Born two centuries ago, his paintings anticipated and influenced those of the mainstream Impressionists. He even painted from a floating studio.
landscape
In these last 2 years, his paintings reached a new peak in quantity and innovative exploration of colour and texture.
He divided his time between the bustle of Berlin and the family’s garden of Eden by the lake and mountains.
The war years started with buoyant patriotism, but ended in depression. He was saved by a chalet in Bavaria, and his wonderful landscapes.
He recovered some of his youthful vision in the 1860s, when he painted rich rustic views lit by the setting sun.
He started topographic paintings when he returned to London, and during his extended working honeymoon in Italy.
Largely self-taught, he was a precocious painter whose major works started when he was only 20. This covers his early work and time in Shoreham, to 1835.
Financial success in 1846 finally allowed him to concentrate on landscape painting – and to paint many sunsets and harvest scenes.
Almost forgotten now, apart from the help that he gave William Blake, he was the most prominent British landscape painter after Turner’s death.
Tracing Blake’s influence through his friends John Linnell and Samuel Palmer to the likes of Graham Sutherland and Eric Ravilious.
The Eclectic Light Company 