THE SUBJECT MATTER OF THE IMPRESSIONISTS Redefining Landscape Painting The term “landscape” comes from the Dutch term “landskip,” and today when one thinks of landscape painting, an Impressionist work immediately comes to mind: soft and lovely colors, gently brushed...
THE BARBIZON SCHOOL AND LANDSCAPE PAINTING On the edge of the Forest of Fountainebleau—once the hunting domain of French kings—lay the tiny village of Barbizon. As Paris grew more and more urbanized, its inhabitants yearned for a taste of the country and...
EUROPEAN REALISM Part One In the middle of the nineteenth century, the Revolution of 1848 broke out like a series of brushfires across the continent of Europe. Although the uprising of the lower classes and the peasants was the last significant attempt to achieve...
CONSTABLE, THE PICTURESQUE, AND ENGLISH ROMANTICISM Less famous and dramatic than his British rival, Joseph Turner, John Constable preferred the humble English countryside of his native Stour Valley. In his humble rural paintings, Constable captured his...
TURNER, THE BEAUTIFUL, THE SUBLIME, AND ENLISH ROMANTICISM Joseph William Mallord Turner was the most famous exponent of English Romanticism. A product of an era of war with Napoléon, the artist celebrated the rise of the British empire. Although many of his...