Morning in the Harbour - Claude Gellee

Painting Detail

Morning in the Harbour
Artist: Claude Gellee
Medium: Painting, Oil on canvas, 74x97 cm
Date: Late 1630s
Genre: Cityscape, Landscape
Source: Collection of the Comte de Baudouin, Paris, 1781

Claude, a follower and admirer of Poussin, is renowned for his magnificent landscapes, the subjects of which were often seaports and harbours. Morning in the Harbour is built according to the Classical canons, with "wings" leading into the central space, where the depth of the picture is built up through the use of successive planes, and of course Classical buildings set into the landscape. But Claude introduces an element which brings all these details to life - light. The building in the foreground is gilded in the rays of the rising sun, creating a charming and picturesque play of light and shade. The obelisk and pyramids, all the majestic architecture of the middle ground, seem to be filled with air, the silvery nature of which is natural under the morning light. The artist gives us a true picture of nature as she awakes to greet the new day. Even the small figures of port workers, getting on with their prosaic job of loading and unloading, do not disrupt the harmony of the composition.