ner to those depicted by Ruisdael, if not as dramatically. As Tansey (et al.) maintains, ôThe figures shrink in scale and importance, relative to the landscape, and are sometimes simply its excuseö (840). It was during the time that Carracci created Flight into Egypt that landscape blossomed into its full power as a major subject for a painter. The human figures in LorrainÆs Pastoral Landscape are also secondary to nature and the sky and trees create great value contrast and overwhelm the pastoral individuals sitting in the foreground of the piece.
Seventeenth century ideal or classical landscape painters often drew from classical antiquity or the Renaissance for inspiration. In all three of these works we see nature prevented as something that is ôharmonious, serene, and often majesticö (Claude 1). LorrainÆs greatest skill is his ability to illuminate landscapes with dramatic lighting effects. He studied under the German painter Adam Elsheimer, ôwhose strong depiction of light Claude adapted and refinedö (Claude 1). This is highly apparent in Pastoral Landscape as the painting uses value contrasts to great effect. The pain
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