Claude Lorrain (Claude Gellée) (French, 1604/5?–1682) Sunrise Probably 1646–47 Oil on canvas 102.9 x 134 cm Fletcher Fund, 1947 (47.12) The French artist Claude Lorrain, like his close friend Nicolas Poussin (see cat. 8), spent much of his life working in Rome and played a key role in developing the tradition of Classical landscape painting. In contrast to the stoic themes, elegiac spirit, and extreme weather sometimes found in Poussin’s landscapes, however, Claude’s images depict the idealized, harmonious nature of an imagined Golden Age, often employing the poetic effects of a sunrise or sunset. English collectors particularly admired his works, and this example from his middle period—it seems to have been painted in 1646–47—belonged by 1755 to the influential painter and first president of London’s Royal Academy, Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792). The relatively low horizon, emphasis on the upper atmosphere with its trailing pink clouds, and relative transparency of the widely spaced trees create an effect of great luminosity and breadth. The extended procession of grazing animals and shepherds in the foreground, a device that appears frequently in Claude’s landscapes, moves the viewer’s eye from a sunlit valley to the cool shadows of the trees across the stream. The towered castle set high on a hill provides a contrast to the composition’s dominant horizontality. The foreground and middle ground have darkened over time—a common occurrence in the artist’s paintings.