I think now I’ve settled on a theme for my body of work; one that came out of a coincidence and set me buzzing which bodes well for pursuing it consistently and with a view to progression. The process involves the use of landscape photos with overlays of the built environment, either or both of which I may manipulate digitally to create a third impression of the view that will serve as the reference for an interpretive painting. Skies will probably feature heavily, and perhaps seas as I look towards Brighton for additional material. And if progression is to mean anything, it must mean getting better at developing my own style and for this, I need to look back at skies painted by other artists.
I took a brutal approach to my search strategy with a clear idea of the kinds of colours I wanted to see (El Greco came instantly to mind) and the sense of drama they created, and flicking through a book on landscape painting, listing the ones that caught my eye.
Then I populated the list with references from a number of text books I have to hand, and page numbers for location. I had intended to include images from Bridgeman which may have held the ones I’d identified but I’m unable to access the site at present. VADS, which is provided by UCA, is much more limited and also may not be available to me as we fully transition away from UCA to the OU. In an inspired moment though, I remembered YouTube where both the images and commentary of variable value can be found.
- El Greco (1500s)
No landscape images available via VADS. But …
El Greco, a view of Toledo. Via the Kahn Academy.
El Greco: a guide to El Greco’s life and artworks by Masterclass
Summary of El Greco. The Art Story.
The Story of Painting, Sister Wendy Beckett. 24, 40, 261-265, 495,178, 177
Art, the whole story. 202, 203, 208-9
What are you looking at. 61, 121, 122
Wolf P43.
2. Joachim Patinir (1500s)
Landscape with Charon crossing the Styx.
The endless vistas of Joachim Patiner. New Statesman 2021.
The Story of Painting, Sister Wendy Beckett. 287, 302, 196
Art, the whole story. 182, 183, 184
Wolf P35
3. Johan Dahl (1800s)
Dahl’s Study of Clouds, which is also in Wolf’s Landscape Painting (2017) can be found here on P6.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_Christian_Dahl
https://chazen.wisc.edu/collection/1894/moonlight-on-the-coast
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/439364
Wolf P6
4. Casper David Friedrich (1800s) No VADS
I first came across Friedrich’s work during lockdown when his painting of two men on a cliff- top reminded me of a pair of hand sanitisers, which is what I painted. I was evidently so impressed with myself I applied copyright info to it!
Wanderer Above a Sea of Fog. I think if I’d seen this first, Friedrich would have passed me by. Bloke on rock [and he got there how?] looks down at unconvincing fog.
Alna Cohen (Artsynet) probably wouldn’t agree.
An introduction to Casper David Friedrich in Five Paintings. A 360 degree look around a gallery and with some full-screen images for maximum viewing potential from Google Arts and Culture.
The Story of Painting, Sister Wendy Beckett. 498, 307
Art, the whole story. 266, 267, 511, 266, 267
Landscape Painting. Norbert Wolf. 60
Wolf P61
5. Vernet (1900s)
His ‘Nocturnal Seastorm’ (1752, mislabelled in Wolf’s book as ‘Nocturnal Snowstorm’) caught both my drama eye and my colour eye, as well as displaying a massive skyscape above very small figurative objects in the foreground. He would have made epic film backdrops and had the sound effects people crashing pans together till the handles fell off. This link leads to the image which can be popped out into a larger viewer and from this, while also registering the turbulence he has built apparently in layers through which each has a ‘window’ onto a lighter area of sky, I can take a guess that he was right-handed. I’m taking that view because of the diagonals in his work, all of them right to left with the thrust of the energy coming from the top and powering through the painting towards the bottom left. My skies go the other way; I am left-handed. The same goes for Loutherberg below.
Claude-Joseph Vernet. Wikipedia.
A Landscape at Sunset. Vernet 1773. The National Gallery. A different palette here but still grand scale. The foreground figures are larger but remain, in my view, the supporting cast. it’s not about them, this painting, it’s about Vernet’s eye on the sky.
“The overall effect of his style is wholly decorative. … “Others may know better”, he said, with just pride, “how to paint the sky, the earth, the ocean but no one knows better than I how to paint a picture …” Slam dunk, Vernet!
