_Claude_ (French: 1600-1682). _See_ 2.
The best Claude in the Gallery, for it is a perfect example of his
chief merit--the painting of quiet skies. Constable, in one of his
lectures, refers to it as "probably the finest picture of _middle-tint_
in the world. The sun is rising through a thin mist, which, like the
effect of a gauze blind in a room, diffuses the light equally. There
are no large dark masses, there is no evasion in any part of this
admirable work, every object is fairly painted in a firm style of
execution, yet in no other picture have I seen the evanescent character
of light so well expressed" (Leslie's _Life of Constable_, p. 338).
"The effect of the breeze upon the water and upon the trees," says
Ottley, "and the freshness of the morning atmosphere, in this picture,
are expressed with a closeness of imitation bordering on illusion"
(_Descriptive Catalogue of the National Gallery_, 1826, p. 42).
As for the subject: St. Ursula, a beautiful and gifted Sicilian
princess, was sought in marriage by a prince of Britain; but having
already dedicated herself to Christ, she made a condition that before
her marriage, she, with eleven thousand attendant virgins, should be
permitted for the space of three years to visit the shrines of the
Saints. This being permitted, the maidens started on a miraculous
voyage. Guided by angels they proceeded as far as Rome, where pagans
having plotted their death, on their further journey to Cologne they
were martyred by the barbarians besieging that city. Here in the
picture they are represented as embarking.