The Enchanted Castle

Perhaps Claude Lorrain's most famous painting The Enchanted Castle takes its story from ancient Roman author Apuleius' Golden Ass (books IV-VI). This story tells the tale of the princess Psyche, whose beauty was so overwhelming that it incited the jealousy of Venus, goddess of love and beauty.

Venus was so envious, she kept all potential suitors away from poor Psyche, much to the disappointment of her father, who was eager to marry his daughter off. The god Apollo came to Psyche's father and told him that for Psyche to find her future husband, her family would have to leave her exposed to the elements atop a rocky cliff, and so her father did just that.

Poor Psyche was left to her fate, shivering and frightened atop the desolate cliff. Malicious Venus told her son Cupid to go to Psyche and make her fall in love with some horrible creature, but when he arrived, Cupid himself fell in love with the young beauty. He had the west wind carry her away to an enchanted land and Psyche enjoyed a life of luxury.

Cupid became her lover, but only came to her under the dark of night, and made her swear never to try to see him. In return, Psyche promised to stay with her mysterious lover in his castle, but only if her sisters could come, too.

When Psyche's two sisters arrived and saw the wonderful gifts and riches that Cupid had bestowed upon their more beautiful sister, they were filled with jealousy, and decided to take their vengeance. They convinced Psyche that her love interest could be an evil magician, and she should try to discover his true identity.

Filled with doubts, one night Psyche lit a lamp after Cupid came to visit her, and was able to get a good look at the gorgeous god. Furious, Cupid fled the scene, but Psyche grabbed onto her lover and flew away with him, until she lost her grasp, exhausted, and fell to the ground below. Cupid flew down and remonstrated the poor girl soundly, telling her she would never see him again, then flew away.

Utterly devastated, Psyche tried to commit suicide by throwing herself in the river, but knowing Cupid's love for the girl, the river spit her right back out. Luckily, the nymph Echo and the creature Pan came to Psyche and told her to stop crying and to go and serve Cupid. After much wandering and adventures, Psyche was finally reunited with her love, and was awarded immortality.

The Commission:
Claude Lorrain painted The Enchanted Castle in 1664 for Prince Lorenzo Onofrio Colonna. Lorenzo's family was ancient Roman nobility, and this Grand Constable of the Kingdom of Naples was one of Claude's great patrons during the French Baroque artist's late period.

There's a reason why a painting technically entitled Landscape with Psyche outside the Palace of Cupid has come to be known as The Enchanted Castle: the painting has an eerie, otherworldly quality that transports the viewer to other realms. Claude's painting is notable for the following qualities;

Monochromatic palette:
The Enchanted Castle is representative of Claude's late style. During the 1660s Claude dramatically reduced his palette to cool, aqueous tones of blue, green and silver. He painted The Enchanted Castle with an almost monochromatic palette, overwhelmingly emphasizing various shades of green and green-blue, almost as if the scene was underwater.

Misty, otherworldly light:
Light is always the most important element in any of Claude's paintings, and it is usually the illumination that sets the picture's tone. Here, the misty, hazy light seems to transport the scene to an unknown, even magical realm imbued with feelings of nostalgia.

Unsettling tone:
Art critics have long argued over the intended tone of the painting; is it meditative? Sorrowful? Nostalgic? Regardless of what the painter and his patron may have intended, it is undeniable that the painting is strongly evocative of a wide range of emotions, and virtually no viewer can escape the emotional power of the piece.

Enchanted architecture:
The eponymous castle in Claude's painting is just as ethereal and unusual as the castle described in Apuleius' tale, which the Roman author described as being "built by divine arts. " The castle is a mix in styles, including Baroque opulence and refined, Renaissance classicism, an unusual touch of fancy for an artist whose other paintings are populated by classical antiquities.

Claude Lorrain's The Enchanted Castle was quite possibly the most popular painting in 19th century England and was virtually a household image thanks to the circulation of countless imitations and engravings.

This hauntingly expressive painting proved to be a fountain of inspiration for English Romantic poet John Keats, whose famous poem Ode to a Nightingale was inspired by The Enchanted Castle. Keats also composed the following lines about Claude's painting;

'You know the Enchanted Castle it doth stand
Upon a Rock on the border of a Lake
Nested in Trees, which all do seem to shake
From some old Magic like Urganda's snow.

O Phoebus that I had thy sacred word
To shew this Castle in some dreaming wise
Unto my friend while sick and ill he lies ...
You know it well enough, where it doth seem
A mossy place, a Merlin Hall, a dream ...
See what is coming from the distance thin
A golden galley all in silken trim ...
O that our dreamings all of sleep or wake
Would all their colours from the Sunset take
Rather than shadow our world's daytime
Into the void of night . . '

The tale of Cupid and Psyche had delighted artists and patrons alike for centuries. Previous representations of the theme include;

Giulio Romano, The Wedding Feast of Cupid and Psyche, 1537:
A student of Renaissance master Raphael, Romano was one of the leading Mannerist artists in Rome. Painter and architect, Romano's ultimate achievement was perhaps the Palazzo del Te in Mantua, a sumptuous palace constructed from 1524-34 for Federico II Gonzago.

