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Silent witnesses : trees in British art, 1760-1870 / Christiana Payne.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Bristol : Sansom & Co, a publishing imprint of Redcliffe Press Ltd, 2017Description: 192 pages : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 27 cmISBN:
  • 1911408127
  • 9781911408123
Subject(s): LOC classification:
  • NX650.T74 P39 2017
Contents:
One. The Tree in the Landscape and in the Imagination: 1760 -- 1870 -- Two. The Tree in Patrician Culture: 1760 -- 1800 -- Three. Woodland Anatomy: The Drawing of Trees -- Four. `Idolatry with Some Excuse': Portraits of Remarkable Trees -- Five. The Pleasures of the Woods -- Six. Exotic Trees: A Taste of Paradise -- Seven. John Ruskin and the Pre-Raphaelite Tree: 1840 -- 1870.
Summary: In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, naturalists, poets and artists were united in their love of trees. William Gilpin began his influential 'Remarks on Forest Scenery' (1791) with the bold statement that 'It is no exaggerated praise to call a tree the grandest, and most beautiful of all the productions of the earth.' Illustrated books and tree portraits celebrated the beauty, antiquity and diversity of individual, and particularly ancient specimens. A wide range of drawing manuals showed artists and amateurs how to express their 'character' and 'anatomy', as if they were human subjects. Paintings of woodland scenes provided welcome relief from city life, and studies of exotic trees reflected the growth of tourism and empire. The arrival of new species from all over the world aroused much excitement and scientific activity. At the same time, the native trees - oak, ash, beech, elm - acquired new resonance as emblems of the rural countryside. Many of Britain's most important landscape painters, including Paul Sandby, John Constable, Samuel Palmer, Edward Lear, and the Pre-Raphaelites, made themselves experts in the drawing and painting of trees.
List(s) this item appears in: Gardens in Art, Artists' Gardens
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Lending Books Elisabeth C. Miller Library Tall Shelves SB435.7 .P29 2017 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Available 39352800173908
Total holds: 0

Includes bibliographical references (pages 184-188) and index.

One. The Tree in the Landscape and in the Imagination: 1760 -- 1870 -- Two. The Tree in Patrician Culture: 1760 -- 1800 -- Three. Woodland Anatomy: The Drawing of Trees -- Four. `Idolatry with Some Excuse': Portraits of Remarkable Trees -- Five. The Pleasures of the Woods -- Six. Exotic Trees: A Taste of Paradise -- Seven. John Ruskin and the Pre-Raphaelite Tree: 1840 -- 1870.

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, naturalists, poets and artists were united in their love of trees. William Gilpin began his influential 'Remarks on Forest Scenery' (1791) with the bold statement that 'It is no exaggerated praise to call a tree the grandest, and most beautiful of all the productions of the earth.' Illustrated books and tree portraits celebrated the beauty, antiquity and diversity of individual, and particularly ancient specimens. A wide range of drawing manuals showed artists and amateurs how to express their 'character' and 'anatomy', as if they were human subjects. Paintings of woodland scenes provided welcome relief from city life, and studies of exotic trees reflected the growth of tourism and empire. The arrival of new species from all over the world aroused much excitement and scientific activity. At the same time, the native trees - oak, ash, beech, elm - acquired new resonance as emblems of the rural countryside. Many of Britain's most important landscape painters, including Paul Sandby, John Constable, Samuel Palmer, Edward Lear, and the Pre-Raphaelites, made themselves experts in the drawing and painting of trees.

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