Gallery
Claude (Claude Gellée) (1604/5? - 1682)
Landscape with Apollo and Mercury, 1660
In this work Claude presents two subjects in one painting: one a mythological story, the other the landscape itself. Likewise there are two fields of colour, with the mythological scene occupying the deep green of the trees and fields, and the landscape picked out in blue beyond.
In the foreground a melancholy Apollo, Greek god of the sun and of music, sits with his dog and plays the pipes in memory of his lost love, the nymph Coronis. In the background, Mercury can be seen running over a bridge, having stolen the distracted Apollo's cattle. The subject is taken from Ovid's Metamorphoses (II, 680-710).
The real subject, however, is the luminous morning landscape inspired by the countryside around Rome, which Claude drew and painted throughout his career. Claude preferred to paint morning and evening scenes because the light allowed for greater atmosphere.
Claude
Claude was born in the independent duchy of Lorraine, now part of France, and initially trained as a pastry-cook. Later he became the greatest of ideal landscape painters, becoming known for his masterly depiction of light, giving his compositions a poetic mood and great atmospheric effect.
The emotional power and technical skill of his work attracted great patrons, such as Pope Urban VIII and Philip VI of Spain. Although he did have such prestigious patrons, his estate on his death was quite modest, reflecting the low status of landscape painting in comparison to figure painting.
Activities, discussions and questions
» Discuss Claude's marriage of the landscape with mythology. Although Claude is primarily interested in creating a magnificent landscape, do you think that the painting would be as appealing or interesting without the figures and the story that they represent?
» Use the painting to discuss foreground, middle ground and
background. Compare the very precise treatment of the bright green leaves
and flowers at the bottom of the painting with the wooded area in the
middle distance and the hazy hills on the horizon.
» The painting is constructed rather like a stage set, with
a flat view in the distance, side panels of trees and bushes that could
slide onto the stage from the left and right and actors playing in the
space nearest to us. Students could make a 3-d representation of the
same scene, or use their observations of this artwork to create their
own 3-d scene from scratch.
Claude (Claude Gellée) (1604/5? - 1682)
Landscape with Apollo and Mercury, 1660
Material: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 74.5 cm x 110.4 cm
Place made: Italy
Accession No: P114
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