These ten paintings are :
- my own personal choice, (how could it be otherwise?),
- presented in no particular order, (choosing ten from all the great paintings available is hard enough, so putting them in correct 'running order' would be pretty well impossible),
- open to change, (I know there are so many other contenders, that I may change the odd one or two occasionally).
Number 1
'A Cornfield'
John Constable, 1817, Oil paint on canvas
An unfinished, plein air painting, it depicts Fen Lane in Suffolk. This is the study for the finished (National Gallery, London) painting also called The Cornfield. He lowered the trees at the right of this sketch by overpainting with sky, probably while preparing the finished picture.
It remains wonderfully fresh and descriptive and unpretentious.
It remains wonderfully fresh and descriptive and unpretentious.
Number 2
'Birnam Wood'
David Farquharson, 1906, Oil paint on canvas
Simple, moody, understated, quiet, tranquil.
Number 3
'Our English Coasts, 1852 (Strayed Sheep)'
William Holman Hunt, 1852, Oil on Canvas
(The text below is from a previous posting on this painting)
(The text below is from a previous posting on this painting)
I'm not sure how many times I've looked at this painting, the fourth in my personal list of 'top ten' artworks.
When I lived in London, I would go every Sunday afternoon to the National Gallery, what is now known as Tate Britain, or to the British Museum. So I looked at this, and other favourites of mine, lots of times over a period of many years. (In fact, however, on any one particular Sunday afternoon, and because looking carefully at paintings is a very tiring business, I find that I can only concentrate seriously for an hour or so, and then my mind begins to collapse and I have to slide off for a piece of chocky cake at the gallery café).
When I lived in London, I would go every Sunday afternoon to the National Gallery, what is now known as Tate Britain, or to the British Museum. So I looked at this, and other favourites of mine, lots of times over a period of many years. (In fact, however, on any one particular Sunday afternoon, and because looking carefully at paintings is a very tiring business, I find that I can only concentrate seriously for an hour or so, and then my mind begins to collapse and I have to slide off for a piece of chocky cake at the gallery café).
For me the power of this painting is derived simply from the clarity of the artist's observation, and from his obvious reverence for the natural world.
The symbolism used in this painting has been much discussed over the years. Personally I'm not particularly impressed by the use of symbols. I find the use of symbols to be a literary-based, unnecessary, and very often a pretentious intrusion into the world of painting, which I think tends to work best when it is kept as a straightforward visual art.
However, I can live with any symbolism that may (or may not) be employed here, because Hunt avoids any temptation towards the sticky sentimentality that one can find in some Pre-Raphaelite and Symbolist work.
However, I can live with any symbolism that may (or may not) be employed here, because Hunt avoids any temptation towards the sticky sentimentality that one can find in some Pre-Raphaelite and Symbolist work.
And anyway the symbolism is unclear.
Various interpretations have been mooted, for example from the religious (i.e., the straying of the sheep, and the difficulties that they are getting into without a shepherd on hand, which points to the standard religious lesson about staying on the straight and narrow), to the political (i.e., the unguarded coastline and the danger of the feared Napoleanic invasion).
Various interpretations have been mooted, for example from the religious (i.e., the straying of the sheep, and the difficulties that they are getting into without a shepherd on hand, which points to the standard religious lesson about staying on the straight and narrow), to the political (i.e., the unguarded coastline and the danger of the feared Napoleanic invasion).
This is the Tate Gallery text that accompanies the painting.
The location shown in this painting is the Lovers' Seat, an idyllic spot at Fairlight Glen near Hasting in Sussex. Hunt laboured here from mid-August to December 1852, enduring rain, wind and bitter cold to master his view.
Despite the changes in weather, the painting seems a credible replication of a particular illuminated moment. The colours used to convey light are daringly juxtaposed in order to intensify the clarity of every surface, a method that astounded audiences on both sides of the Channel.
It's interesting that the Tate text does not mention the possible use of photography as an aid in replicating this 'particular illuminated moment'.
The picture has the undeniable appearance of a photo-based image. He could possibly have used a camera lucida, but personally I would guess that he had photos taken by someone else (like Delacroix did), or took them himself (like Degas did) to enable him to see the view with a single consistent light source.
Of course, no artist of the day would own to this kind of thing. As Sickert said about his fellow artists' use of photography, quoting from a well-known cockney, slightly naughty music-hall ditty........,"Some does it hopenly, and some on the sly......."
The picture has the undeniable appearance of a photo-based image. He could possibly have used a camera lucida, but personally I would guess that he had photos taken by someone else (like Delacroix did), or took them himself (like Degas did) to enable him to see the view with a single consistent light source.
Of course, no artist of the day would own to this kind of thing. As Sickert said about his fellow artists' use of photography, quoting from a well-known cockney, slightly naughty music-hall ditty........,"Some does it hopenly, and some on the sly......."
Number 4
'The Waterfalls, Pistyll Mawddach, North Wales'
Samuel Palmer, 1835-6, Oil paint on canvas
Here's a note from the Tate Gallery about this picture:
"After his so-called 'visionary years' at Shoreham in Kent, Palmer sought new places to inspire him. During the 1830s he paid visits to the West country and more particularly to Wales, where he saw 'grand novelties and enlarged the materials of the imagination'. He paid his first visit in 1835 with the animal painter Henry Walter. Palmer appears to have made a drawing on the spot of the Pistil (?) Mawddach falls, which lie north of Dolgellau, and then to have worked up both a watercolour (now at the Yale Center for British Art) and this oil of the subject. He returned to Wales in 1836, this time with Edward Calvert."
