View of the Thames at Battersea (1834), by Thomas Creswick, RA (1811–69). Oil on canvas. Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, UK.
An image of a pre-industrial Battersea, just at the moment when the Industrial Revolution was about to change the appearance of the English landscape. There is no evidence of the impact of steam – with a windmill in the background, a horse-drawn caught to the right middle-ground and a rowing boat in the foreground. Captured at this moment, England is still a largely unspoiled, agrarian country.
An airy panorama in which the subject is the sky and its atmospheric effects. Creswick was heavily influenced by Constable, but the inspiration here was Turner, with light and water dissolving the outlines of the forms. It is a leisurely image, celebrating a Romantic interconnectedness between nature and those whose who work it.
Image reproduced under the terms of Creative Commons. Text by Simon Cooke. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Created 21 March 2021