Strangely enough, the otherwise very complete collection of French
pictures at the Louvre does not contain a single example of Poussin’s
brother-in-law, Gaspard Dughet, better known as Gaspard Poussin
(1613-1675), who devoted himself more exclusively to landscape than
did his more illustrious relative. Nicolas Poussin’s influence also
became decisive for the formation of the style of Claude Gellée,
called Le Lorrain (1600-1682), who is represented at the Louvre by
seventeen pictures (Nos. 310-326), most of which also have suffered
considerably from discoloration and neglect. Claude, who was the child
of poor parents, started life as a cook. In this capacity he went to
Rome, where his talent for art was discovered by the landscape painter
Agostino Tassi, to whom he served as cook and apprentice. Having
learned all he could from his master, he returned to France in 1625,
but, like Poussin, preferred to go back to Rome after two years spent
in his native country. In the Papal city he lived the rest of his days,
and rose to fame and affluence.
He was essentially a landscape painter. The historical and legendary
incidents introduced in such pictures as _The Disembarkation of
Cleopatra at Tarsis_ (No. 314), or _Ulysses restoring Chryseis to her
Father_ (No. 316), were to him a mere excuse for painting classic
landscapes and imaginary buildings of noble proportion bathed in a
golden atmosphere, which has hardly been rivalled by any contemporary
or later painter. It is only on rare occasions, as in the _View of
the Campo Vaccino at Rome_ (No. 311), that he applied his gifts to
the portrayal of nature. As a rule, his views are carefully arranged
combinations of architectural and landscape elements brought together
arbitrarily, and generally disposed in the manner of the wings and
backcloth of a stage scene, but connected by the unity of light and
atmosphere. Considering this method, it is amazing that his memory
enabled him to invent such imaginary scenes with so great a degree
of truth. _The View of a Sea Port_ (No. 317, Plate XXXVIII.), in the
subdued light of a misty day, is a magnificent instance of his masterly
management of aerial perspective. It is signed and dated “CLAUDE IN
ROMA, 1646.” It is generally known how much Turner in his first manner
owed to the example of Claude. That even Watteau was indebted to him
may be gathered from such pictures as _The Village Fête_ (No. 312),
which, signed and dated, “CLAUDIO, inv. Romæ, 1639,” contains in germ
the elements that constituted the greatness of the eighteenth-century
master.