The Golden Age... the First and Last Days of Mankind

8/9/2019 The Golden Age... the First and Last Days of Mankind

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"The Golden Age... The First and Last Days of Mankind": Claude Lorrain and Classical Pastoral,with Special Emphasis on Themes from Ovid's "Metamorphoses"

Author(s): Claire PaceSource: Artibus et Historiae, Vol. 23, No. 46 (2002), pp. 127-156Published by: IRSA s.c.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1483702Accessed: 14/05/2009 19:16

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2/31

CLAIRE

PACE

"TheGolden

Age...

The

First

and

Last

Days

of Mankind":

Claude

Lorrain nd Classical

Pastoral,

with

Special Emphasis

on Themes

from

Ovid's

Metamorphoses*

Dostoievsky's

vision of Claude's Acis

and

Galatea

[Fig.

1],1

which he had seen

in

Dresden

in

1867,

represen-

ted

a

harmonious

but

ultimately

unattainable

Golden

Age,

which will eventually vanish. This response captures partof

the essential

spirit

of Claude's

rendering

of Ovidian

themes,

at least towards the end of

his

career.

In

the

words

of

Versilov,

in

The Raw

Youth,

Claude's

painting

depicts

"mankind's

paradise...

a wonderful dream..."2 The context

is that of the Golden

Age

in

a more

specific

sense,

as

it

was

described

by

classical

writers and

by 17th-century mytho-

graphers,

and the

painting provides

a central focus for

any

discussion of Claude's

rendering

of Ovidian

themes,

as

I hope to show.

Marcel

Roethlisberger

has stated

in

a seminal article

that "the

subjects

of Claude's

paintings...

are of fundamen-

tal

importance, they

are

in

fact the chief

key

to the full under-

standing

of his

landscapes."3

This

assumption

has

underlain

a

number

of

recent studies.4

It is in

this

context that

I

pro-

pose

to

explore

the

question

of Claude's

interpretation

of

subjects

from Ovid's

Metamorphoses,

in an

attempt

to

analyse

the

distinctive

qualities

of this

interpretation,

as

well

as to

suggest

some

possible

visual sources

for

Claude's

imagery.

I

Claude

and the

Pastoral Tradition

This

paper

is

divided into two

interconnected sections:

Iwish first to locate Claude's approachto Ovidinthe pastoral

and Arcadian

tradition,

and

especially

to note his

affinity

o

Sannazaro's Arcadia. The second section turns

specifically

to

a consideration of

Claude's Ovidian

subjects,

though

still

emphasizing

the

pastoral

connection.

Claude

was

contributing

to an

established tradition

of

illustrations

o

Ovid,

notably by

Titian

and Northernartists

in

Rome,

but his

interpretation

differed

in

many respects

from

that of other artists.5

I

believe that his

approach

to Ovid is

most profitably considered in the context of his pastoral

scenes,

which

are rooted

in

the

Arcadian

pastoral

tradition

going

back

in

literature o

Theocritus and

Vergil's eclogues,

and

popularised

in

the Renaissance

by

Sannazaro.6

In

the

visual arts

this

tradition s

epitomised

by

the

pastoral

scenes

of

Giorgione

and

Titian,

or the

woodcuts

of

Campagnola.7

It

may

therefore be worth

briefly summarizing

some of the

important

haracteristics of

this tradition.

Characteristically,

the

pastoral landscape

consists of

a

peaceful

rural

scene, envisaged

as a

place

or

refuge

and

solace,

composed

of certain

key

motifs. In

particular,

tree or

127


3/31

CLAIRE ACE

1)

Claude

Lorrain,

((Coast Scene

with

Acis and

Galatea?>,

1657

(LV 141),

100

x

135

cm, Dresden,

Gemaldegalerie.

group

of trees

(a

sacred

grove),

to

provide

shade from the

midday

sun; water,

generally

a

pool

or

stream,

to offer refresh-

ment;

soft

green grass

on which a

shepherd

reclines and

flocks

graze.

For this is an

inhabited,

humanised

landscape-

though

the inhabitants

should be herdsmen or

shepherds,

not

engaged

in

physical

toil,

for

only

thus would

they

have the

leisure

(otium)

to

indulge

in

music-making (playing pipes

or

singing)

and

in

contemplation-often

about fulfilledor

unhap-

py

love.8 Thus the sense of ease

and freedom is an essential

attribute.

Such an innocent

and

simple

life led

in

this rural

locus amoenus

(delightful

place)

is often

presented

in

explicit

or

implicit

contrast to

the

supposedly

more stressful existence

of urban civilisation-whether

as a

refuge,

or

as a

morally

superior

alternative to urban existence. The harmonious

128


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"THE

GOLDEN

AGE...":

CLAUDE ND

CLASSICAL

ASTORAL

atmosphere

may,

however,

be disturbed

by

a reminder

of

the

transience of

happiness,

and of

human

mortality epitomised

by the tomb of a shepherd), introducingan elegiac, as well as

an

idyllic

mood.

In

some

cases,

the inclusion of

shrines

or

architecture

provides

a

reminderof the

outside

world,

or of

the

deity

to whom the

sacred

spot

is devoted.

Such

a

landscape

finds its

earliest

literary

expression

in

the Greek

bucolic

poets,

and

in

the

Idylls

of the

Hellenistic

writer

Theocritus,

originally

rom

Syracuse

in

Sicily,

described

as

"the founder

of

pastoral

poetry"

and

writing

in

Greek.9 In

particular,

dyll

1,

and

Idylls

3 to

7,

and

11

have been

charac-

terised as bucolic, as concerned with the characteristic

themes of

the

genre,

notably

that of the

lovesick

shepherd

or

herdsman,

resting

and

playing

music

(sometimes

in

a

contest

with

another

shepherd),

and

singing

of his

love.

Theocritus

also

introduces the more

elegiac

theme

of the

presence

of

death;

in

his

Idylls

1

and

7,

a

group

of

shepherds

lament

the

death

of their

companion Daphnis,

and

the

natural world

shares their

grief-another

recurrent

topos

of

pastoral.10

Theocrituswas intouch with

early

rituals

concerning

the

death

of a shepherd king, and their close connections with the

theme of

nature's death

and renewal: the

very

essence of

metamorphosis.11

Segal

has

emphasized

the

"tension

between

realism

and

artificiality..."

hat is

characteristic of

Theocritus'

poetry:

as well

as the

evocation of

the

traveller

reclining

"under

a

shady

beech tree

when the

sun's

heat

parches",

there

may

be

also a

"conventional and

generic"

treatment of elements of the

setting.

There are

also

reminis-

cences of the

actual Sicilian

landscape,

with

references

to

pines, wildolive trees, the sea and the mountains.12

In

Vergil's

more

complex

bucolic

poems,

the

Eclogues-

the

prime

source of

the

pastoral

literary

radition

n

Europe-

there is a

more

varied

landscape;

in

Eclogue

1,

a

well-tended

farm,

seen

through

the

eyes

of an

exile;

in

Eclogue

2,

also

a

farm,

seen

by

a farm

slave;

Eclogue

3

presents

a

ruralcoun-

tryside,

with

shrines and

vineyards;

the

enigmatic

evocation of

a

new

Golden

Age

in

Eclogue

4

has a

context of

forest-clad

wilderness-the

Golden

Age,

it

is

suggested,

will

bring

about

a transformation f Rome into a farmwhere the earth is spon-

taneously productive.

Such a

variety

reflects

a

modification

n

mood and

treatment

in

the

sequence

of

poems,

concerned

with

the

shifting relationship

between

man and

nature.13In

Vergil'spoems,

we are

conscious of

the

fragility

of the

tranquil

rural

dyll;

we

are made

aware of the

existence of the distant

town,

and

also of the

exigencies

both of

history

and

of con-

temporary

existence. Death

too is

present,

with

the

tomb of

Daphnis

in

Eclogue

5 and the

elegiac

group

of

mourners sur-

rounding

it.14In

many

instances,

a

sense of

the actual Italian

landscape

underlies the

presentation

of

general

motifs.

