Turner and Constable: Sketching from Nature

Good little book for what it is. I have wishes and a smaller checkbook so it did a good job that way. Do wish it were larger and had a tad more definition to the works. Over - all, It actually did get the job done.

I've always believed that titles should reflect contents; this one doesn't, in fact it's fraudulent. It's not a book of sketches by Turner and Constable - it's a book of sketches by professional and amateur artists working at the time of these two celebrities - some of whose works are indeed included, but very much as a minority overall. Their names have been highlighted because names like Cornelius Varley (lesser-known brother of John), Thomas Jones, James Johnson and the Reverend William Bree wouldn't sell many books (or draw visitors to the original exhibition). In fairness, we also find works by Cotman, Danby, WH Hunt and Stubbs, inter alia.The essay by Professor Michael Rosenthal which starts off the work is, well, professorial, so not a particularly easy read, and would have benefitted significantly by being split into more easily assimilated sections. It also features the odd inconsistency - for example, "Oil sketching from nature is so impractical as to be perverse." There are thousands of artists in this country alone who would chortle in mirth at this remark. In one section he complains of the reflective paint surface "completely distorting tonal values" outdoors, but elsewhere seemingly agrees on how important it is to work outdoors to achieve true values. This is a not uncommon failing in art historians and critics, who mostly live in a world of their own making. We don't mind. Ann Lyles' essay on the origins and development of plein-air sketching in Britain I found a more pleasing read, both in style and content, despite paragraphs sometimes being over-long for the comfort of a general reader.The sketches themselves are largely unremarkable - despite the efforts to imbue them with imagined special qualities - and if shown in an exhibition as new contemporary works would in many if not most cases remain unsold, unless priced for peanuts. Their value lies not in their quality as artworks, but in when they were painted, by whom, and their significance in the context of British art history.There is some decent stuff in here, though, despite the losses in quality due to reductions in size and the poor reproduction of darks; so if you have a particular interest the activities of both well-known and obscure artists from this period, then for a tenner it's OK. But don't expect any masterpieces.

I was unable to attend the exhibition so I was delighted to be able to have the book and the bonus of the background to the artists and the works.Well worth having.

some interesting work shown by 18th and early 19th century landscape painters. I enjoyed looking at the pictures.