Landscape with the Voyage of Jacob
by CLAUDE LORRAIN, Oil on canvas, 71 x 95 cm
This landscape, with its winding river, elegant trees, and grand castle, is an idealized vision of the countryside near Rome, where Claude spent most of his career. All of the artist’s landscapes include narrative subjects: in this case, Jacob’s journey to the land of Canaan. The tiny camels on the right hint at the biblical story, but the painting is essentially a celebration of nature at its most poetic.