Vergil'spoems

are not

alone

in

possessing

such

associations;

the

landscape

vignettes

in

Tibullus'

Elegies,

which are

remi-

niscent of contemporarysacral-idyllic

painting,

are also reso-

nant with

a

sense of

history,

evoking

the

pastoral

origins

of

Rome.15

The

concept

of

Arcadia-representing

an

imaginary

realm,

peopled

by herdsmen-poets,

remote from

worldly

cares,

devoted to

song

and the

pursuit

of

love-is

closely

linked to the

pastoral

landscape,

and

indeed is

indissolubly

associated with

Claude's

paintings.

However,

despite

the

later

associations of Arcadia with an idyllic, gentle landscape,

a locus

amoenus

providing

a

timeless

refuge,

the

landscape

of

the actual

Arcadia

(in

the

Peloponnese),

as

described

by

the

historian

Polybius,

is harsh and

rugged.

It

s

notable,

also,

that

Vergil

refers to

Arcadia,

or

Arcades,

in

only

four

passages

of

the

Eclogues,

and of

these

only

two include

specific

land-

scape

descriptions,

never

referring

o

the whole

landscape

as

"Arcadian".16

he

most

important

of

such

passages

is the

Arcadian

description

of

Eclogue

10,

where the

wild and

moun-

tainous landscape sympatheticallyreflects a lover's sorrow-

for the

landscape

of Arcadia

tself is

here,

ironically,

harsh

and

unwelcoming.

The

shepherd

Gallus

is a

victim of

"crudelis

amor",

who "willthink

of

wandering

through

forests which

are...wilder and

more

dangerous

than

those of

pastoral,

but

bear

a close

resemblance

to some

of the erotic

landscapes

of

the

Metamorphoses."17

For

example,

Eclogue

10,

line

52:

"...to

suffer in

the

woods

among/

The wild

beasts'

dens...";

or

line 58: "...the

sounding

rocks and

groves..."18

Vergil's

Arcadiahas, indeed, been described as a "variation pon the

classical tradition

that

pictured

Arcadia

as

primitive

wilder-

ness..."19 It

may

perhaps

be

seen as

representing

a

"hard"

s

opposed

to a "soft"

primitivism,

o use

Lovejoy

and

Boas'

ter-

minology.20

Arcadia

becomes

associated with

the

gentler,

more fertile

locus

amoenus

chiefly

in

post-classical

develop-

ments,

particularly

with

Sannazaro's more

eclectic,

pic-

turesque

and

enormously

influential

eponymous

romance,

which

probably provided

the

immediate

source of

imagery

for

many sixteenth- and seventeenth-centuryartists.21However,

Sannazaro's

use of

Vergil's

Eclogues

is

highly

selective,

and

his

representation

of

Arcadiaas

a vision

of the

pastoral

world

is

based

almost

entirely

on an elaboration

of

the

outlines

adumbrated

in the

tenth

Eclogue.

For

instance,

his

romance

opens

thus:22

There lies

on the

summitof

Parthenius,

a not

inconsider-

able mountain

in

Arcadia,

a

pleasant

plateau...

filledwith

deep-green herbage...

There

are about

a dozen... trees of

such unusual

and

exceeding

beauty

that

any

who

saw

129


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CLAIRE ACE

2) Claude Lorrain,


6/31

"THE

GOLDEN

AGE...":CLAUDE NDCLASSICALASTORAL

there

shortly

and

finding

living springs

so clear that

they

seemed of purest crystal,they began to refresh with the chill

water their beautiful

aces..."33

In

particular,

pecific

rivers or

springs

are associated

with

beautiful

and

peaceful

places,

notably

the Vale

of

Tempe,

in

Thessaly,

or the

river Anio at

Tivoli,

which

also had a celebrated

cascade,

much

praised by

travellers o

Italy.

Reminiscences

of

such

springs

or

cascades

occur

in

a number of Claude's

pastorals-sometimes

in the

context of a

recognisable,

if

idealised view

of

Tivoli;

or

exam-

ple,

Pastoral

Landscape

withthe

Temple

of the

Sibyl

at Tivoli

of

1639,

or

Pastoral

Landscape

of 1641.34

In the

setting

of

groves

and

shady pools, recalling

classi-

cal

pastoral-with

the

addition

of

buildings,

both

entire and

ruined

(the

latter

an

innovation of

Sannazaro's

Renaissance

pastoral)-certain underlying

themes recur

frequently, again

recalling

those of

Vergil

or Theocritus.

In

particular,

he bucol-

ic

landscape

is

pervaded by

the twin

themes

of love and

music. The musical contest between rival

shepherds

or herds-

man forms a recurrent

"framing"

evice

in

both Theocritus'

Idylls

and

Vergil'sEclogues,

and

it

comprises

the virtual aison

d'etre of

Sannazaro's

Arcadia: or

instance,

the

contest,

remi-

niscent

of

Vergil's

"arcades

ambos",

between

Logisto

and

Elpino, "shepherds

handsome of

person...both

of Arcadiaand

equally ready

to

sing..."35

Shepherds

or

herdsman

playing

an

instrument-either the

sampogna (bagpipes)

or the reed

pipe-are

familiar inhabitants

of

Claude's

pastorals

of the

1630s;

for

instance,

the

Pastoral

Landscape

of

1636

(LV11),

with

piping

herdsman,

or

the

Pastoral

Landscape

of c.

1637

(LV25),

with a

standing goatherd piping

and a seated

shep-

herdess

playing

a

pipe, accompanied by

a

shepherdess

strik-

ing

the tambourine.36Other

examples

are

LV

39,

of

1639,

with

a seated

figure playing

the

sampogna,

and LV

42,

with

seated

shepherd

playing

the

flute to a

listening

shepherdess.37

Music is also

present

as

an

accompaniment

to the rural

dance,

one

of

the favouritemotifs

in

Claude's

early

pastorals;

as

many

as

eight

or nine

paintings

show the

subject

of the

dance, repeated inthree etchings, and several drawings; rom

the

early

Landscape

with Peasant Dance

(St

Louis)

of

c.1630

to

the

Landscape

with

Country

Dance of

1637,

or LV

13

(1637),

made for

Pope

Urban

VIII, lover,

and

author,

of

bucolic

poet-

ry [Fig.

3].38

It

was of this last work

that

Blunt wrote that it

"might

be an illustration o the end of

Georgic

II",

while

Kitson

comments that the

subject

of

pairs

of dancers

competing

for

a

trophy,might

have been

suggested

by

a

traditional

ural

es-

tivity.39

his

might,

indeed,

be

a

reflection

of

such festivities as

the "festivo de' Pastori", n honour of ruraldeities, described

in

Sannazaro's romance.40

Another

recurrent theme is that

of

the

journey,

often at

evening, eitherof travellersmakingtheirway through a land-

scape,

of

shepherds journeying,

or of herdsmen

driving

cattle

along

a

path;

in the

Arcadia,

such

passages

occur,

for exam-

ple,

in Prosa

2,

describing

shepherds driving

heir

flocks,

or

in

Prosa

5,

with

a

journey

through

woods.41 Parallels

may

be

found

in Claude's

work;

for

instance,

Landscape

with

Shep-

herds of

1630-35,

with herdsman

driving

cattle

diagonally

into

the

picture

or Pastoral

Landscape (LV

18),

where

there

is

a similar sense

of

movement,

of herdsman

ushering

herds

through

the

landscape.42

LV

67,

of

1642,

shows a horseman

crossing

a

bridge

as

he

journeys

towards

Tivoli,

and herds-

man

driving

cattle to drinkat the ford

in

the

foreground.43

While Theocritus

presents

an

unchanging

scene,

with an

unending

noontide,

Vergil,

on the other

hand,

shows a con-

sciousness of the

powerful

associations of certain times of

day, especially

dawn

and dusk-the most

evocative and

poet-

ic moments.44Three of the

Eclogues

close

with

the

coming

of

evening, prompting

Panofsky's

evocative

term,

"vespertinal"

as

expressing

the

characteristic mood of the

genre.45

In

the

first

Eclogue

the

fall of

night interrupts

human

song

(lines

82-

83); evening

is also evoked

in

Eclogues

2,

6 and 9. Sannazaro

characteristicallyexpands

such

evocations,

for

example

his

Prosa

V: "At he

going

down

of the sun now

all

the west was

scattered

over

with

a thousand kinds of

clouds..."46

The

effects of

moonlight

are

particularly

ssociated

by

Sannazaro

with a

sacred

place,

with an

aura

of

divinity; .g.:

"A

place

truly

sacred

and

worthy

of

being

always

inhabited-thither

when

the

shining

moon with ullface shall

appear

to mortalsover the

entire

earth

I

shall lead

you..."47

The

idea

of

mutability

s also

implicitlyconveyed by

the

changing

seasons evoked

by Vergil:

n

the first

Eclogue,

that

of

autumn;

in

the

third and

seventh,

that

of

spring;

while the

second recalls late

summer,

with

scenes of

harvesting,

ploughing

and

pruning.48Although

the world of the

Eclogues

is an ideal

world, then,

it

is also imbued with

a sense of the

passing

of

time,

a

sense of

transience;

it

depicts

the

cycle

of

seasons, evoking particularlyhe promiseof spring,or the full-

ness of

summer.

