The Shipwreck 1638 - 1641

Claude Lorrain made this etching called "The Shipwreck" sometime in the mid-17th century. It depicts a scene of maritime disaster, a powerful ship being tossed about in stormy seas near a rocky coast. Lorrain was working in Rome at a time when the city was re-establishing itself as a major center of European art. His work offered a vision of nature that was both dramatic and ordered. Though this print seems to capture a moment of chaos, look at how the composition is carefully arranged, with the ruined tower, ship and figures forming a visual harmony. It is as much a work of imagination, an idealization, as it is a record of lived experience. To understand its place in history, we can examine the prints place within the artist's larger body of work, along with its relationship to the artistic conventions of its time. We can also research the social history of seafaring in the 17th century, and the ways in which shipwrecks were understood and represented.