Number 5
'The Thames near Walton Bridges'
JMW Turner, 1805, Oil paint on mahogany veneer.
Of course Turner painted so many out-and-out masterpieces that it's difficult to choose any single one. I've opted here (as with the Constable above) for a simple sketch. Painted out of doors (which was becoming very fashionable at the time) on, in this case, a small wood panel. It has an uncomplicated, naturalistic feel.
Number 6
'The Waning of the Year'
Ernest Parton, 1879, Oil paint on canvas
Here's a note from the Tate Gallery about this picture:
This and wistfulness of his subject matter suggests Parton was influenced by the French painter J.B.C. Corot. when this picture was first exhibited at the Royal Academy a critic, writing of its place in English landscape art, noted 'if we go on in this manner we shall, in the international race, overtake France one of these days".
Number 7
'River Scene with Ducks'
Charles-François Daubigny, 1859, Oil paint on oak
(The text below is from a previous posting on this painting)
This is a small painting in the National Gallery which I usually go to see whenever I visit London. Of course there are so many vastly more famous and imposing pictures at the gallery, but this little picture always touches me.
It is so fresh and so vivid, and looks exquisitely natural. He may have done it on the spot, or started at the site and then finished back at base, or he may have completed it using a photograph. I don't know, and for me it doesn't matter. However he did it, it is a little gem.
I also admire the fact that he chose subjects which seemed fairly unremarkable. He didn't feel the need to seek out some awesome picturesque view. He could see the beauty in quiet and commonplace scenes.
Number 8
'Found'
Sir Hubert Von Herkomer, 1884-5, Oil paint on canvas
Here's a note from the Tate Gallery about this picture:
"Found' took him about ten weeks to finish, and shows a spot between Portmadoc and Beddgelert in North Wales. He and his family camped out there for the whole period. Into this landscape Von Heerkomer introduced an imaginary historical incident. A wounded Roman soldier is found by a Welsh woman who hesitates between compassion and distrust for an occupier of her country. The Ravens are another fanciful addition.
Von Herkomer admitted that he placed stuffed birds on the rocks so that he could paint them".
Number 9
'Thirlmere'
John Glover, 1820-30, Oil paint on canvas
(Notes from the display caption)
Thirlmere (formerly known as Leathes Water) is depicted here from the north. Helvellyn, shrouded in mist, is at the left and Raven Crag at the right. The house on the grassy slope in the distance is Dalehead Hall, home of the Leathes family, for whom this work was perhaps painted.
Glover exhibited paintings of the Lake District from 1795 onwards and lived there for two years around 1818-20. He aspired to be the 'English Claude' and much of his work is more picturesque in character than this example. Glover emigrated to Tasmania in 1830.
Thirlmere (formerly known as Leathes Water) is depicted here from the north. Helvellyn, shrouded in mist, is at the left and Raven Crag at the right. The house on the grassy slope in the distance is Dalehead Hall, home of the Leathes family, for whom this work was perhaps painted.
Glover exhibited paintings of the Lake District from 1795 onwards and lived there for two years around 1818-20. He aspired to be the 'English Claude' and much of his work is more picturesque in character than this example. Glover emigrated to Tasmania in 1830.
Number 10
'Recollection, Strid, Barden Tower'
John William Inchbold, 1866, Oil paint on paper.
I don't know anything about this picture. And it's unusual in that it is a 'recollection'. So the act of remembrance probably contributes to it's quality of ambiguity. Sombre colours, and gentle melancholic mood. It is painted loosely and quickly, and is not too close to the style which we usually associate with Inchbold. But, very nice bit of painting.
This top ten, I repeat, will change from time to time.
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Music:
I've recently started, just for fun, linking the two preoccupations together, by featuring a few paintings along with one of my songs. If you have a spare minute, you're welcome to take a look. . . . .
.......... these are on YouTube, and I'll add more as time goes by.
They will also be found on iTunes, Spotify, CDBaby, etc, - (my intention is to put a new song on monthly from September 2017)
Whose lips are these, and who created them?
Music:
Beyond painting, my other preoccupation is music - particularly songwriting.
I've recently started, just for fun, linking the two preoccupations together, by featuring a few paintings along with one of my songs. If you have a spare minute, you're welcome to take a look. . . . .
.......... these are on YouTube, and I'll add more as time goes by.
They will also be found on iTunes, Spotify, CDBaby, etc, - (my intention is to put a new song on monthly from September 2017)
Also in the last period I've been recording some songs with some friends - have a listen here if you have the time.
quiz quiz quiz quiz quiz “details, details............” quiz quiz quiz quiz quiz
Whose lips are these, and who created them?
(The answer will be in the next posting.)
And here's the answer from the last posting -
'Gates of Paradise'
by Ghiberti. Battistero di San Giovanni (Florence).
quiz quiz quiz quiz quiz “details, details............” quiz quiz quiz quiz quiz
"Landscape painting is a concentrated, meditative journey in observation."
Van Waldron
In the last period I've been recording some songs with some friends - have a listen here if you have the time.
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