Thus,

in

contrast

to

Theocritus'

timeless

world,

Vergil's

rural

poetry (especially

Eclogue

4)

is

charac-

terised

by

a sense of

time and of

history.

Claude's

landscapes,

also,

are

permeated

by

a

sense of

the

passing

of

time.49

Although

the

season of his

paintings

is

generally

that of

high

summer,

with

its heat and

lush

vegeta-

tion,

nevertheless

the

choice of

morning

or

evening,

with

their

associations of arrival or departure, pinpoints particular

moments.

(Moonlight occasionally

occurs,

with

melancholy

131


7/31

CLAIRE ACE

3)

Claude

Lorrain,

,

637,

drawing

(LV

13),

194

x

259

mm, London,

British Museum.

associations,

as

in

the

drawing

of the Three

Heliads

Mourning

at the Tomb

of

Phaeton).50

The

frequentlyrecurring

hemes of

travellersor

figures

journeying hrough

the

landscape, already

noted,

also

convey

this

sense of the

passage

of time.

And,

as

we shall

suggest, many

of the

subjects

chosen

also,

in

them-

selves

imply

transience and

mutability.

Indeed,

it

might

be

suggested

that the

presence

of

ruins-whether of real or of

imaginarybuildings-in many of his paintings itself implies

a meditation on time's relentless

passage:

a constant theme

among

travellers

o Rome.51

The ruins

depicted

in

Claude's

paintings may

also be

seen

as

emblematic of Rome's former historical

greatness.

Vergil,

too,

is

particularly

reoccupied

with

Italian,

ndeed

specifical-

ly

Roman

history.

The

prophetic

fourth

Eclogue

is the

locus

classicus

for

the idea of a

golden age.52

Here the Roman and

Italian connotations, symbolised in the reference to the

132


8/31

"THE

GOLDENAGE...":CLAUDE

ND

CLASSICALASTORAL

4)

Claude

Lorrain,

(Panand

Syrinx)),

.

1656,

drawing,

260

x

409

mm, Rotterdam,

Museum

Boymans-van Beuningen.

Cumaean

Sibyl, imply

a sense of

history

that is essential to

Vergil's

"Romanized

conception

of the

golden age".

The

Eclogues

are linked

in

this

respect

to a

passage

in the

eighth

book of the

Aeneid,

where the

poet

celebrates,

in

terms of

a

"golden

age",

a

post-primitive

ociety specifically

located

in

Latium

Italy).

The

poem

describes the

founding

of Rome on

the Palatine

Hill

by

the

shepherd-king

Evanderof Arcadia.53

Claude's later

paintings,

often made for

noble Roman

patrons,

convey

a

Vergilian

ense

of

the

early

history

of

Rome,

and this

particular

episode

is

given magnificent

embodiment

by

Claude

in

one of the "Altieri

Claudes",

the

Landing

of

Aeneas at

Pallanteum;

the

Trojan

prince

meets

with

King

Evander,

rulerof Arcadia(as recounted inAeneid

viii).

Aeneas

accompanies

Evander o the

Palatine,

where he is shown the

shrine of

Lycaean

Pan;

Pallanteumwas venerated

by

Roman

antiquarians

as a

primitive hepherd community

and the site

of the

worship

of

the

goddess

Pales,

sacred

to

shepherds

and

herdsmen.

The

theme of Roman rites is also treated

by

Tibullus,

who describes a sacrifice to

Pales,

goddess

of

shep-

herds,

thus

again emphasizing

Rome's

pastoral origins.54

Propertius'

ourth book of

Elegies similarly

alludes to a "lost"

primitive

Rome.55

In

Sannazaro's

romance,

the

description

of

rites

in

honour of the

gods

has an

important

place;

as,

for

instance,

in

the account of the festival of

Pales,

with

its accom-

panying

festivities.56The land

depicted

is thus "both

mythical

and

real",

n Fantazzi'swords. InClaude's

painting,

he

figures

133


9/31

CLAIRE ACE

of the

shepherd

and his flock

in

the left

foreground

below the

hill,

emphasize

the

pastoral

origins

of the foundation of

Rome.57

Mortality,

oo,

is

present

in

the

Eclogues;

in

Eclogue

5 the

shepherds

mourn the death of

Daphnis (recalling

Theocritus'

first

Idyll).

The sense

of a

sympathetic

nature,

with trees and

rocks

joining

in

the

mourning,

is

powerful,

and

expanded

by

Sannazaro,

for

example

his second

Egloga,

or,

in

particular,

the

passage

in

Prosa

X,

describing

how "...the

pine

trees

round

about made answer

to him...and the

visiting

oaks,

for-

getful of their own wild nature,abandoned theirnative moun-

tains to hearken to him..."58While Claude

himself

relatively

rarely depicts

death

itself,

nevertheless

many

of his

paintings

carry

he

weight

of a sense

of

foreboding,

of imminent

ragedy,

that

elegiac quality

which has

been defined as an essential

element in Arcadia.Above

all,

the sense of a close

sympathy

between man and nature

is

implicit

n

Claude's

work.

In

classical

pastoral,

the

ruralscene is

peopled

not

only

by

shepherds,

but also

by

rural deities or semi-deities-

nymphs, fauns, satyrs, and especially Pan, deity of Arcadia,

whose

pipes

became

the traditional

ymbol

of the music-mak-

ing

Arcadian

shepherd.

A

drawing by

Claude

[Fig. 4]

shows

Pan

pursuing

the

nymph Syrinx,

whose transformation

to

reeds created

pan-pipes.59

Pan

plays

an

important

role

in

the

Arcadia,

where Sannazaro refers

to

him

as "the forest

deity"

("Iddio

del salvatico

paese");

in

Prosa

X,

he describes the tem-

ple,

statue,

and cave

of Pan.60The

cave,

"very

ancient and

roomy",

s situated in a sacred

grove,

"beneath an

overhang-

ing cliffamong fallenrock",withan altar"shaped by the rustic

hands of

shepherds".61

Pan's characteristic

instrument,

the

sampogna,

recalls the bucolic verse

of

Vergil;

n

Sannazaro's

verses,

a

"large

and beautiful

sampogna" hangs

from the

branch of

a

"lofty

and

spreading pine

tree"

in

front of

the

cave.62

A

dance of

the

Satyrs

who form the

entourage

of Pan is

also described

in

Sannazaro:

"Let auns and

Sylvans

leap.

Let

meadows and

running

waters

laugh...",

recalling

a

passage

from the first

book of the

Metamorphoses.63

Claude's

Landscape

with a

Dancing

Satyr

of

1641,

while not

specifical-

ly

Ovidian,

eems to

epitomise

this

passage [Fig. 5].

