Existing comment:
Water: Coasts and Cascades
"In foggy weather that sailors call sea mist, the water is gray and the color of the atmosphere, above all when it is tranquil; but if the sea is rough, it takes on different tones: blackish green, greenish blue, darkened violet mixed with the foamy white of the cresting waves that grow and roll and break into each other."
-- Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes, 1799
The confluence of water and land beckoned artists to picturesque coastlines from Italy and France to Denmark and Germany. Painters could try their skill at depicting changing weather conditions, liquid reflections of sky and earth, pale sandy beaches, frantic waves, and rocky cliffs eroded by sea and wind. Inland, lakes and waterfalls served a similar purpose.
Water in motion is one of the most demanding motifs to paint. Flowing in cascades or surging in the sea, it never holds its shape, all the while changing color as it shifts from frothy whites to transparency to reflecting the palette of its surroundings. Rushing water moves faster than any brush, yet the quickness of oil sketching often matched the subject. In many sketches, loose brush marks fly and descend and collide to suggest a rapid chute of water and foamy waves crashing violently against rocks. |