Famous English painters

a. Read the text and do the exercises that follow:

John Constable (1776—1837). So influenced was John Constable by his native Suffolk that the rural vistas of his boyhood became the theme of his paintings. These scenes made me a painter, and I am grateful,' he once declared. He became the greatest exponent of the English Picturesque Style of painting.

Constable painted landscapes at a time when the function of art­ists was to represent man. He hoped to elevate the genre by re­placing its conventions with what he himself called the light-dews-breeze-bloom-and-freshness of nature. He saw himself as a "natural" artist, but he is counted among the Romantics. His paintings exemplify the Romantic preference for colour to express nature's changing moods, rather than the neoclassical ideal of pu­rity of form and elegance of composition.

The somber moods that lowering storm clouds imposed on the landscape depressed him, and he preferred to paint nature in its more serene moments.

In many paintings Constable sought to capture in pigment scudding clouds and their shadows, and the transient reflections of light on water. His work anticipated Impressionism by more than 50 years.

Exercises

1. Transcribe the following words:

to anticipate

(to) influence

theme

scene

landscape

colour

composition

nature

2. Sum up what the text said about Constable.

3. Agree or disagree and substantiate your viewpoint:

• Rural scenes from boyhood made Constable a painter.

• Every artist tries to capture nature's serenity.

b. Read this text and insert the correct articles:

Joshua Reynolds (1723—1792). English portrait painter. He was ac­tive in London from 1752 and became... first president of... Royal Academy in 1768. His portraits display... facility for striking and char­acterful compositions in... consciously grand manner. He often bor­rowed classical poses, for example Mrs Siddons as... Tragic Muse, ex­hibited now in San Marino, California.

c. Read this text and insert the correct prepositions:

Thomas Gainsborough (1727—1788). English landscape and portrait painter. In 1760 he settled... Bath and painted society portraits. In 1774 he went... London and became one... the original members... the Royal Academy. He was one... the first British artists to follow the Dutch exam­ple... painting realistic landscapes rather... imaginative Italianate scenery.

d, Read the text and do the exercises that follow:

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