Claude, 'A Seaport', 1644

A Seaport

Claude

Room 29

About the work

Overview

This warm, tranquil port scene is bathed in sunlight: the clock on the building to the left records the time as five o'clock. A coat of arms with three golden fleurs-de-lis (emblem of the French king) above the clock and on the ship’s flags to the right suggests this painting was intended for a French patron. In the foreground, many of the figures glance towards this ship: the group of well-dressed men to the left are in conversation while others work hard or watch those gathered at the port.

This painted seaport is an imaginary scene, although the architecture is based on sixteenth-century buildings in Rome. The most distant building combines features taken from the Villa Farnesina and Palazzo Senatorio. The ornate entrance to the building in the foreground is inspired by the gateway to the Farnese gardens. Between these two buildings stands the Arch of Titus, an ancient Roman landmark.

In-depth

This warm, tranquil scene is bathed in sunlight. The sun sits low in the sky, and the clock on the building to the left records the time as five o‘clock. A coat of arms with three golden fleurs-de-lis (emblem of the French king) against a blue background can be seen above the clock and faintly on the ship’s flags to the right, suggesting this painting was intended for a French patron. Perhaps he is the figure dressed in a red cloak and carrying a sword who stands closest to the ship – a kneeling man could be pointing towards him or to the magnificent architecture on the opposite side of the painting. A group of well-dressed men to the left are in conversation while others work hard: they row passengers to the larger ships and secure a boat’s mooring. A musician sits beside his lute, and a woman and child watch those gathered at the port.

This is one of a number of seaport scenes by Claude without a story taken from literature. This scene is mostly imaginary, although the architecture is based on sixteenth-century buildings in Rome. Claude’s aristocratic patrons were keen to link their names with the ancient grandeur of Rome. The most distant building combines features taken from the Villa Farnesina and Palazzo Senatorio; the four towers just visible in Claude’s painting are close in design to the campanile (bell-tower) of the palace. The ornate entrance to the building in the foreground is inspired by the gateway to the Farnese gardens, created by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese. On the balustrade of the building is a statue of Venus, the goddess of love. During the 1640s, when this work was painted, the statue belonged to the Medici family, wealthy Italian bankers who were Claude’s patrons. Between these two buildings stands the Arch of Titus, an ancient Roman landmark.

Such port scenes were popular in Rome during the seventeenth century, and Claude produced a number of them. He painted earlier works with a similar composition for Pope Urban VIII (Alnwick Castle, Northumberland) and Angelo Giorio, who became a cardinal in 1643 and was the owner of the Villa Farnesina, which is referred to in this painting. Many of Claude’s paintings were later purchased by northern European aristocrats travelling around the Continent on what became known as the ’Grand Tour' – an opportunity to see the great works of ancient and modern art, and to acquire examples for their own collections.

Key facts

Details

Full title: A Seaport
Artist: Claude
Artist dates: 1604/5? - 1682
Date made: 1644
Medium and support: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 103 × 131 cm
Inscription summary: Signed; Dated
Acquisition credit: Bought, 1824
Inventory number: NG5
Location: Room 29
Collection: Main Collection
Previous owners: John Julius Angerstein
Frame: 17th-century French Frame

Provenance

Possibly painted for Angelo Giori (1586–1662), chamberlain to the papal household; in the collection of the marquis de Lassay, possibly Armand de Madaillan de Lesparre (1652–1738) or his only son, Léon de Madaillan, comte de Lassay (1683–1750); in the collection of Louis-Jean Gaignat (1697?–1768), Receveur des Consignations, possibly by 1757 or 1762, but certainly in his sale, Paris, Pierre Rémy, 14ff. February 1769 (lot 53, 5010 livres to Rémy for Aubert?); in the collection of César-Gabriel de Choiseul, duc de Praslin (1712–85), by 1777; posthumous sale of Louis-César-Renaud, duc de Choiseul-Praslin, Paris, Paillet, 18–25 February 1793 (lot 141, 15001 livres to Dulac); possibly in the collection of Herries, an English banker living in the rue de Bac, Paris, and seized as émigré property 2 August 1794; according to Buchanan, imported by Delahante; with the dealer Philippe Panné, George Street, Hanover Square, by February 1805 when offered (with NG 2) by Panné for 6000 guineas; bought by John Julius Angerstein (1735–1823) together with NG 2 in March 1805 for £4500; bought with other paintings from Angerstein’s collection from his executors in 1824.

