The pursuit of truth was not easy, and posed its own problems, which altered the look of paintings.
Reynolds
First shown at the Royal Academy when only 10, this true genius had a colourful but tragically short life.
Putting oil paint into bladders allowed painters to take it out for use outdoors. But adding some media caused paintings to age badly and fall apart.
Some of the most innovative narrative paintings, they also show the bigger picture of changing ideas and values.
We still associate brushmarks with sketchiness, speed of painting, spontaneity, bravura, and panache – and smooth paint surfaces, assembled from multiple layers and glazes, as being heartless mechanical essays in technique.
Portraits by Reynolds, Gainsborough, Kauffmann, and others show extensive brushstrokes.
He intended to be a landscape painter, and was co-founder of the British school of landscape painting. A major influence of Constable and others.
This series of articles set out to consider how faithfully landscape painters have tried to depict the views and objects that they paint, as the ‘truth’ of their painting.
Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894) was a pioneer scientist and polymath who had great influence over nineteenth century research […]
Truth in (landscape) painting 1
There are many types of ‘truth’ in painting, but the truth that I am concerned with here is fidelity to motif: how faithfully does a painter attempt to depict the objects that they are painting?
The Eclectic Light Company 