Windsor Castle (circa 1840), by Thomas Creswick, RA (1811–69). Oil on canvas. Private Collection.
This is one of Creswick’s finest paintings, incorporating the most characteristic features of his art. Using the conventions of the Picturesque, he presents his scene of Windsor Castle as a typical summer’s day in England, with sunshine illuminating the water in the foreground, a darker middle-ground affected by cloud, and the castle itself, in the background, lit by a brighter zone of light that gives it an ethereal quality. This approach reflects the influence of Constable, focusing, as in Constable’s work, on the ever-changing effects of British weather; the working boat in the foreground, heighted by red, also reflects the older master’s influence.
Creswick’s picture is as much an idea of England as a representation of one of its scenes, enshrining the notion of harmonious order in the form of a carefully balanced composition, with the two bridges in the foreground positioned either side of the central line, and trees – verdant on the left, bare on the right – providing a calculated contrast to create the effects of ‘pleasing variety’ that are a fundamental part of Picturesque aesthetics. As usual, the viewer looks from the near to the far, the domestic to the regal, the humble to the majestic, and from nature, in the form of the green fields, to the artifice of the castle.
Image reproduced under the terms of Wikimedia Commons. Text by Simon Cooke. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Created 21 March 2021