As Kitson

has

observed,

it

translates his

favourite theme of the rural

dance into Arcadian

and Bacchic terms.64

The

depiction

of

nymphs,

fauns and

satyrs-part

human,

part

divine

creatures-may

serve as a

point

of transition

between the

"pure" pastorals,

and the

"mythological pas-

torals"

(to

use Freedman's

term)

which

depict

scenes from the

Metamorphoses.65

The

underlying

heme of the

Metamorpho-

ses-that of transformationntoplants or flowers (most usual-

5)

Claude

Lorrain,


10/31

"THE

GOLDENAGE...":

CLAUDE ND

CLASSICAL

ASTORAL

Sannazaro

then

describes

Apollo

as a

shepherd

guarding

the

herds of

Admetus,

which are

then

stolen

by Mercury-one

of Claude's favouritesubjects: "Andon one of the sides was

fairest

Apollo,

who,

leaning

on

a

wild-olive

staff,

was

guarding

the herds of Admetus on the bank of a river... he

was unaware

of clever

Mercury,

who

in

pastoral

dress... was

stealing away

his cows..."68

1I

Ovidian

Landscapes

in

Relation

to the Pastoral Tradition

Landscape

in

Ovid's

poem

Landscape

has an

important

place

in

Ovid's

poem:

his

settings

are

suggestive

and

impressionistic,

not concerned

with

the realistic

depiction

of

actual

scenery.

Imbued

with

reli-

gious

or

spiritualfeeling,

and

aptly

described as a

"paysage

mystique",

the

landscape

of

the

Metamorphoses

is

largely

symbolic,

with the

recurring

andscape

motifs

of the

pastoral

tradition: ecluded groves, quietwater,shade, soft grass, and

sometimes

rocks

or

a

cavern;

Segal

refers to "an almost

stereotypical sylvan scenery..."69

Ovid

was, indeed,

in

many ways

indebted

to

Theocritus

and

Vergil

or

his

settings;

according

to

Segal,

"Ovid's

groves,

shaded

place,

clear

fountains,

cool

streams,

grassy

meadows,

flowers, caves,

have close affinities

with

Theocritus' set-

tings".70

Yet,

although

the

landscape

of the

Metamorphoses

is

intimately

connected

withthe

pastoral

tradition,

t

subverts it.

The characteristic effect of Ovid's landscape arises from the

way

he uses

idyllic settings

for the erotic or violent actions he

describes,

thus

inverting

the usual connotations of

pastoral

landscape.

For

example,

whereas

the elements

of

wood and

water

in

the

pastoral

tradition

imply

refuge

and

solace,

in

Ovid's

poem they

often

become

a source of

danger,

as in the

story

of

Narcissus.

The

impact

of

the

tragic

events narrated s

paradoxically

enhanced

by

contrast

with the

apparently

serene

landscape settings.

Segal

has described

how

the

traditional lements

of

pas-

toral,

the locus

amoenus of a

pool

providing

refreshment

and

a

shady grove offering

shelter from

the

midday

heat,

are

in

Ovid's

poem

the

setting

for scenes

of

violence.71

According

to

Grimal,

Ovid's favourite

landscape

consists of rocks and

forests,

reminiscent of the "harsher"version

of

Arcadia

in

Eclogue

X.72

However,

as Wilkinson and others have

noted,

many descriptions

focus on

water,

which is

the

central

ele-

ment

also

in

bucolic

poetry.73

Shade, umbra,

which

in

Vergil

implies peace

and

leisure,

in Ovid's work often has sinister

qualities, providing

a

setting

for the deaths of

Narcissus,

or

Procris.74

Whereas

sympathy

between man and

nature

is an

essential strand in the

pastoral

tradition,

whereby

the sur-

roundingwoods and mountainsrespond, ina Vergilianway,to

the

emotions

of

the

protagonists,

this is subverted

by

Ovid's

ironical

stress

on

the

threat to

the

figures

at

the

mercy

of lust

or

aggression.75

Some

mention should be made of the

question

of analo-

gies

between the

landscape descriptions

in

Ovid's

poem

and

the

painters

of

Augustan

Rome,

when the

category

of land-

scape

mural

decoration,

and then

mythological landscape

paintingof the late second and thirdstyles, was developing.76

The

principal

motifs of the decorative

painters

of

Augustan

Rome-especially

rocks,

woods,

and water-are those which

also

figure

in

Ovid's

poem,

which

has some

affinities

with

both

scenographic

and

"pure" andscape

painting.

(The

inclusion

of

architectural

elements

in

"sacral-idyllic" ainting

is

signifi-

cant

for Claude's

approach,

if not

directly

relevant to the

Ovidian

ubjects).

Both

poet

and

painters

may

be

said to have

emphasized

the

expressive

qualities

of

landscape.

The con-

sensus is that Ovid may have been indebted to, or at least

aware

of,

contemporary painters;

like

their

work,

his

poem

presents

a

generalised concept

of

landscape,

rather than

a

depiction

of

an actual

scene.

The

motifs

of

woods,

caves

and water

are

presented

as conventional features united

in

a

symbolic

whole.

Claude's

interpretation

of Ovid

As I have suggested, Claude too adopts many of the tra-

ditional motifs of

pastoral

in his

rendering

of Ovidian hemes.

While a

general

debt to classical bucolic

poetry,

and to

Sannazaro,

is

evident

in

the

early

pastorals,

Ovid's

poem

formed his most

frequent

specific

literary

source

(in

both

paintings

and

drawings) throughout

his

long

career;

it

was

chiefly

in

his

final

years

that he focussed

on

subjects

from

Vergil's

Aeneid

(notably

with the

paintings

for

Altieri).77

Claude's interest

in

Ovid

is not in

itself

remarkable,

ince

subjects

from the

Metamorphoses

were

highlypopular

in

the

16th and

17th

centuries,

especially

with

Venetianartists and

with

Northern artists

working

in

Italy.78By

Claude's

day,

indeed,

the

painter

would

probably

often

rely

as much on

established artistic tradition as

upon

textual

minutiae,

and

a

knowledge

of

the

myth

would

generally

have

been

assumed

in

the viewer.

However,

we

know

that Claude

(if

not

always

faithful

o Ovid's own

text)

did consult the

translation

of

Ovid's

text

by

Giovanni

Anguarilla,

and that he

considered

it

suffi-

ciently important

o be noted in

an

inscription

to

one of

his

LiberVeritatis

drawings,

that

to LV

0.79

Indeed,

Claude

went

135


11/31

CLAIRE ACE

so

far

as

to illustratean

episode

found in

Anguarilla's

ransla-

tion,

though

not in the

original

Ovidian

ext,

in

his

depiction

of

MercurypresentingApollowitha lyre, in LV192.80

There was a

long

tradition of "Ovides

moralises",

with

a

specifically

Christian

nterpretation

f

the Ovidian ables. As

late

as

the seventeenth

century,

when the

earlier

allegorical

or

topological interpretations

of

the moralized Ovids had lost

their

force,

something

of this tradition

persisted

in

a

general

sense. As a scholar of Ovid has

written,

"To

egard

a

classical

fable

as

a valid

truth,

necessarily open

to

interpretation

n dif-

ferent levels... is an attitude

of

mind which remained

with

six-

teenth-centurywritersand theirpubliclong afterthe moralized

Ovids themselves were

forgotten..."81

Illustrated

ditions

of Ovid's

text, also,

or series of

prints

based

on

the

Metamorphoses,

were well knownand circulat-

ed

widely during

the sixteenth

and seventeenth

centuries.82

To cite

Moss

again,

"The illustrated editions

of

Ovid show

a

variety

of

ways

of

reading

mythological

narrative... literal...

as visual

picture,

or a set of

general

intellectual

truths

in

coded

form;

as a moral

exemplum,

or...

as

material

for

alle-

gorical interpretationby similitudes,or as a repertoryof liter-

ary

reminiscences

of

associations."83

Among

the

most

influ-

ential

illustrations,

etting

a new artistic

standard,

were those

by

Bernard Salomon for the

Metamorphose

figuree

of

1557,

with

images

on

each

page

above Italian

verses. These

served

as models for a numberof later

illustrations,

notably

the

bold

and

striking engravings by Tempesta (1606), Crispijn

de

Passe's

elegant

illustrations

of

1602,

and also the

splendid

French edition

with

translation

by

Nicolas Renouard of

1619.84

However,

the

extent

to

which

painters

were

indebted

to

the

illustrations s

debatable;

Svetlana

Alpers

has

written

that

"the

pictorial

radition

of monumental

painting

was

often

completely separate

from the

illustratedOvids... illustrations

in the

printed

Ovids were

narrative

not

allegorical

in

intent...

