''Village Fête'' (or in Fr. ''La Fête villageoise'') is an oil-on-canvas painting of a village fête by the French

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

painter

Claude Lorrain Claude Lorrain (; born Claude Gellée , called ''le Lorrain'' in French; traditionally just Claude in English; c. 1600 – 23 November 1682) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher of the Baroque era. He spent most of his life in I ...

(real name Claude Gellée), painted in 1639 and given to

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

in 1693 together with its companion '' Seaport at Sunset'', by the

landscape architect A landscape architect is a person who is educated in the field of landscape architecture. The practice of landscape architecture includes: site analysis, site inventory, site planning, land planning, planting design, grading, storm water manage ...

and gardener

André Le Nôtre André Le Nôtre (; 12 March 1613 – 15 September 1700), originally rendered as André Le Nostre, was a French landscape architect and the principal gardener of King Louis XIV of France. He was the landscape architect who designed Gardens ...

. It is now in the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

, in Paris.

History

Claude's ''

Liber Veritatis The ''Liber Veritatis'', meaning ''Book of Truth'' in Latin, is a book of drawings recording his completed paintings made by Claude Lorrain, known in English as "Claude". Claude was a landscape painter in Rome, who began keeping this record in ...

'', a register in which he recorded and drew the paintings he had done, has a note on the back of the drawing for the ''Fête'' (No. 13) that the picture had been painted for

Urban VIII Pope Urban VIII (; ; baptised 5 April 1568 – 29 July 1644), born Maffeo Vincenzo Barberini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 August 1623 to his death, in July 1644. As pope, he expanded the papal terri ...

. Other sources also state that the artist painted a ''Village Fête'' and a '' Seaport at Sunset'' for

, but these two paintings were sold by Prince Barberini in 1798. The

painting must therefore be a replica painted by Claude Lorrain after the lost original. Another copy is in the possession of

Lord Yarborough Earl of Yarborough is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1837 for Charles Anderson-Pelham, 2nd Baron Yarborough. History The Anderson-Pelham family descends from Francis Anderson of Manby, Lincolnshire. He married ...

in England (called ''Landscape with Rural Dance''), and yet another was in the

Stroganov The Stroganov family (Russian: Стро́гановы, Стро́гоновы; French: Stroganoff) emerged as a preeminent Russian noble family renowned for their roles as merchants, industrialists, landowners, and statesmen. By the reign of Iv ...

collection,

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

. Several other replicas and copies exist. This particular painting, painted fairly early in the artist's career, reveals the influence of

Flemish art The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vocalize it as st ...

. The composition, with a group of trees in the centre, and openings on either side through which the light appears, was often used by Flemish landscape painters from the time of Bruegel:

Paul Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo ...

and Matthew Bril frequently employed it, and Lorrain continued in their tradition in Rome. In accordance with classic 16th century procedure, the bridge harmoniously unites the middle and far distance. Through the opening on the right can be seen a city bathed in a golden mist, more characteristic of the ''campagna romana'' (Roman countryside) than of the North. Following the usual practice of studios of the

Low Countries The Low Countries (; ), historically also known as the Netherlands (), is a coastal lowland region in Northwestern Europe forming the lower Drainage basin, basin of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta and consisting today of the three modern "Bene ...

, Lorrain often employed other artists to paint the

staffage In painting, staffage () are the human and animal figures depicted in a scene, especially a landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often c ...

or small figures in his pictures; but this does not seem to have been the case here, to judge by the unity of conception between figures and landscape.M. Sonnabend, ''et al.'', ''Claude Lorrain: The Enchanted Landscape'', Lund Humphries (2011).

References

External links

''La Fête villageoise'' at the LouvreClaude's Biography, Context and ArtworksNational Gallerywww.ClaudeLorrain.org
149 works by Claude Lorrain

*
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute 2007 exhibition, ''Claude Lorrain: The Painter as Draftsman''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Village Fete Landscape paintings 1639 paintings Paintings in the Louvre by French artists Paintings by Claude Lorrain Horses in art Oil on canvas paintings

History

See also

Further reading

References

External links