This seascape of Lorrain is a paired picture to “Landscape with the scene of the marriage of Isaac and Rebekah.” Turner was so fascinated by these two works of Lorrain that, donating two of his landscapes to the National Gallery, he made it a condition of giving that they should hang between them.
In this masterpiece, Lorrain creates a perfect world, full of subtle lighting effects, dramatic contrasts and deeply thought-out movement. Sunlight dominates here, linking the individual elements of the canvas into a harmonious whole. The sun’s rays are reflected from the water surface, smoothly changing its color in the space delineated by the coast and the horizon. Sun glare is played on the clothes of people standing on the pier. Dazzling bright light is emphasized by the gesture of a young man written in the foreground. He raised his hand, protecting his eyes from the blinding rays with his palm. The compositional masterpiece of Lorrain is executed in a manner characteristic of his best work.
In the center of the picture we see a radiant endless space, framed by two architectural arrays. At the same time, the viewer’s view is “thrown back” to the horizon. A truly innovative here is the image of the sun. It is located exactly in the middle of the canvas and is the compositional center of the picture. Architectural details are clearly written against the backdrop of a dazzling bright sky.
Lorrain’s mastery of atmospheric effects, so admired by his contemporaries, is manifested in transitions of tones that become colder as you move into perspective. In the “celestial” area of warm yellow tones you can find handprints of the artist’s fingers and fingers. Subtle tonal transitions were created by him in this way – with his hand, and not with a brush.
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