85

Claude was

surely

aware of the

tradition

of

the illustrated

Ovids. For

example,

he

draws

on

its

conventions

in

certain

motifs or

poses

of

figures, particularly

for

more intimate

scenes: a notable

example

is

the

compositional arrangement

in

his Coast Scene with Acis and Galatea.86

In

particular,

he

series

of

etchings,

published

in

1641,

by

the Alsatian artist

J.W.

Baur,

in

which

landscape plays

a dominant

role,

often

seem to have an

affinity

with

Claude's

compositions.87

With

the illustrations

of

Salomon,

Tempesta,

and to some extent

Crispijn

de

Passe, however,

the chief

emphasis

is on the

fig-

ures,

while

with

Claude

it is

the combination

of

figures

and

landscape

that

conveys

the

meaning

of the

compositions.

In

general,

then,

it

seems more

likely

that

Claude drew

chiefly

on the pictorial tradition of Domenichino or of Northern

artists

in

Rome,

and

in

particular,

on his own

pastoral

com-

positions reflecting

the

poetry

of Sannazaro

(as

discussed

above).

Selection of

subjects

Ovidian

subjects

are most common in Claude's oeuvrein

the 1640s and

1650s,

but

may

be

found

throughout

his

career,

from

the

Judgement

of

Paris of 1633

(in

fact

from Ovid's

Heroides,

rather han the

Metamorphoses,

but often included

in

editions of the

latter)

o his

Parnassus

with

Minerva

Visiting

the Muses of 1680.88 In general one may trace a gradual

development

in

his

approach

from an

"allusiveand evocative"

(in

Kitson's

phrase)

to a more

careful and

specific

treatmentof

the

myth:

Kitson's allusion is

to Claude's treatement of the

subject

of

Mercury

and

Aglauros,

where the

artist has set the

scene

showing

Mercury

with Herse and

Aglauros

in an

open

landscape,

rather than as an

interior scene.

(However,

it is

worth

noting

that both

Ovid

and

Anguarilla

tate that

Mercury

descended to earth when he

caught sight

of

Herse

as

he flew

above Minerva's emple, while some of the illustratedOvids

show

Mercury

lying

above

the

figures

outside

Minerva's em-

ple,

and

Claude

may

have drawn on such

images.89)

The

sub-

jects

tend to

be

more

unusual later

in

his

career,

and the

artist

is

also

more

concerned to establish a closer

consonance

between

subject

and

setting (following

he

pattern

of his work

in

general).

When an unfamiliar

ubject

occurs

early

in

the

artist's

career,

one

may suspect

the interventionof the

patron

(or

at

least that the

artist was aware

of

the

patron's particular

interests).90

Some Ovidian

subjects

recur

frequently,

at different

stages

in

Claude's

oeuvre,

as

for instance

with

the

favourite

subject

of

Mercury

nd

Apollo;

others

rarely

or

only

once

(the

ApulianShepherd).

There is a

consistency

in

the kind of

sub-

ject

that

Claude

selects

from

the

Metamorphoses,

at

any

rate

from

the 1640s

onwards,

and

I

hope

that an

analysis

of

this

choice-and

equally

of the

subjects

which the

artist avoids-

may

be

illuminating.

have

suggested

that,

although

Claude

was

contributing

o

an

established traditionof illustrationsof

themes

from Ovid

by

other

artists,

his interest

lies

in

a

differ-

ent

facet

of

the

Metamorphoses

from that of

many

other

painters,

who often tended to dwell on

the

more

erotic or dra-

matic,

even

sensational,

aspects

of

the narrative.

Claude,

in

contrast,

is not

generally

concerned with violent or

overtly

erotic treatment

(such

as

forms

a

large part

of the

appeal

of

Titian'sversions

of,

for

example,

Danae),

and he also avoids

more

grandiose

or

epic

scenes,

for

instance

the

Fall

of

Phaeton or the Creation.91

n

accordance

with

the mood of

pastoral in general, his aim appears ratherto be to capture

136


12/31

"THE


ND

CLASSICALASTORAL

6)

Claude

Lorrain,

>,

1645-1647

(LV95),

120.5

x

158 cm.

By

kind

permission

of

the Earl of Leicester and the Trustees of the HolkhamEstate

(Photo: Photographic Survey,

CourtauldInstituteof

Art).

a moment

of transient

serenity,

which

may shortly

be dis-

turbed,

and to

prompt

meditation on the

event,

of which the

fatal

consequences

are

yet

to be revealed

(though

a

knowl-

edge of them may be assumed inthe spectator).This mood is

one inherent

in

"elegiac" pastoral.

Following Panofsky,

we

may suggest

that the

poignant

discrepancy

between

the

bucolic

setting

and the

tragic

event

may

be seen as

one

aspect

of the Arcadian

ethos.

Significantly,

then,

Claude

refrains from

depicting

the

actual

moment of

transformation,

and-with

one or two

notable

exceptions-tends

also to avoid the more brutal

transformations,

to beasts

or to stones.

In

general,

Claude

favours

what has been termed a

"principle

of

exclusion",

turning

to more

intimate,

pastoral episodes.92

One

of the rare

exceptions

to this

rule is the

Flaying

of

Marsyas,

of which

there are

two

versions,

LV

5 and

LV

95

[Fig.6].

In

these,

it is

the

pastoral

context

which dominates:

the

satyr Marsyas

has

dared to

challenge

Apollo

to a musical

contest,

in

the tradi-

tion of bucolic

verse,

recalling

the contest of Menalcas and

Damoetas

in

Vergil's Eclogue

3.93

(We

have seen

that the

theme

of music

in an

idyllic setting

forms

part

of the

pastoral

ideal.)

This is a scene

rarely

depicted

in

a

landscape setting;

it is

likely

that Domenichino's version of c. 1616-18, made for

7) Crispijn

de

Passe,


13/31

CLAIRE ACE

8)

Claude

Lorrain,


14/31

"THE

GOLDENAGE...":

CLAUDE NDCLASSICALASTORAL

10)

Claude

Lorrain,


15/31

CLAIRE ACE

, 4rframw

-o

ur

dLde rarrocrir auo

t

;erar r

L

jarff

zrzm,

(=o~d?ud

eaerjri7i

rir

.ffaLlpo_TejiyP

13) Crispijn

de

Passe,


16/31

"THE


ND

CLASSICAL

ASTORAL

fr".

'.--

1

r

I

>K.

..

K

I-

-

,.

- .

, 4

14)

Claude

Lorrain,

>,

1645,

drawing

(LV92),

261

x

191

mm, London,

British

Museum.

two

figures

"as almost a

pure pastoral,

with both the

gods

bare-

ly distinguishable

rom classical herdsmen."117

n

his late

paint-

ing

(c. 1678)

of a

rarely

depicted episode

from

his

myth,

LV

192

[Fig.

15],

Claude shows

Apollo receiving

the

gift

of

a

lyre

from

Mercury,

in

compensation

for stolen

herds;

here the artist

appears

to have relied

on

Anguarilla's

account,

since

the

episode

does not

occur

in

Ovid's

text-another instance of his

close adherenceto the translation

if

not to the classical

text).118

Claude's

painting

of

Mercury

and Battus

(LV

159,

Chats-

worth,1663), is possibly pendantto LV152, and depicts a relat-

15)

Claude

Lorrain,


17/31

CLAIRE ACE

v,.

.

o

. ,

.......

.

.

,

X

.

.

-

*

IJnL?

fy?t

CWZg,

Aatm

ca

A.c 2s:34-r,M,ato.

r..y7/Z

r.u'

-

cFt'

'13aItf

wi

life

fPe

a

16)

Claude

Lorrain,


18/31

"THE

GOLDENAGE...":

CLAUDE

ND

CLASSICAL

ASTORAL

20)

Claude

Lorrain,

(The

Heliades at thete Tomb

of

Phaeton,

c.

1645,

drawing,

247 x

354

mm,

Rome,

Pallavicini-Rospigliosi

Collection.

