Johann Jakob Frey Cloud Study (detail) Private collection. Photo © Pascal Faligot

True to Nature: Open Air Painting in Europe 1780

Tue 3 May 2022 - Sun 28 August 2022

The Fitzwilliam Museum

The exhibition unites for the first time more than 100 oil sketches from the remarkable collections of The Foundation Custodia in Paris, The National Gallery of Art in Washington, and The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, together with a distinguished private collection of sketches, never before seen in public.

Featuring works by artist including John Constable, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, J.M.W. Turner, Edgar Degas and Louise-Joséphine Sarazin de Belmont, the thrill of these painters’ encounters with nature is palpable in their highly skilled, rapidly painted sketches. We see with their eyes and feel their wonder as they witness storm-torn skies, limpid rockpools, the dappled shade of a tree canopy or the awe-inspiring sight of an erupting volcano.

Some studied landscapes that were close to their homes and their hears, while others made arduous journeys to paint breathtaking sites ‘in the field’, from the Baltic coast and Swiss Alps to the ruins of Rome.

Through beautiful projections of the cellular structures of trees, spectacular footage of volcanoes, and mineral, rock and botanical specimens, the exhibition also highlights developments in the earth sciences each seeking, like painters of the time, to reveal ‘truths’ about the world we inhibit.

Cost: Free