Claude Lorrain's Seaport with the Embarkation of St Ursula: a longer look

Fascinating seminar at the National Gallery focusing on Claude Lorrain’s picture “Seaport with the Embarkation of St Ursula” lead by Steven Barrett.

In the first section we looked at the story of St Ursula and how Claude had chosen to depict in in this picture. We discussed whether it was necessary to know the story to appreciate the picture. We also spent a lot of time looking at wonderful photos of details of the picture and talked about Claude’s style.

We spent quite a lot of time looking at the picture itself and discussing its composition and how the picture might have been commissioned.

We ended back in the seminar room talking about other St Ursula pictures and how this one had come into the National Gallery collection. We also talked about the influence of Claude on other artists including Turner and Monet.

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