(Photo:

Istituto Centrale

per

il

catalogo

e la

documentazione).

Mercury

was to

be seen

again,

who,

being

seated on a

large

rock,

was

sounding

a

shepherd's pipe

with

swelling

cheeks,

...watching

a white heifer

hat stood

nearby,

and

with

every

wile

he was

exerting

himself to deceive

the

many-eyed Argus..."121

Claude

depicts Argus watching

over lo

twice,

first

in

a

painting

or Camillo

Massimi,

of about

1645,

and

again

in LV

98 of about the same date.122Inthe version for Massimi,the

painter

shows lo's two

sisters,

mentioned

in

Ovid's

text,

who

add to her

pain

by failing

to

recognize

her.123

Two later works

depict

different moments

in

the

story:

LV

149 shows

Juno

Confiding

lo to the Care

of

Argus,

while its

pendant

shows

Mercury

piping

to the

giant Argus-the

latter,

in

particular,

recalling

he

piping

shepherds

of

pastoral.

De Passe's

engrav-

ing [Fig. 18] has a similarlypastoral quality.124

143


19/31

CLAIRE ACE

21) Anonymous,

(


20/31


21/31

CLAIRE ACE

24)

Claude

Lorrain,

(Landscape

with

Apulian

Shepherd,,,

c. 1657

(LV142), drawing,

197

x

260

mm, London,

British

Museum.

esoteric

subjects

at this

stage.)

Here

Ovid's

text is illustrated

with "considerable

precision".143

The artist

reinterprets

his

favourite motif of the rural

dance,

found

in

the

early

pastorals,

but now

with

a more

precise significance.

The

dancing figures

occur in illustratededitions of

Ovid,

for instance in

Crispijn

de

Passe's

engravings

for the 1602 edition

[Fig.25],

and those

in

Renouard's translation of 1619.

A

choral dance occurs

too

in

Ovid's

text,

where the

shepherd

frightens

a

group

of

nymphs

and as a

punishment

is turned into an

olive tree.144

This is one

of the

rare

examples

where Claude shows the

actual moment of

metamorphosis, perhaps

because he is

focussing

on the

dance,

with

all its

connotations,

rather

han

the fate of the

shepherd.

This

is

the

impression given by

one of

the preparatorydrawings, where the shepherd is still chiefly

a

spectator

to the

dancing figures [Fig.

26].145

n

the sixteenth

and seventeenth

centuries,

the dance was considered as

emblematic

of cosmic

harmony;

t is therefore of some

signifi-

cance that the rural dance was one

of

Claude's

favourite

motifs,

as

it

is his constant

concern to illustrate he harmonious

relationship

between

man and his natural

urroundings.146

A

marine

subject

from the

Metamorphoses

which

preoc-

cupied Claude throughouthis career was that of the Rape of

25) Crispijn

de

Passe,


22/31

"THE

GOLDEN

AGE...":CLAUDE

ND

CLASSICALASTORAL

26)

Claude

Lorrain,

,,

c.

1657,

drawing,

170

x

240

mm, Haarlem,

Teyler

Museum.

27)

Claude

Lorrain,

>,

c.

1655

(LV136),

193

x

253

mm, London,

British Museum.

28)

Claude

Lorrain,


23/31

CLAIRE

ACE

31)

Claude

Lorrain,


24/31

"THE

GOLDEN

AGE...":CLAUDE

ND

CLASSICAL

ASTORAL

32)

Claude

Lorrain,


25/31

CLAIRE

ACE

i.....

'--':' '??ic.'-I:::? .. :; ? ?? ?- ' ?' --' '??? '.? -..':.-' ??;?-

-r-.??. ..- - ?--?;":*L'?i--???.

?.1.I-CJ-y_rl;i???*?

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u?: r..;? t?

''C*?l?- ' I:...:'I"'-???..'?"-.""Z:'

*?-???---

;?'.;"' ? '

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.i'-? .:..?(??-??

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?,. 'cr:SB

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33)

Claude

Lorrain,


26/31

"THEGOLDEN

AGE...": CLAUDEAND

CLASSICALPASTORAL

tions and moral tone of sixteenth- and

seventeenth-century

allegorisations

of those fables

(if

not Poussin's subtle

explo-

ration of the complex connotations of such allegorisations).

But

the

pastoral

and

elegiac

mood dominate

over

any

moral

interpretation:

it is

in

part

the

note of muted

regret

at

the

tran-

*

Part of

this

paper originated

n a

lecture

given

at the National

Gallery,

London,

on the

occasion

of

the

exhibition,

Claude:

the Poetic

Landscape, London, 1994; the catalogue by HumphreyWine has

been a

stimulus,

as

have

the lectures

and

writings

of

Helen

Langdon

on

Claude.

I

am

grateful

o Eleanor

Winsor

Leach for her

helpful

com-

ments.

Any

discussion

of this

subject

must

also be

indebted to

the

writings

of Marcel

Roethlisberger

and Michael

Kitson. Thanks

to

the

Department

of

History

of

Art,

Glasgow

University,

or financialassis-

tance

towards

photographic

costs.

The excellent

catalogue

by

J.-C.

Boyer

to

the

exhibition,

Claude

Lorrain

t

le

monde des

dieux

(Epinal,

2001),

which

appeared

after

this article

was

written,

discussed

many

of

Claude's

mythological

sujects.

The LiberVeritatis LV)was a book of drawingsmade by Claude after

his

own

compositions,

from

c.

1635,

originally

as a

record

against

forgery.

1

Coast

View

with

Acis and

Galatea,

LV

141,

Dresden,

Gemalde-

galerie.

2

Cf.

D.

Magarshak,

Dostoievsky,

London, 1962,

pp.

358

ff.:

"It

was

Lorrain's

picture

hat

left

its

greatest

mark

on

Dostoievsky's

writ-

ings...

the

unsuspecting

happiness

of

the lovers...

before

Poly-

phemus

descends

upon

them

and

kills Acis

became associated

in

his

mind

with the

Golden

Age

of 'the first

and

last

days

of mankind'...

[He]

used

[the passage] originally

n The

Devils,

then transferred

t to The

Raw Youthand

finally

came back

to

it

again

in his

philosophical

tale,

The Dreamof a RidiculousMan..."

3

M.

Roethlisberger,

"The

Subjects

of

Claude's

Paintings",

Gazette

des

Beaux-Arts,

LVII

1960),

pp.

209-24;

cf.

also

idem,

"Les

Dessins

de Claude

Lorrain

sujets

rares", bid.,

LIX

1962),

pp.

153-

64.

4

Cf. Diane

Russell,

Claude

Gellee

(exh.

cat.,

Washington

and

Paris,

1982-83)

and

esp. Humphrey

Wine,

Claude:

the

Poetic

Landscape (see

above).

5

See

pp.

7-8.

For

a

thoughtful

outline

of the

traditionof

depic-

tions

of

Ovidian

subjects,

cf.

Nigel

Llewellyn,

"Illustrating

vid",

n

C.

Martindale, d.,

Ovid

Renewed,

Cambridge,

1988,

pp.

151-276,

with

bibliography.

sience

of

happiness,

or the

apprehension

of imminent

tragedy,

pervading

Claude's

apparently

harmonious

landscapes

that

gives many of his later renderings of Ovidian subjects a pecu-

liar

poignancy,

and

which also links them with the

pastoral

tradition.

6

Cf.

Roethlisberger

(with

D.

Cecchi), L'Opera completa

di

Claude

Lorrain,Milan,

1975;

hereafter

MR-C,

p.

5: "Si deve

volgere

I'attenzionealla letteratura,n particolarealla poesia bucolica, che sin

dai

tempi

di Teocritici avera

data una variata

fioritura

di

opere,

per

comprendere

la fonte

d'ispirazione

del

paesaggio...

solo

Claude

seppe

rendere

chiaro

dal

punto

di vista

figurativo

quanto

erastato

pre-

cedemente

cantato nell'ambito

della

poesia...

la

sua

inclinazione

por-

tandolo

a ricreare

l mondo delle

Egloghe

e

Georgiche

virgiliane

ome

quello

della

poesia

di Ovidio..."

