Seaport

By Permission of the National Gallery, London

Claude Lorrain, A Seaport (1639), (Oil (identified) on canvas, 99.1 x 129.5 cm). National Gallery, Number five. This is the smallest of three seaport paintings by Claude housed in the National Gallery (see also Seaport with the Embarkation of Saint Ursula (1641) (NG 30) and Seaport with the Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba (1648) (NG 14)). Although the painting represents an idealized, imaginary port rather than a specific location, Claude was influenced in his many seaport paintings by his knowledge of Naples. The National Gallery Catalogue notes that the painting 'corresponds with sheet no.43 from the Liber Veritatis (London, British Museum), the inscription on which records the painting as having been made for Angelo Giorio (1586-1662) who was made a cardinal in 1643' ( National Gallery Catalogue, p. 124). The painting became part of the National Gallery Collection with the J.J.Angerstein collection in 1824.

AT

Claude Gellée (le Lorrain) 1600-82
A Seaport 1639
Oil on canvas, 99.1x129.5cm
Provenance: Painted for Cardinal Angelo Giorio, 1639; Marquis de Lassay (died 1738); Duc de Praslin by 1777, and bequeathed in 1785 to M. de Choiseul-Praslin; bought with the J.J. Angerstein collection, 1824
Further Comments: This is the smallest of Claude's three seaports in the National Gallery.
Collection: National Gallery, London