The Dark Side of the Landscape: The Rural Poor in English Painting 1730-1840

by John Barrell

The eighteenth-century saw a radical change in the depiction of country life in English feeling less constrained by the conventions of classical or theatrical pastoral, landscape painters attempted to offer a portrayal of what life was really like, or was thought to be like, in England; and this inevitably involved a distinct approach to the depiction of the rural poor. John Barrell's influential 1980 study shows why the poor began to be of such interest to painters, and examines the ways in which they could be represented so as to be an acceptable part of the décor of the salons of the rich. His discussion focuses on the work of three Thomas Gainsborough, George Morland and John Constable. Throughout the book, Barrell draws illuminating comparisons with the literature of rural life and with the work of other painters. His terse and vigourous account has provided a landmark for social historians and literary critics, as well as historians of art.

Genres: Art History, Art, Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published March 31, 1980

Reviews

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comprised of three long essays. The strongest is the last, on Constable. Academic, but fairly accessible and interesting.

[Johanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had high hopes but it was a little dry. The subject matter is fascinating and if you have an interest in social history or art history this is a must read.

[Tony Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

English rural life 1730-1840, ie during the Industrial Revolution, as depicted in paintings: “how the rural poor are represented in the landscape… how social relations are depicted in such paintings.... and what place the poor are shown as occupying.” The constraints on how they are shown in pictures are “apparently aesthetic but in fact moral and social.”

Through three loosely connected essays the author traces social change. The first half of the 1700s saw “a golden age of landscape… almost never cultivated” with at most a few sheep cattle and shepherds, happy swains “of the Arcadian Pastoral”. That gave way to “inexplicably cheerful” ploughmen, a new realism mixed with massaging of growing social tensions on the land. That in turn surrendered to “a picturesque image of the poor, whereby their raggedness became of aesthetic interest” and objects of pity.

When this “would serve no longer” rural labourers were “merged as far as possible with their surroundings”, abstracted away in “a romantic image of harmony”. By the mid-1800s, the balance of economic life had shifted decisively to the cities; the landscape emptied of its former tensions, becoming a place of refreshment and recreation whose chief virtue was “not being the city”.

[Uriah Marc Todoroff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book, written in a style clearly based on dictation or lectures. The arguments about what constitutes georgic painting, and how it relates to class dynamics of the time, relies a lot on drawing parallels with contemporaneous poetry. The reproductions were not great (black and white), especially for a book about art specifically where the figures are often diminished in the landscape. The middle essay was the best. Gave me lots of think about, and at a recent exhibition I was thinking about art that hides figures in the landscape, and how that relates to the class dynamics of the time.

Little formal analysis of the paintings, and a real focus on the social history and drawing connections to poetry.

[Esther · Rating 2 out of 5]

More re-reading. This book dates from my first year History of Art course at University. Very academic, dry prose. I sincerely doubt anyone, outside of a required reading list, has picked this up. Not to say it was without merit. He makes some good points about the depiction of farm labourers and the like. But what I remember from the time of first reading this was that it meant spending time studying a lot of tedious landscape painting by Gainsborough, Constable - the stuff of jigsaw puzzles and biscuit tins.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

how "the poor" figure as "nature" in 18th C painting and poetry