Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
John Constable set up his easel out-of-doors, making quick sketches to capture the
simple majesty of billowing clouds, spreading trees, and everyday rural life. Even Brit-
ish portraits (by Thomas Gainsborough and others) placed refined lords and ladies amid
idealized greenery.
This simple style—believe it or not—was considered shocking in its day. The rough,
thick, earth-toned paint and crude country settings scandalized art lovers used to the high-
falutin, prettified sheen of the Baroque and Rococo.
T
urner—
The Fighting Téméraire
(1839)
Constable's landscape was about to be paved over by the Industrial Revolution. Soon, ma-
chines began to replace humans, factories belched smoke over Constable's hay cart, and
cloud-gazers had to punch the clock. Romantics tried to resist it, lauding the forces of
nature and natural human emotions in the face of technological “progress.” But alas, here
a modern steamboat symbolically drags a famous but obsolete sailing battleship off into
the sunset to be destroyed.
Turner's messy, colorful style gives us our first glimpse into the modern art world—he
influenced the Impressionists. Turner takes an ordinary scene (like Constable), captures
the play of light with messy paints (like Impressionists), and charges it with mystery (like,
wow).
