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Claude Lorrain, 'Ascanius Shooting the Stag of Sylvia', 1682

 


Claude's seemingly idyllic, archaic landscapes are made to attract the eye, and lure the viewer into the world of the antique past. From the sixteenth century onwards, a taste for the antique pervaded art across genre and space. The landscape paintings that Claude seemingly mass produced during his lifetime are no exception, occupying the genre of history painting with the addition of figures, mythological and classical subject matter. This was Claude's last landscape, depicting a Virgilian subject with over-elongated figures on the left, buried within the foliage of this stage-like composition. Scholars are uncertain as to whether the piece is indeed finished, but it is inscribed with the date and subject matter, which implies completion. 

Looking closer however, this is not simply an idyllic landscape as many of Claude's paintings appear to be on the surface. The classical temple with its fluted Corinthian columns is falling into ruin, crumbling out of the picture frame, implying the extension of the landscape beyond what the viewer takes in here. There is a hint of nostalgia, a longing for the classical past that so many artists evoked during this period. But there is also distance - the classical past can never be recreated in all its magnificence and beauty. Beyond the collapsing temple, the trees bending inwards seem equally broken, sagging as if tired of standing tall for so many years. They are painted with a light and delicate touch, adding to their ephemeral, weakening nature. But they also serve to draw the eye towards the sky, thick with threatening clouds, unusually dark in tonal qualities for Claude's landscapes. A storm is brewing, as the dreamy lighting of Claude's past landscapes disappear behind the mountain looming in the distance. 

Claude has used this landscape to evoke the story from Virgil. By inscribing the name of the painting, he wants the viewer to make the connection between literature and art. From Virgil's Aeneid, a stag is kept as a pet by the sons of Tyrrhus and their sister Sylvia, able to roam the woods safely. However here an elongated figure can be seen raising their bow and shooting the stag, which looks back in sudden alarm. The scene actually prefigures the war brought to Latium and the prolonged struggle for the future site of Rome. Instead of being a peaceful landscape, there is a somber moment of silence that surrounds the painting as the figure knocks an arrow to his bow and prepares to fire at the sacred animal. This is not just about the skill of Claude as a landscape painter, but also his ability to infuse and weave meaning into that recognisable style. 

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