In the late 1700’s and on into the 1800’s, landscape paintings began to become popular in the realm of art. This rise of landscape paintings comes from the romanticism movement. Artists during this time were interested in the sublime. This meant that their main focus was to make the viewer feel small. This is the emotion that artists were trying to get out of their viewers. The subject matter of the romanticism landscape artists were of nature. A lot of the scenes in the landscapes are dramatic with storms and tall mountains rising above the horizon. Some have a lot of depth so the viewer can look out into the painting endlessly. Also, many of the scenes the artist would paint weren’t real. The artist would paint them on how they envision them to be. Some were based on a real place, but were dramatized. Since romanticism landscape paintings were dramatized, one way that artists would do this would be to include rainbows with storms. A lot of landscape work comes from Europe with artists such as Simon Denis, Vincent Jansz. van der Vinne, Joseph Anton Koch, and John Glover. American artists such as Frederic Edwin Church and George Inness also painted landscapes. All of these artists have painted landscapes that involve storms and the use of the rainbow in the scenes to create a dramatic effect in the artwork.
Simon Denis
Landscape Near Rome During a Storm
ca. 1786–1806
oil on paper
accession number 2009.400.41
Denis uses depth and color in this painting to invoke emotions in the viewer. Denis uses color by having a rainbow right beside a dark rainstorm. The light from the sun on the ground points us to looking at this rainbow amongst the storm. Also, if we notice on the bottom left part of the painting, we see two horsemen. This gives us a scale for how large this scene actually is. Also, we can tell this scene isn’t painted from an actual occurrence, because of the way the storm is moving and the way the rainbow is reflecting is scientifically wrong. This just shows how romanticism artists painted landscapes to show a dramatic effect and not to represent the real world.
Vincent Jansz. van der Vinne Landscape with a Rainbow over a Farmhouse and Distant Village
no date
watercolor over black chalk
accession number 2002.78
The rainbow in this painting stands out as it doesn’t really blend well with the composure of the rest of the painting. We can notice how the colors against the clouds are more prominent than that of the blue sky behind it. Also, the colors of the rainbow are inverted from how a normal rainbow would be seen. This correlates to how landscape paintings aren’t from the real world, but are a creation of the artist. There is depth to the painting with the buildings in the background being small. The viewer may look at this painting, and the rainbow is what would stick out most to them because of the color against the overall hue of the painting. The dark clouds in the background dramatize the overall scene.
Heroic Landscape with Rainbow
1824
oil on canvas
accession number: 2008.420
This painting was inspired by a Greece scene that Joseph Anton Koch saw. This painting has a lot of depth to it, and evokes a sense to the viewer of being small in comparison to the landscape. In the distance we can see how the storm is moving out away from the town. Based on science, the rainbow isn’t natural in this scene, but the purpose is to provide emotion to the viewer. The storm and dark hues in color dramatize the scene, and the rainbow emphasizes it.
John Glover
The Rainbow
1794
watercolor over graphite
accession number: 2002.424
This painting doesn’t have as much depth, but the bright color of the rainbow draws our attention to it. This painting, we can’t see the colors of the rainbow, but we can understand that it is one. The space in this painting is shallow compared to most landscape paintings during this time. The rainbow in the painting is a double rainbow. Also, there is a lot of blue sky showing, making the dramatic scene more so on the foreground of the dark shrubbery and moving creek.
Frederic Edwin Church
The Aegean Sea
ca. 1877
oil on canvas
accession number: 02.23
This painting is done a bit later than the other paintings previously mentioned, as this is done in America. This is a painting of the Aegean sea. It, like many other landscape paintings, are based on what Frederic has seen but not entirely a painting of one shot. The depth in the painting gives us an understanding of how small we are as people in the world. The dramatic scene of the big fluffy clouds in the background with the double rainbow and light from the sun points our eyes to the rainbow with his use of light in color. The mountain side on the left of the painting is dark and takes up a lot of space in the scene. It is dramatic in content all over the painting, but is more calming near the middle where the rainbow shines and it is bright.
George Inness
Delaware Water Gap
1861
oil on canvas
accession number: 32.151
This painting, like the others mentioned, has depth and the use of a rainbow as its subject. The horizon is tall and the clouds are heavier in the background. The rainbow is bright in color compared to the rest of the painting. The view of the Delaware water gap is dramatized by the rainbow and storm looming over it. The painting gives the viewer the sense of being small by how the boat in the middle of the water gap has people on it and is so small in comparison to the physical landscape. The dramatic scene in this painting is in the background as if it is moving away from us.
No comments:
Post a Comment