The enormous fresco The Wedding Feast of Cupid and Psyche was executed in the same obscure, extravagant, distorted style as the rest of this Mannerist palace; the colors are bold, bright and contrast dramatically; the composition is busy, crowded, and seething with complex movement; the figures are seemingly ill-formed.

Jacopo Zucchi, Cupid and Psyche, 1589:
Zucchi was another prominent Mannerist artist who began his career in Florence, studying under Vasari. In 1572 Zucchi moved to Rome, where he was strongly influenced by Raphael and worked as the court painter for the Medici.

Zucchi chooses to represent the moment where Psyche lights the lamp and finally catches a glimpse of her lover, the dramatic crux of the story. Zucchi's composition is pure Mannerism: the figures are elegant, elongated, and twist strangely, and there is an overwhelming influence on complex patterns and textures; the overwhelming impression is one of artifice.

Master of the Die, Cupid Fleeing from Psyche (Fable of Psyche):
Several illustrated versions of the Cupid and Psyche myth existed during Claude's lifetime, translated into several languages, including French and Italian.

Claude may well have been influenced by a series of engravings by the anonymous artist, the "Master of the Die. " Art historians have pointed out the similarity between the pose of Claude's Psyche and the figure in one of the engravings from this series.

%987987%'s painti&ntildzzz;gs are absolute points of reference in the genre of landscape. Building on the foundation laid for him by artists like Titian, Paul Bril and Annibale Carracci, Lorrain was the bold leader of the 17th century ideal landscape. Although landscape painting was long perceived as a "lesser" genre, Lorrain achieved enormous success in his own lifetime, and continued to exert a powerful influence on French and English painting for centuries after his death.

The casual observer may assume that all of Claude's paintings are more or less the same; they are all landscapes, after all. A closer look, however, reveals that there was a real evolution both in the style and composition of Claude's paintings throughout his career.

In the late 1650s and early 1660s, Claude developed the style that would characterize his paintings for the rest of his life. Claude's paintings are even larger during this period, and they take on a cool, contemplative, even mysterious tone, with a palette restricted to cool tones of blue, green, and silver. Some of Claude's most hauntingly beautiful paintings date from this period, perhaps most notably The Enchanted Castle.

Claude Lorrain's paintings are perfect examples of the genre known as the idealized landscape and are simultaneously rooted in a strong naturalism, but beautified and idealized; Claude never shows the world's harsh realities, but instead a perfect image of nature as it should be.

Claude Lorrain was one of the great painters of the French Baroque. Like his contemporary and close friend Nicolas Poussin, however, Claude actually spent the majority of his life and career in Rome, not in France; nonetheless, Claude's early childhood in the tumultuous region of la Lorraine would undoubtedly have had an effect on the artist. Along with Poussin, Claude helped to define the classicizing tendencies of French Baroque art.

Claude's style and subjects are perhaps more consistent throughout his oeuvre than those of virtually any other artist, but that is not to say that there is no evolution in Claude's paintings. On the contrary, a careful look at his works reveals a rather surprising artistic journey.

Claude's early paintings are steeped in the northern European landscape tradition, complete with charming picturesque details and compositional surprises. As is unsurprising for an artist who studied and worked in Rome, however, as Claude matured his paintings became increasingly classical in tone and theme. The later works are cooler and more idealized, and exude a more melancholy, wistful atmosphere than the more cheerful, bustling early pictures.

Claude had some immediate followers in Italy and France in the late 17th and early 18th centuries (most notably his pupil, Angeluccio, Salvatore Rosa, and Claude Joseph Vernet), but his greatest influence was felt in England. Claude's paintings impacted all aspects of English culture, from literature to garden design, and English artists were by no means immune to this influence. Claude's most important English disciples include the phenomenal Romantic artists J. M.W. Turner, John Constable, and Samuel Palmer.

To read more about Claude Lorrain please choose from the following recommended sources.

• Askew, Pamela, ed. Claude Lorrain: 1600-1682: a symposium. Washington: National Gallery of Art, 1984
• Grahame, George. Claude Lorrain, Painter and Etcher. Seeley and Co. , 1895
• Lagerlöf, Margaretha Rossholm Ideal Landscape: Annibale Carracci, Nicolas Poussin, and Claude Lorrain. Yale University Press, 1990
• Mannocci, Lino. The Etchings of Claude Lorraine. Yale University Press, 1988
• Rand, Richard. Claude Lorrain: The Painter as Draftsman. Yale University Press, 2007
• Röthlisberger, Marcel. Claude Lorrain: The Paintings. Hawker Art Books, 1979
• Russell, Helen Diane. Claude Lorrain, 1600-1682. Washington : National Gallery of Art, 1982
• Wine, H. Claude : The Poetic Landscape. London: National Gallery, 1994