DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61291#0045
HIS ART
3i
no existence then, for at the most only black
and white sketches, supplemented by a few
colour notes, were practicable in the open air.
In spite, however, of all the influences against
him, and the fact that he has never yet received
the recognition he deserves, Gainsborough no
doubt inaugurated a great advance in the treat-
ment of landscape. His earliest works in that
direction were actual impressions of bits of
scenery near his home at Sudbury, and in them
he really unconsciously struck the keynote of
change. Hitherto classic scenes were de rigueur,
and even Wilson, although he has been styled
the “ Father of English landscape art,” got all
inspiration abroad.
Gainsborough was, indeed, the first master
to paint the characteristic landscape of his
native land. He revelled in the woods and
lanes, with the heavy masses of foliage, which are
so unlike the mountain scenery of Italy, and are
modified in their appearance by a mist-laden
atmosphere, offering a marked contrast to the
clear sunshine of the south. His thatched cot-
tages and harvest waggons are faithfuf representa-
tions of those he saw about him ■, his labourers
and country children are thoroughly typical of
Suffolk. He was, in fact, the forerunner of the
3i
no existence then, for at the most only black
and white sketches, supplemented by a few
colour notes, were practicable in the open air.
In spite, however, of all the influences against
him, and the fact that he has never yet received
the recognition he deserves, Gainsborough no
doubt inaugurated a great advance in the treat-
ment of landscape. His earliest works in that
direction were actual impressions of bits of
scenery near his home at Sudbury, and in them
he really unconsciously struck the keynote of
change. Hitherto classic scenes were de rigueur,
and even Wilson, although he has been styled
the “ Father of English landscape art,” got all
inspiration abroad.
Gainsborough was, indeed, the first master
to paint the characteristic landscape of his
native land. He revelled in the woods and
lanes, with the heavy masses of foliage, which are
so unlike the mountain scenery of Italy, and are
modified in their appearance by a mist-laden
atmosphere, offering a marked contrast to the
clear sunshine of the south. His thatched cot-
tages and harvest waggons are faithfuf representa-
tions of those he saw about him ■, his labourers
and country children are thoroughly typical of
Suffolk. He was, in fact, the forerunner of the