The Shipwreck 1772 and here he is again with his wide screen rendering of right to left diagonal skies and minute human figures in the foreground. The layers and the windows going from dark to light are there too which has something of the early puppetry about it. By this I mean the addition of moving scenery in the likes of Punch and Judy shows, each piece representing a part of the 3D imagery and predating film.
Wolf P24
6. De Loutherbourg (1800s)
The painting that stopped me flicking the pages was Coalbrookedale by Night (1801); a nightmare scene worthy of Dante but at the time, likely a spectacle of technological advancement. Here, instead of sweeping down from the sky as in Vernet’s seascape above, the hot clouds and funes billow upwards centre left to top right. Loutherberg, like Vernet, makes the sky the main character in this scene and again, the people and other artefacts are diminished in front of it. The Science Museum site describes the scene as depicting “the Bedlam furnaces” which I found were named after the Bethlem hospital which was often referred to as bedlam due to the ‘uproar and confusion‘ that prevailed there. Dreadful as those conditions were, the concept of uproar and confusion is an interesting one to consider with regard to the way atmospherics work. Clouds, I think, are difficult to paint because they are visually unrealistic. They make shapes, they drift, they feather, they loom, and they all but vanish like mist. A few days ago I saw a row of ten or so small clouds crossing my horizon looking like sheep and moving as if on a conveyor belt. Put that in a painting and I’d be laughed out of painter school but try for randomness and you’re overcome by the need to make forms that ‘look right’. So I’m in awe of anyone who is able to make skies that dodge those traps and now terrified of the task I’ve set myself.
Philip James de Loutherbourg. Wikipedia.
Philip James de Loutherberg in seven pictures. From Google Arts and Culture
Troubled Horizons. An article from the Science Museum discussing the impact of human progress. Coalbrookedale by Night is the leading illustration. Loutherberg here is referred to as Philippe Jaques de Loutherberg.
Wolf P25
7. Braque (1900s) no VADS
Georges Braque, a focus on cubism. I’ve lost myself here a bit. I was drawn to his painting, Landscape 1908 on P83 of Wolf’s book which isn’t hugely focused on skies but it does have a depth of colour and some interesting shading I’d like to look at a bit more.
This is a Paint Like Georges Braque pdf. Ok then, you’re on!
Summary of Georges Braque. The Art Story.
A Guardian article from 2005 by Alex Danchev who positions Braque at the forefront of the revolutionary art movement of Cubism
The Story of Painting, Sister Wendy Beckett. 612, 615, 622,640, 641, 644, 648, 643, 396
Art, the whole story. 371, 388, 389, 390, 391, 392, 393, 394-5,398, 469
What are you looking at. 104, 123-36, 229-30, 290, 123-4, 133-4, 124, 227, 191, 192,139, 123, 125-36,125-8,126,131
Wolf P82
8. Beckmann (1900s) No images via VADS
I was only able to find pdfs that weren’t downloadable and that I couldn’t link to. But his 1936 painting, Mountain Lake with Swans (P87 in Wolf’s book) is all silhouetted stark drama in colours that appeal to me.
The Story of Painting, Sister Wendy Beckett. 632, 634, 385
Art the whole story, 379, 420, 421.
Wolf P87
9. Arcimboldo (1500s)
Absolutely not a landscape painter but I can’t get past the madness of his Autumn and Spring portraits which construct profile images using seasonal fruit and veg. This image came from VADS which provides downloads of images free to use in education.
Art Masterpieces. Pages are unnumbered so my best guide is somewhere near the beginning in a double page spread between a huge copper pot and several naked bottoms.
I will add to this as I go through the links and book references. This will take a while so off it goes to the ether before one of my cats deletes it. Not joking.
SCH 2024
Book sources
The Story of Painting. (2001) Sister Wendy Beckett. (2001) DK
Art, the whole story (2018) Stephen Farthing (Ed) Thames and Hudson.
Landscape Painting. Norbert Wolf. (2017). Taschen.
Art Masterpieces (1979). Ted Smart and David Gibbon. Colour Library International.
What are you looking at? (2012) Will Gompertz. Penguin.
VADS is here and is part of UCA which means I may not be able to access it in due course. That said, I’ve downloaded these images without having to sign in.
Conboyhill Arts - art from stART to finish 