early life and training claude gellée, also known as claude lorrain, was a french artist born in 1600 in the small village of chamagne, vosges, then part of the duchy of lorraine. his early life is shrouded in mystery, with two different accounts provided by joachim von sandrart and filippo baldinucci. according to sandrart, claude's parents died when he was twelve years old, and he lived with an elder brother in freiburg. artistic career claude traveled to italy, where he worked for goffredo wals in naples and later joined the workshop of agostino tassi in rome. by the end of the 1630s, he e…