Explore the Beauty of Victorian Landscapes Through Art
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Well now, let me tell ya somethin’ about them Victorian landscape artists. Them folks, they liked paintin’ pictures, ya know? Pictures of the land and all. I ain’t no expert, mind you, but I seen a few in my time, them prints they got at the general store sometimes.
Them fellas and gals, they was big on nature, I reckon. Trees and fields and all that. Not like them modern fellas, paintin’ squares and splatters. These Victorian folks, they wanted you to see what they seen, feel the breeze and hear the birds singin’, or maybe just the cows moooin’. Yep, cows were important, they were in lots of pictures, I tell ya.
- Lots of green, that’s what I remember. Green grass, green trees…though sometimes the trees were brown, dependin’ on the season, I guess.
- And the sky, oh my, the sky was somethin’ else. Big and blue, sometimes with fluffy white clouds, sometimes all grey and stormy lookin’. They liked them stormy skies, I think, made things look dramatic like.
- Water too, they painted lots of water. Rivers and lakes, mostly. Sometimes even the ocean, all big and wavy. Made ya feel a bit small, lookin’ at it.
Now, I heard tell of some famous ones, fellas like Turner and Constable. Them two, they was the big shots, seems like. Turner, he liked them fancy colors, all yellows and oranges and reds. Made the sunsets look like fire, I tell ya. Constable, he was more down to earth, I think. Painted things as they were, real and true. At least, that’s what the fella at the store told me once.
And there was others too, lots of others. Some painted them big fancy houses, castles and such. With gardens all around, full of flowers and statues. Them rich folks liked havin’ their places painted, showin’ off how much land they had, I reckon. Always been that way, ain’t it? Folks wantin’ to show off what they got.
I always liked the ones with the animals best, myself. Cows and sheep and horses, you know. Made the pictures feel alive. And sometimes, you’d see a little person in the picture, maybe a farmer or a shepherd. Just goin’ about their day, not posin’ or nothin’. That’s what I liked. Real life, I guess you’d call it.
But it wasn’t all sunshine and roses, mind you. Some of them pictures were kinda sad lookin’. Dark and gloomy. Maybe they were paintin’ about a bad storm or somethin’. Or maybe they were just feelin’ a bit down that day. Artists are like that, I hear. All moody and sensitive.
And then there’s them other fellas, the animal painter Landseer. My grandson showed me a picture once. Lions and horses and dogs, all lookin’ real as life. Not landscapes, exactly, but still purdy pictures. And Blacklock, he painted them lakes and mountains up north. Real pretty places, even though I ain’t never been there myself.
They used different kinds of paint, I think. Oils and watercolors and such. I don’t know much about that part, but I know some of them pictures were real shiny and smooth, and some were kinda rough and bumpy. Depended on what they was tryin’ to do, I guess. And them frames, some of them frames was fancy too. All gold and carved up. Made the pictures look even more important, I reckon.
Nowadays, you can buy them pictures anywhere, even online, they tell me. Affordable paintings, the ads say. Not the real ones, of course, them are in museums and fancy houses. But copies, I guess. Still nice to look at, though. Reminds you of a simpler time, maybe. When folks took the time to look at the world around them and paint what they seen. That’s somethin’ worth rememberin’, I think. It ain’t just about pretty pictures, it’s about seein’ the beauty in the everyday, even in a cow grazin’ in a field. That’s what them Victorian artists was tryin’ to tell us, I reckon.
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Tags:[Victorian Art, Landscape Painting, 19th Century Art, John Constable, J.M.W. Turner, Richard Wilson, William James Blacklock, English Painting, Nature in Art, Historical Art]
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