View of Seaport

Claude Lorrain was a French painter who settled in Rome around 1627–28. His landscapes were among the most sought after by 17th- and 18th-century collectors and were widely imitated by artists. Like most of Claude’s work, this painting depicts a broad view of nature bathed in the golden light of morning or evening. For contemporary viewers, it would have evoked an ideal of the simple life, as well as the classical Roman poetry of Virgil, who imagined a pastoral setting he called Arcadia, where people lived harmoniously with nature.