Paris (AFP)
The Golden Age of British painting, under the long reign of George III, straddling the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, is exhibited at the Musée du Luxembourg in Paris, Gainsborough Turner: a selection that paints the relaxation and childhood naturally in a princely setting.
This exhibition, which opened on Wednesday, was made from the masterpieces of Tate Britain. She led the visitor to the foundation in 1768 of the Royal Academy of Arts, whose painter Joshua Reynolds was the first president, to a new artistic turn that began in the early nineteenth century, including with William Turner.
Great classics of British art, rarely presented in France, are presented in the halls of the museum, whose succession recalls that of an English palace of the time.
George III reigned from 1760 to 1820, one of the longest reigns in history. A key period in the UK's industrial development, influenced and supported by the riches of its huge colonial empire.
Monarchy, but also commerce and industry, supported the artists. Even if some artists like George Morland are struggling to make ends meet and fall into despair.
One of the charms of these genre paintings is to portray family interiors in a happy and relaxed way, and to portray children in their natural way.
In contrast, the great canvas Destruction of Pompei and Herculaneum John Martin (1822) appears grandiloquent, apocalyptic, and very beautiful in the end.
The chosen paintings are certainly perfect, the faces are finely brushed and expressive, but the themes and scenes marked by academicism are not without boredom.
One feels the command of the powerful, which gives an art for and by the great of this world, which does not explore the reality beyond the royal and princely sponsors.
- The Golden Age of English Painting - September 11 - February 16.
SNIDs / ial / cam
© 2019 AFP