At a very young age, in 1613, Claude Lorrain moved to Rome, where he studied with Agostino Tassi. From 1619 through 1622 he lived in Naples and worked in the studio of Goffredo Wals, a follower of Adam Elsheimer. In 1623 Lorrain returned to Rome and in 1625 sojourned briefly in Nancy, France, where he worked with Claude Deruet on the murals in the Carmelite Church. In 1627, he settled permanently in Rome, never again to leave.

Over the course of the following decade he became the most famous landscape artist of his time. His depictions of seaports at sunrise or sunset were appreciated throughout Europe. To avoid imitations of his work, he sketched all his compositions into a sketchbook, and these were later made into engravings that were bound as Liber Veritatis (Book of Truth). Lorrain worked for Rome’s aristocratic circles, and his patrons included King Philip IV of Spain for whom he created a series of works for the Palacio de Cristal in El Parque del Buen Retiro, Madrid. The rest of his career was wholly devoted to interpretations of landscape motifs of the environs of Rome. He died in Rome, leaving hundreds of canvases, thousands of drawings, and a smaller number of prints. His use of light, space, and atmospheric tones left their mark on all subsequent landscape painting up to the 20th century.