Philosophy Of Art: Analysis Of View Of La Crecenza By Claude Lorrain

“So complex is the information that reaches us from the visible world that no picture will ever embody it all”Sir Ernst GombrichThis quote about the way we see things and how, in his opinion that we should see them was by Ernst Gombrich. Gombrich was a Austrian art historian whose life spanned from 1909 through 2001. The quote above in my opinion, refers to the fact that a painting, does not tell the full story. For example, I can show you a photograph of a great tree and a few lambs grazing near it with some fog in the background. Someone looking at the photo may hypothesise that this photo was taken at a very peaceful time, long before modern inventions were around and the lambs probably didn't belong to anyone, maybe they were just wild.

However that very same photo if taken in the opposite direction could showcase that it was not in fact smog in the air, but smoke filling the air coming from the heavy artillery during one of the Napoleonic Wars. If I showed you a picture of a flower would you be able to see photosynthesis in motion? What Gombrich is saying, in my opinion is if the picture does not show the whole than the picture is not telling you everything that is going on even if you are looking at one specific thing. The painting the “View of La Crecenza” is an oil painting on canvas that has dimensions of 15 and ¼ inch length and 22 and ⅞ inch width it currently resides in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. It was painted by French painter Claude Lorrain during the Baroque era. His painting was in fact of a old medieval fortress on the outskirts of Rome. Renovated into a country house, the building was once owned by the Crescenzi family, members of the Italian aristocracy.

According to their website MMOA credits this painting being started in 1648 and completed in 1650. The quote by Gombrich relates to Lorrains unique way of representation in a few ways. For example Lorrains painting does not embody everything down to microscopic level I guarantee that there are many bugs insects etc that are going on in the image that were not communicated. This was probably done very deliberately by Lorrain. Also it is interesting that the passage in our reading communicate how French painters would use a lot of oil to paint and Germans would be more delicate with their brush and as opposed to using a broad brush, would use fine points to exactly detail every little thing “we fell in love with every blade of grass, every tiny twig and refused to let anything escape us. Everyone tried to render the motif as objectively as possible. ”

As a Frenchman I doubt Lorrain was immune to the practices of his fellow countrymen. As the text by Gombrich lso states that “when the [ French and Germans] compared the fruits of their efforts in the evening,their transcripts deferred to a surprising extent. The mood the color had undergone a subtle transformation for each of them”. So it wouldn't be foreign to read in between the lines of Gobrich to express that he believes that French ‘heavy handedness’ so to speak could have influenced Lourain to allow his realistic painting to be less realistic intentionally to set a certain mood and drive home a certain point (what that point is can be debated) or was less than realistic due to his home country’s influences. Lorrain is representing the world in away that regardless of his intentions in not really real whether it me the mood or the ants in the bushes it does not show us the whole story of the picture. Was he painting this with the scenery in front of him, was he painting it during a special time of year in Rome or even for arguments make a special time of year in Europe.

In 1648, the European wars of religion had just ended that very same year with the signing of the Peace of Westphalia, did the politics do something to effect Lorrains rendering there are so many questions as the why and how this painting would defer from say a photograph of that exact same spot but Lorrain did not convey the “ visible world” as he may have thought he had. Additionally, Lorrain’s portrait showcases the castle far in the distance, what is its significance? What is Lorraine's history with the castle. Did he think it was just a beautiful sight and he wanted to flex his artistic muscle. Furthermore what is going on behind the painting. As Gombrich wrote that the visible world will be unable to be embodied in a painting it is because the painting lacks context. Not just the year that it was made or the emotions of the artist but also what is the true environment. For example as I stated previously, a painting of trees and sheep and seem harmless and calming, but if you were given a Panoramic view of the same painting and you saw a major battle of the Napoleonic wars you would react differently.

So as we see a great castle and good trees and so forth what truly is the context for why Lorraine drew this painting is an aspect of the painting that I would be very interested in finding out. In conclusion this painting says to me that there is a lot more to see. Focusing in on Gombrich’s visible world and ignoring all the other senses that may be ignited by looking at Lorrains work there are aspects of this painting that have me intrigued, whether it be the emotions and mood of the moment or Lorrains background influence his work or the context and reason for this paintings very existence has interested me. Lorrain is an excellent painter as Gombrich states in his book the story of art, but there is a lot to this work, some intentional, some with purpose and reason but they all sum up to make a good painting.