Landscapes of the Early Nineteenth Century

Landscape scenes have always been popular in art but landscapes of the first half of the nineteenth century were especially unique. A recurring theme of the vastness and grandeur of nature juxtaposed with mankind and his seemingly small footprint on mother nature is obviously apparent in this curatorial exhibit. Each of these artists chose to represent a magnificent landscape, either fictional or real, while hinting at man’s attempts to operate within the context of nature. Mankind cannot be without nature, yet nature seems to be able to exist without mankind. This odd relationship tethers man to the reality of never being able to live outside of mother nature’s touch. Each artwork here seems to show how mankind’s attempts at building upon nature’s beauty with his own is always dwarfed by the ever-present grandeur of nature. Thomas Cole and Joseph Turner’s works both show man’s attempts at architecture to be overgrown and overpowered by natures raw ability to grow. Lear’s “Catania and Mount Etna” perfectly sums up the symbiotic relationship of mankind with nature and yet reminds the viewer of how seemingly insignificant man’s “developments” appear before the feet of mother nature. This exhibit displays the beauty and power of nature over the comparatively feeble strength and finiteness of mankind. 

 Theodore Gericault

"Evening: Landscape with an Aqueduct"

1818

Oil on Canvas

1989.183

Gericault’s work Evening was one of three completed pieces he designed in a set to represent the different times of day. Gericault was inspired by the rough Italian countryside which he took serious interest in in 1816 and 1817. Gericault masterfully joins together mankind and his attempts at taming the wild landscape through architecture with the rugged, natural beauty of creation. A decrepit and weathered stone outcropping on the left-hand side of the work is overrun with vines and natural growth. The central mountain looms above the small city at its base. Though young and strong, the men swimming in the river are considerably dwarfed even by the river itself which is seen connected to an even larger body of water far off in the distance. Gericault displays how man cannot live outside of nature while at the same time showing how nature determines how man lives and develops.

Joseph Anton Koch

"Heroic Landscape with Rainbow"

1824

Oil on Canvas

2008.420

 

This work by Koch is the fourth and final version of a composition he started in 1805 and is the masterpiece of his upon which his lasting fame rests. Koch re-vitalized the heroic landscape genre of painting established by 17^th century French masters. Koch has a beautifully placed a Greek city on a hillside that is surrounded by the beauty of creation. The city rests in the shadow of the looming mountains above and is bordered by a large enchanted looking sea with a river running right along its side. Overhead a giant rainbow reaches its apex in the clouds above. Koch craftily displays the beauties of nature’s different faces and shrinks an entire city to appear small and insignificant, though beautiful in its own way, in comparison. Koch makes it seem as though, no matter how hard man tries to create something beautiful and artistic it will never be able to rival mother nature natural beauty.

Thomas Cole

"A View Near Tivoli (Morning)"

1832

Oil on Canvas

03.27

 

Thomas Cole’s “A View Near Tivoli (Morning)” fits perfectly into this exhibition. The Italian landscape spoke volumes to Cole and he was able to capture many scenes of beautiful Italian countryside in his works. This particular one collaborates splendidly with the rest of this exhibition because of how large Cole portrays the countryside to be in comparison with that of the tiny travelers painted onto the canvas. Cole’s human figures are dwarfed by the grandeur of nature in this scene as they travel the Italian road. The stonewalls alongside the road as well as the decrepit building on the righthand side of the painting once again boast nature’s ability to easily overgrow man’s developments.

Johan Christian Dahl

"Mother and Child by the Sea"

1830

Oil on Canvas

2007.164.2

This unique painting is the only one of the exhibition that depicts a sea rather than a true landscape. This work by Johan Dahl places a mother and her child on the shore of a sea as they look out into the dark night sky as a ship approaches, presumably the husband and father. This work falls perfectly into this curatorial exhibit because of how Dahl chooses to depict nature here. The thick night sky is penetrated by a beautiful piercing moonlight that cuts throw the clouds and dances upon the steady waves of the sea. The seemingly vast sea has no boundary in the background and sky above certainly doesn’t either. Though the focus of painting, the people are displayed as minutely smaller in scale than the surrounding natural scenery.

Joseph Mallard William Turner

"River Wye (Liber Studiorum, Part X, plate 48)"

1812

Etching and Mezzotint

51.648.53 

Turner illustrates a scene from a riverbend in Great Britain attempting at creating a picturesque scene. This piece was located in a series of seventy prints that Turner produced in the years prior this one. This type of landscape was apparently much debated in Britain at the time and Turner attempted to capture its rugged beauty in this print. Showing a ruined castle up on the hillside and naked local swimmers in the river, Turner demonstrates how nature and humans interact in an ideal setting. It fits well into this exhibition by demonstrating another beautiful scene of nature where the river seemingly determines the shape of the land around it.

 

  Edward Lear

"Catania and Mount Etna"

1847

Oil on Board

61.233

Edward Lear was a prolific artist with thousands of remaining paintings which he created. In this particular sketch Lear is capturing the scene of Europe’s tallest volcano which is located in Italy. From the view that Lear was located on he could see the whole island of Sicily which he described as “a great pink map… with the sea around it so blue”. Lear used this awe-inspiring view to capture a scene that perfectly demonstrates the size and power of raw nature in stark comparison to the industrialized island of Sicily. Once again we distinctly see how mankind can only ever operate within the context of nature.