The Hay Wain, John Constable
Of the myriad of landscape painters that worked throughout the 19th century, John Constable was one of the best. Today landscape painting is considered a beautiful genre that is noteworthy in its own ways. It is perfectly acceptable for a young artist to admit in an art class that they want to be a landscape painter. However, attitudes in the 18th century were very different. It was not commonly acceptable to just produce landscape paintings. They didn’t do anything, not like how a religious painting praises god or the saints and not like how portraits commemorate individuals and promote their social status. Landscapes, while sometimes pretty to do look at, didn’t serve a cause other than to please the eye.
