skill, it can teleport you to a feeling/memory of a brisk morning with fragile adolescent sunshine. These paintings show Greek myth history but started a revolution in France of appreciating the nature within everything, the washing of Medusa's head in the salt water at 5 o'clock in the morning gives a setting of hard-endeavored achievement with trials & tribulations always on the brink.
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