The canvas of the French landscape painter Claude Lorrain is dedicated to the events of distant history. In 41 BC e. The Egyptian queen Cleopatra sailed to the city of Tarsus with the aim of seducing the beauty of the Roman emperor Mark Antony and subordinating him to her power.

However, the artist’s attention is occupied not by the love vicissitudes associated with the political game of Cleopatra, but by a seascape with a golden blinding sun, ships moored off the coast and magnificent architectural buildings. The figures of people are almost stuffed, Lorren needs them to enliven this beautiful view.

The landscapes of the master are meaningful, they represent mythological or historical events unfolding against the backdrop of beautiful landscapes. However, the plot is always secondary and serves only as an excuse for painting a landscape and a semantic context that guides the viewer in the process of getting to know the canvas. Lorrain stood at the origins of classicism in Western European painting.

One of the first in the world of art, he turned to the problem of transferring the light-air medium. The master watched the lighting for a long time, fixing the discoveries on the palette and subsequently transferring them to the paintings. This is the secret of a truly magical light spilled on his canvases.