Narrating the Landscape

British Creativity in Landscape Portrayal 1760-1800

Beaulieu Orna, Marie Claude

As chosen by British landscapists traveling on the Grand Tour in the last third of the eighteenth century, our study explores the path to remedy the ambiguity of their pictorial genre. Indeed, being attached to certain continental artistic references while simultaneously willing to affirm a British character, those artists find their way experimenting processes and dealing with materiality issues in a particularly innovative manner. Their approach is to be closely related to the peculiarities of landscape art in Great Britain at that period, including its theoretical interpretation, teaching, and cultural perception. Through various examples, our research sheds light on this training and analyses painters’ traveling practice, largely devoted to the exercise of plein air sketching and employed to satisfy aesthetic goals. The book also investigates the diffusion of this know-how through engraving and publishing. It raises the parallel issue of artistic interaction in the cosmopolitan environment of the Grand Tour, suggesting a certain transfer of skills from the British to the continental artistic communities. The inventiveness among British landscapists on the Grand Tour during its heyday is thus brought to light following its logical and sequential implementation, from training to sharing of travel art works.