7

For the

pastoral

tradition,

especially

in

Venetian

painting

and

graphic

art,

cf. David

Rosand,

"Giorgione,

Venice

and the Pastoral

Ideal",

in

R.

Cafritz,

L.

Gowing

and

D.

Rosand,

Places

of

Delight,

Washington

and

London,1988,

pp.

20-81.

8

There s an extensive bodyof criticismon the pastoral radition

in

literature;

f.

inter

alia,

Renato

Poggioli,

The

Oaten

Flute:

Essays

on

Pastoral

Poetry

and the Pastoral

Idea,

Cambridge,

Mass., 1975;

T.

G.

Rosenmayer,

The Green Cabinet:

Theocritus

and

the

European

Pastoral

Lyric,

Berkeley,

1969.

9

Cf.

Charles

Segal, "Landscape

nto

Myth:

Theocritus'

Bucolic

Poetry",

n

Poetry

and

Myth

n Ancient

Pastoral,

Princeton,

NJ,

1981,

pp.

210-34.

10

Cf.

Idyll

I, 132-36;

Idyll

7, 72-77;

Segal,

ibid.,

p.

127.

11

Cf.

Idylls

1, 13-36;

7,

74-76;

Segal,

ibid.,

p.

222.

12

Cf.

Segal,

ibid.,

p.

213 and n.11.

13

Cf. EleanorWinsor

Leach,

Virgil'sEclogues:

the

Landscape

of

Experience,

Ithaca and

London,

1974,

passim;

eadem,

"Parthenian

Caverns:

Remapping

of an

Imaginative

Topography",

ournal

of the

History

of

Ideas,

XXXIX

1978),

pp.

539-60.

14

Eclogue

V,

esp.

lines 40-44.

15

Cf.

Leach,

"Sacral-ldyllic

Landscape

and

the

Poems

of

Tibullus'

irst

Book",

Latomus,

XXXIX

1980),

pp.

47-69.

16

Cf.

Leach,

"Parthenian

Caverns",

p.

55.

17

Cf.

Segal,

ibid.,

p.

74.

18

"...

in silvis inter

speleae

ferarum...";

"per rupes... lucosque

sonantis..."

The translation

of the

Eclogues

quoted

here is that

of

Guy

Lee,

for

Penguin

Classics,

Harmondsworth, 984,

p.

105,

line

57.

19 Cf.Leach, "ParthenianCaverns",p. 53.

151


27/31

CLAIREPACE

20

Cf.

A.

O.

Lovejoy

and

G. S.

Boas,

Primitivismand Related

Ideas

in

Antiquity, eing

Vol.

I

of

A

DocumentaryHistory

of

Primitivism

and

Related

Ideas, Baltimore,

1935;

reprinted

1965.

21

Jacopo Sannazaro,Arcadia,Venice, 1504;

references here

are

to the 1586 edition

in

Cambridge

UniversityLibrary.

ranslationsare

from

R.

Nash,

Jacopo

Sannazaro,

Arcadianand

Piscatorial

Eclogues,

Detroit,

1966. Helen

Langdongave

an

illuminating

ecture

on

Claude's

interestin

Sannazaro

at the National

Gallery,

London,

n

1994.

22

Sannazaro,Arcadia,

ed.

cit.,

p.

11-11v;

Nash,

ibid.,

p.

30-31.

23

Vergil,Eclogue

X,

line 42: "hic

gelidi

fontes,

hic

mollia

prata,

Lycori...";

r.

Lee, ibid.,

pp.

104-5.

24

Cf.

Nash, ibid.,

p.13;

Leach, ibid.,

p.

546.

25

Cf.

Leach, ibid.,

p.

550.

26

Eclogue

I,

line

1:

"Tityre,

u

patulae

recubans

sub

tegmine

fagi..."(tr.

Lee, ibid.,

p. 31)

27

Sannazaro,Arcadia,Prosa I;ed. cit.,

p.

12.; Nash, ibid.,

p.

31.

28

Sannazaro,

Arcadia,

Egloga

2;

ed.

cit.,

p.

20;

Nash, ibid.,

p.

36:

"...

I'ombra

de

gli

ameni

Faggi/

Pasciute

pecorelle

homai

che'l

Sole/

Su'l

mezzo

giorno

indrizza caldi

reggi..."

29

LV

5,

Pastoral

Landscape (London,

National

Gallery,

.

1636),

M.

Roethlisberger,

Claude Lorrain: he

Painting,

London

1961,

(here-

after

MRP),

ig.

54;

another version is

in

Rome

(Pallavicini

oll., 1637,

MRP

ig.

55);

Pastoral

Landscape

(Washington,

National

Gallery

of

Art,

1633-35;

MR-Cno.

30).

30

LV39

(private

coll.,

c.

1639;

MRP

fig.

99);

LV

155,

Pastoral

Landscape (Duke

of

Rutland,1661,

MRP

ig.

254, MR-C,

no.

225).

31

Eclogue I,lines 51-53:"Fortunateenex, hic inter luminanota/

Et

fontis sacros

frigus captabis opacum...";

tr.

Lee, ibid.,

p.

33.

32

Theocritus,

Idyll

1,

lines 68 and 118.

33

Sannazaro,

ibid.,

Prosa

IV;

d.

cit.,

p.

32; Nash,

ibid.,

p.

50.

34

Pastoral

Landscape

with the

Temple

of

the

Sibyl

at Tivoli

(Melbourne,

National

Gallery

of

Victoria,

1630-35;

MR-C

no.39);

LV

2,

Pastoral

Landscape (Duke

of

Wellington,1641);

MRP

igs.

133,

131b.

Other

examples

include

Wooded

Landscape

with Stream

(p.c.,

1630;

MR-Cno.

18); Landscape

with

Shepherds

(p.c.

1636;

MR-Cno.

57).

35

Sannazaro,

Arcadia,

Prosa

IV,

p.

32v; Nash,

ibid.,

p.

51:

"pas-

toribelli... ambiduo di Arcadia&

egualmente

a cantare..."

The source

is Vergil'sEclogue VII,1.4.

36

LV

11

(two

versions,

c. 1636:

formerly

Earl

of

Haddington,

MRP

fig.

44,

and

copy,

MRP

fig.

47;

MR-C no.

63);

LV

25

(painting

unknown,

1637,

MRP

fig.

71,

MR-C

no.

96).

37

For

LV

39,

see

n.

30

above;

MRP

fig.

99;

MR-C

no.

102?);

Pastoral

Landscape,

LV 42

(New

York,

Metropolitan

Museum,

1639),

MRP

fig.

108.

38

Landscape

with

Country

Dance

(St

Louis,

Missouri,

c.

1630;

MR-Cno.

12);

Landscape

with

Country

Dance

(Florence,

Uffizi,1637;

MR-C no.

65);

Landscape

with

Country

Dance,

LV

13

(Earl

of

Yarborough,

637;

MRP

ig.

50,

MR-C

no.

67).

Another

country

dance

is depicted in LV53 (Dukeof Bedford,WoburnAbbey,c. 1640; MRP

fig. 122).

39

Anthony

Blunt,

Art and

Architecture

in

France

(3rd

ed.,

Harmondsworth,

970),

p.

181;

M.

Kitson,

Claude

Lorrain:

he Liber

Veritatis,

London

1978,

p.

59. The

passage

to which Blunt

refers

is

pre-

sumably

Georgic

II,

ines 527-531

(describing

the 'Rustick

pomp',

in

Dryden's

version).

40

Sannazaro,

bid.,

ed.

cit.,

Prosa

III,

p.

24v:"... tutti ieti

con dilet-

tevoli

giochi,

intornoa

gli

inghirlandati

uoi....(etc.)";

Nash, ibid.,

p.

42.

41

Sannazaro,

ibid.,

ed.

cit.,

Prosa

II,

p.19:

"...

di

passo

in

passo

guidando

con

I'usata

verga

i

vagabondi

greggi

che

si imboscav-

ano...";

and Prosa

V,

pp.

38v:

"...

[i

greggi]

li

quali

di

passo

in

passo

con le lorocampane per le tacite selve... (etc.)",Nash, ibid.,p. 57.

