English painters

William Hogarth (1697-1764):

· was the first great English painter who raised British pictorial art to a high level of importance;

·...'s pictures of social life which he called " modern moral subjects" brought him fame and position;

· observed life with a keen and critical eye;

· possessed an exceptional capacity for dramatic composition;

· is well-known as a humorist and satirist on canvas;

·...'s most famous works are six pictures united under the title " Marriage a la Mode", " Shrimp Girl", etc.

Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792):

· was one of the most outstanding British portraitists;

· painted portraits, group pictures, historical themes;

· was greatly influenced by the old masters;

· succeeded in capturing his sitters' transient expressions;

revealing his sitters' inner world;

expressing his sitters' individuality;

·...'s " Portrait of Nelly O'Brien" is a masterpiece in which the lighting, colour and material textures show the artist's technique at its best.

Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788):

· was the purest lyricist of English artists, a brilliant portraitist and a landscape painter;

· possessed an unrivalled gift for catching a likeness;

· captured on his canvases not only the look but the very spirit of Britain's aristocrats, soldiers, squires, statesmen, etc.;

· immortalized the fascinating face of the 18^th century England with his portraits;

· with his great insight into character was capable of

- making even the traditional ceremonial portrait a

profound psychological study;

- conveying the transient mood;

· created a form of art in which the sitter and the background merge into a single entity;

·...'s most fascinating work is " The Painter's Daughters with a Cat."

John Constable (1776-1837):

· was the greatest of English landscape painters;

· drew his inspiration from nature;

· always attempted to depict the transient effects of nature: light, clouds, rain;

· possessed a unique capacity for rendering the freshness of atmosphere and the incidence of light;

·...'s works show picturesque variety of detail, a triumph of keen observation, truth of atmospheric colour;

· was the herald of romanticism, his technique and colouring being close to the impressionists;

·...'s best paintings are " The Valley Farm, " " Weymouth Bay, " " Brighton Beach with Colliers, " etc.

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851):

· was a genius in seascape painting;

· painted waives and storm, clouds and mists with a great skill; and masterful colouring;

· was able to render all the weight and movement of the sea

·...'s " Calais Pier" was one of his grandest creations.