Port Scene with the Departure of Ulysses from the Land of the Feaci
by CLAUDE LORRAIN, Oil on canvas, 119 x 150 cm
The painting is included in Liber Veritatis (LV 96).
Perhaps the most beautiful of Claude’s pictures are those in which he brings in the sea, whose effects he was able to study during the journey he made to Naples. The sea, for Claude, was a poetic element multiplying light; and he edged it with dream palaces, often motivating his pictures by scenes of embarkation or landing taken from history or religion.
Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 13 minutes):
Claudio Monteverdi: Il ritorno d’Ulisse, Act I, Duet of Odysseus and Pallas Athene