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Humphrey Wine, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Seventeenth Century French Paintings’, London 2001; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Exhibition history

2011

Claude Lorrain: The Enchanted Landscape

The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology

6 October 2011 - 8 January 2012

Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie

3 February 2012 - 6 May 2012
2020

Masterpieces from the National Gallery, London

The National Museum of Western Art

18 June 2020 - 18 October 2020

The National Museum of Art

3 November 2020 - 31 January 2021
2021

Botticelli to Van Gogh: Masterpieces from the National Gallery, London

National Gallery of Australia

5 March 2021 - 14 June 2021

Bibliography

1752

A.-J. Dézallier d'Argenville, Voyage pittoresque de Paris, 2nd edn, Paris 1752
1793

Paillet, Catalogue des tableaux précieux des écoles d'Italie, de Flandres, de Hollande et de France; figures & bustes… le tout provenant du cabinet de feu M. Choiseul-Praslin, Paris, 18 February 1793 - 25 February 1793
1823

J. Young, A Catalogue of the Celebrated Collection of Pictures of the Late John Julius Angerstein, Esq: Containing a Finished Etching of Every Picture, and Accompanied with Historical and Biographical Notices, London 1823
1824

W. Buchanan, Memoirs of Painting: With a Chronological History of the Importation of Pictures by the Great Masters into England Since the French Revolution, London 1824
1830

J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters: In Which is Included a Short Biographical Notice of the Artists, with a Copious Description of Their Principal Pictures […], vol. 2, London 1830
1862

N. Lebrun, 'Cabinets des amateurs de Paris, en 1777', L'Almanach, 1862
1873

L. Duvaux, Livre-journal de Lazare Duvaux, Paris 1873
1884

Mme Pattison, Claude Lorrain, sa vie et ses oeuvres, Paris 1884
1903

J. Ruskin, Modern Painters, eds E.T. Cook and A. Wedderburn, The Works of John Ruskin, 39 vols, London 1903
1946

Martin Davies, National Gallery Catalogues: French School, London 1946
1957

Martin Davies, National Gallery Catalogues: French School, 2nd edn (revised), London 1957
1961

M. Röthlisberger, Claude Lorrain: The Paintings, London 1961
1972

I.G. Kennedy, 'Claude and Architecture', Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, XXXV, 1972, pp. 260-83
1975

M. Röthlisberger, L'opera completa di Claude Lorrain, Milan 1975
1976

D. Cordingly, 'Claude Lorrain and the Southern Seaport Tradition', Apollo, CIII, 1976, pp. 208-13
1977

S. Corradini, 'La collezione del Cardinal Angelo Giori', Antologia di belle arti, I, 1977, pp. 83-8
1978

A. Macintyre and K. Garlick (eds), The Diary of Joseph Farington, vol. 5, New Haven 1978-1984
1978

M. Kitson, Claude Lorrain: Liber Veritatis, London 1978
1980

J. Mills and R. White, 'Analyses of Paint Media', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, IV, 1980, pp. 65-7
1980

M. Wyld, J. Mills and J. Plesters, 'Some Observations on Blanching (with Special Reference to the Paintings of Claude)', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, IV, 1980, pp. 49-63
1992

H. Wine and O. Koester, Fransk Guldalder: Poussin and Claude and French Painting of the Seventeenth Century, (exh. cat. Statens Museum for Kunst, 29 February - 3 May 1992), Copenhagen 1992
1994

H. Wine, Claude: The Poetic Landscape (exh. cat. The National Gallery, London, 26 January - 10 April 1994), London 1994
1996

J. Edwards, Alexandre-Joseph Paillet: Expert et marchand de tableaux à la fin du XVIIIe siècle, Paris 1996
1997

M.D. Rincón de Arellano, 'Turner visto por sus contemporáneos', Goya, 256, 1997, pp. 235-40
1999

G. Bergmann, Claude Lorrain: Das Leuchten der Landschaft, München 1999
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
2001

Wine, Humphrey, National Gallery Catalogues: The Seventeenth Century French Paintings, London 2001
2002

S. Richardson, Light: A National Gallery Touring Exhibition (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 26 January - 7 April 2002; Laing Art Gallery, 20 April - 7 July 2002; The National Gallery, London, 18 July - 6 October 2002), London 2002
2003

P. Spencer-Longhurst, The Sun Rising through Vapour: Turner's Early Seascapes (exh. cat. The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, 24 October 2003 - 25 January 2004), Birmingham 2003

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

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