A dialogue with nature: Romantic landscapes from Britain and Germany

Lovely exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery comparing and contrasting works by German and British landscape artists in the early 19th century.

I went to this exhibition twice last week. The first time was a guided tour by the curator Dr Rachel Sloan which was fascinating and gave me much more insight into the works than I would have got from viewing them on my own. In particular she pointed out the political background of the time with the Napoleonic wars and how this affected what British and German artists wanted to show in the pictures and how this differed.

I then popped back the next day to spend more time with the pictures. This is not a period or subject I know much about but I found the work fascinating. I preferred the approach of those working from nature to the made up landscapes. I loved a picture by Palmer of a tree at Lullingstone for the detail of the trunk and the wonderful lighting effect along the horizon. My favourite was a double page from a sketch book by Francis Towne done near Devil’s Bridge in Wales. This was a beautiful broad landscape in muted colours.

There was even a sketch book by Mendelssohn, I had no idea he was an artist! 

Review
Telegraph

 

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