TATE BRITAIN, Romanticism

As I mentioned, in the 18th century landscapes became a specialization of English art, thanks also to the extended London stay of one of the best landscape painters of the century: Canaletto.

Here at Tate Britain you can admire the works of one of the painters who most intensely knew how to depict the wonders of the English countryside: John Constable. He was one of the first to almost exclusively paint out in the open air so that he could depict all the effects light had on the landscape from a true point of view: the accuracy of his drawings will remind you of the great landscape painters of the sixteenth century, but his sensitivity to the shades of light and nature will also make him a favored Impressionist.

Constable strove to paint his world exactly as it appeared before him, in a never-ending search for what he himself called natural painting. In order to be more faithful, he adopted a spontaneous and fresh touch in the application of color that accentuates the impression of immediacy his paintings emanate. Contrary to his peer Turner, Constable didn't like traveling: he stuck to the English countryside far and wide, choosing some special places he never tired of depicting, and in different seasons and times of day. His sketchbooks and studies of clouds in the sky resemble abstract compositions, while his way of rendering light will have a profound influence on other European schools as well....