42

Landscape

with

Shepherds (France, p.c.,

1630-35;

MR-C

no.

32);

Pastoral

Landscape,

LV18

(Duke

of

Portland,1637;

MRP

ig.

58,

MR-Cno.

73).

43

Landscape

with

Imaginary

View

from

Tivoli

(London, p.c.,

1642;

MRP

ig.

138,

MR-Cno.

131).

44

Cf.

Leach,

Vergil'sEclogues, esp. pp.

76-77.

45

Cf.

Erwin

Panofsky,

"Poussin and the

Elegiac

Tradition,"

n:

Meaning

n

the Visual

Arts,

Princeton

1955,

p.

300.

46

"Era

gia per

lo tramontaredel

sole...":

Sannazaro, ibid.,

pp.

37-37v; Nash, ibid.,

p.

55.

47

"...

luogo

veramente sacro...

Hor

quivi

come

la candida luna

con

ritonda accia

apparira

a'mortali

opra

la universa

erra,

i

menero

io..."; ibid.,

p.

82v; Nash, ibid.,

p.

106.

48

Leach,

Vergil'sEclogues, p.

78.

49

Cf.

Roethlisberger,

"The

Dimensionof time inthe

Art

of

Claude

Lorrain", rtibuset Historiae,20

(1989),

pp.

73-92; he concludes that

"the

representation

f

the

passage

of

time can be taken

as the leitmotif

of

his

art..."

50

M.

Roethlisberger,

Claude Lorrain:

he

Drawings,

Berkeley

and

Los

Angeles,

1968

(hereafter

MRD),

no.

547,

pp.

221-22;

cf.

p.

10.

51

For

travellers'

responses

to

the ruins of

Rome,

cf.

esp.

Margaret

McGowan,

"Impaired

vision: the

experience

of Rome

in

Renaissance

France",

Renaissance

Studies,

8,

no.

3,1994,

pp.

244-55.

52

On

the

concept

of

a "Golden

Age",

and

its

links with

that of

Arcadia,

cf. Charles

Fantazzi,

"Golden

Age

in

Arcadia",

Latomus,

XXIII

(1974), pp.

280-315.

53

Cf. Vergil,Aeneid, VIII, ines 86-126. We are reminded that

Romulus himself

was,

according

to

tradition,

a

shepherd.

54

Cf.

Leach,

"Sacral-ldyllicLandscape

Painting

and

the Poems

of

Tibullus'First

Book",Latomus,

XXXIX

1980), pp.

47-69;

idem,

The

Rhetoricof

Space,

Princeton,1988,

pp.

198-200.

55

Cf.

Elaine

Fantham,

"Images

of the

City:

Propertius'

New-old

Rome",

in T.

Habinek,

ed.,

The Roman

Cultural

Revolution,

Cambridge,

1997,

pp.

122-35.

56

Sannazaro,Arcadia,

ed.

cit.,

p.

24

verso.

57

LV

185,

Landing

of

Aeneas at Pallanteum

(1675,

Lord

Fairhaven,

Anglesey Abbey);

MRP

fig.

301. Cf.

Leach,

Vergil's

Eclogues, pp. 57-58; Kitson, Liber Veritatis, pp. 168-69; Helen

Langdon,

"The

Imaginative Geographies

of

Claude

Lorrain",

n

C.

Chard and H.

Langdon (eds.),

Transports,

New

Haven

and

London,

1996,

pp.

151-78.

58

"... i

circostanti

Pini

movendo

i

loro

sommita,

gli respondeano,

e

le forestiere

Querce dimenticate

della

propria

elvatichezza abban-

donavano

i

nativimonti

per

udirlo..."; bid.,

p.

81; Nash,

ibid.,

p.

104.

59

MRD,

o.

801,

p.

301

(Museum

Boymans-van

Beuningen,1656).

60

Sannazaro,

ibid.,

"Argomento"

o Prosa

X,

p.

78v.; Nash, ibid.,

p.

103.

61

"...

il

reverendo & sacro

bosco... trovammosotto una

pen-

dente ripa, fra ruinatisassi una spelonca vecchissima & grande...

dentro di

quella

del

medesimo sasso

un bello

altare,

formato da rus-

tiche

mani de

pastori....";

ibid.,

p.

79v.; Nash, ibid.,

p.

102.

62

"Dinanzialla

spelonca porgeva

ombra

un

pino

altissimo

&

spatioso

ad

un

ramo

del

quale

una

grande

e

bella

sampogna pende-

va...";

ibid.,

p.

79v

(Prosa X).

63

"saltan

Fauni

&

Silvani/

Ridan li

prati,

& le correnti

linse...";

ibid.,

p.

29v

(Ecloga III);

Nash,

ibid.

p.

47; Ovid,

Metamorphoses,

I,

193-94:

"..sunt,

rustica

numina,

Nymphae/

Faunique,

Satyrique,

&

monticolae silvani..."

64

LV

55,

Landscape

with a

Dancing Satyr

and

Other

Figures

(Toledo,Ohio,

Museumof

Art,

c.

1641;

MRP

ig.

123, MR-C,

no.

119),

Kitson,LiberVeritatis, . 87.

152


28/31

"THE

GOLDEN AGE...":

CLAUDEAND

CLASSICAL

PASTORAL

65

Luba

Freedman,

The

Classical

Pastoral

n

the Visual

Arts,

New

York,

1989.

66

"Finalmente

quanti

fanciulli &

magnanimi

Re

furono nel

prio

tempo pianti,

da

gli

antichi

pastori,

utti

se

vedevano

quivi

ransformati

fiori...";

Sannazaro, ibid.,

p.

86

(Prosa

X);

Nash, ibid.,

p.

111.

67

"...vedemmo

in

su

la

porta dipinte

alcune

Selve,

& colli

bellis-

simi,

&

copiosi

d'alberi

ronduti,

& di

mille

varieta

di

fiori,

ra

quali

se

vedeano

molti

armenti che

andevan

pascendo,

&

spatiandosi per

li

verdi

prati...

De

pastori

alcuni

mungievano...

altri

sonavano

sam-

pogne...

Ma

quel

che

piu

intentamente

mi

piacque

di

mirare,

erano

certe

Ninfe

gnude...."

Sannazaro, bid.,

ed.

cit..,

pp.

24v-25

(Prosa ill);

Nash, ibid.,

pp.

43-44;

cf.

Langdon,"Imaginative

Geographies",

p.

157.

68

Sannazaro,

ibid.,

p.

25v:

"Et n

un

de' lati

vi

era

Apollo

biondis-

simo,

il

quale

appogiato

ad

un bastone di

selvatica

Oliva

guardava

gli

armenti di

Admeto alla riva

d'un

fiume...

non se

avedea del

sagace

Mercurio he in habitopastorale... gli furava e vacche..." The subject

occurs in

Metamorphoses,

I,

680

ff.

69

The

phrase

"paysage

mystique"

is

that

of

Pierre

Grimal,

n

"Les

Metamorphoses

d'Ovide et

la

Peinture

paysagiste

de

I'epoque

d'Auguste",

Revue

des

etudes

romaines

(1938),

pp.

145-61;

cf.

Segal,

ibid.,

p.

45: "A

secluded

grove,

quiet

water,

shade,

coolness,

soft

grass,

sometimes

rocks or a

cavern..."

70

Segal,

ibid.,

p.

74;

Theocritus,

Idylls

1, 1-3, 7-8,

105-7;

5,

31-

34,

45ff.;

7, 7-0,

135

ff;

22,

37-43.

71

Cf.

C.

Segal,

"Landscape

n

Ovid's

Metamorphoses",

Hermes,

Einzelshriften

3-25,

1969-70,

pp.

1-7.

72

Cf. Grimal, ibid., also L.P. Wilkinson,Ovid Recalled, Cam-

bridge,

1955,

pp.

180-81.

73

Cf.

Wilkinson,

ibid.,

esp.

pp.

180-81:

"There

are

a

dozen

extended

descriptions

of natural

cenery

in

the

piece,

and

practically

all of them

centre

round

water,

cool,

calm

and

shad

The Golden Age... the First and Last Days of Mankind

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