ENGLISH PAINTING

ENGLISH PAINTING

ENGLISH PAINTING

Painting in England in the 17—19th centuries is represented by a number of great artists and during that period it was greatly influenced by foreign painters. The Flemish painter Van Dyck was really the father of English portrait school. The' English king personally invited Van Dyck to London and during his first year in England the painter spent most of his time painting the King and the Queen. Van Dyck created the impressive, formal type of portrait and such masters as Reynolds, Gainsborough, Lawrence and Raeburn owed

much to their study of his works. He created a genre of aristocratic and intellectual portrait which influenced much the development of English painting.Van Dyck created the type of portrait which helped him to convey the sitter's individual psychology.

THE DISCRIPTION OF THE “FAMILY PORTRAIT”

The sitter's individuality is vividly expressed in this portrait. One can easily follow the gentle and even character of the young woman and the outstanding searching, restless personality of her husband. The artist managed to create the impression of spiritual relationship In spite of the difference of characters. The colour scheme of this canvas is very beautiful. The prevailing tones are red, golden and brown.

During the 18th century the truly national school of painting was created, William Hogarth was the first great English painter who raised British pictorial art to a high level of importance. Hogarth (1697—1764} wasn't a success as a portrait painter. But his pictures of social life which he called "modern moral subjects" brought him fame and position. Among his favourite works are six pictures united under the title "Marriage a la Mode." This famous series is really a novel in paint telling the story of the marriage of an earl's son and city merchant's daughter, a marriage made for reasons of vanity and money. Despite the satirical, often amusing detailes, the painter's purpose is serious. He expects his pictures to be read and they are perhaps full of allusions. At the same time Hogarth remained an artist and passages especially in "Shortly after the Marriage" show how attractively he could paint. The Free handing of the "Shrimp Girl" Is combined with cockney vivacity. The girl is brushed onto the canvas in a vigorous impressive style. As a painter Hogarth was harmonious in his colouring, very capable and direct in his theme and composition. He painted many pictures. He is well known as a humorist and satirist on canvas.

In the second half of the 18th century narrative and satirical themes lost their leading role in the English art. The ruling classes tried to show in art a confirmation and glorification of their social position. The most popular form of painting became ceremonial portraits of representatives of the ruling class. Sir Joshua Reynolds was the most outstanding portraitist of the period. In December 1768 the Royal Academy was founded and Reynolds became its first president. He created a whole gallery of portraits of the most famous of his contemporaries. He usually painted his characters in heroic style and showed them as the best people of the nation. As a result his paintings are not free of a certain idealization of the characters. Reynolds was greatly influenced as a painter

by the old masters. This influence can be seen in his "Cupid Untying the Zone of Venus". The picture is close to Titian's style in the use of colour, but it is typical of the 18th century English school of its approach to subject-matter. He often included real personages in his mythological works (Venus — Lady Hamilton). Reynolds did. not want British art to be provincial and isolated. It was he who insisted that artists should be brought up in line with European art and that they should develop the Grand style of painting. As a president of the Royal Academy Reynolds delivered lectures. These lectures were regarded as the most sensible exposition of the Academic view that by well-directed work it was possible to learn the rules of art and use discoveries and ideas of the old masters to create a new style of one's own. He recommended that a would-be painter should put his faith in old masters from whom he should be ready to borrow. He advised that in portraits the grace should consist more in taking the general air than in exact rendering of every feature. He suggested that the proportions of a sitter's figure should be altered in accordance with a fixed ideal.

Reynold's contemporary George Romney reflects Reynold's style to some degree. The portrait of Mrs Greer shows a very attractive young woman whose beauty is emphasized by a contrast between her white face and dark eyes and the severe colouring of her toliette. He did not try to understand the psychology of the sitters. He created only general impression.

John Hopper was one of the better-known portraitists at the turn of the 18th century. He was famous for his ability to portray elegant ladies and children. His men are simplier, especially in later paintings (portrait of Sheridan).

The works of the Scottish painter Henry Raebum bear a certain resemblance to those of Reynolds and his school. But Raebum's portraits are done with greater feeling and he achieves this depth by the effective use of shadow and light (Portrait of Mrs Raebum).

Thomas Gainsborough, one of the greatest masters of the English school, was a portraitist and a landscape painter. His portraits are painted in clear tones. Blue and green are predominant colours. One of the most famous works is the portrait of the Duchess of Beufort. He managed to create a true impression of the sitter. Gainsborough greatly influenced the English school of landscape painting. He was one of the first English artists to paint his native land ("Sunset" , "The Bridge") and others. He was the first English artist to paint his native countryside so sincerely. His works contain much poetry and music. He is sometimes considered the forerunner or the impressionists. Gainsborough was the antithesis of the businesslike Reynolds, He was very poeticby his nature, he abhored rules and cares little about the old masters. By necessity a portraitist he was by inclination a landscapist.

John Constable an English landscape painter painted many well-known works ("A Cottage in a Cornfield" , "The Loch"). He is the first landscape painter who considered that every painter should make his sketches direct from nature that is working in the open air. His technique and colouring are very close to the impressionists. Constable ignored the rules established by Reynolds. He insisted that art should be based on observation of nature and

feeling. He was the herald of romanticism. But the realistic qualities of his art

are sensed very strongly.

The furious apostle of the philosophy of romanticism was William Blake who was strongly opposed to the rules of Reynolds proposing that the guiding force for creative spirit should come from imagination not reason.

A complete expression of romantic ideal can find itself in the pictures of Turner. Joseph Turner was an outstanding painter whose most favourite topic was to paint sea ("The Shipwreck"). He painted waves and storms, clouds and mists with a great skill. Although his talent was recognized immediately he deliberately turned his back to the glittering social world of London. Victorian England which found it more important that a man be a gentleman in the first place and only in the second a genius, never forgave him.

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was an association of painters, formed in London in 1848. Its chief members were Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. As a group, the Brotherhood lasted for little more than a decade, but it gave a new direction to Victorian art which lasted into the 20th century. They determined to paint direct from nature, with objective truthfulness, emulating the work of the great Italian artists before Raphael. They appreciated nothing but beauty and turned to the Bible and