This week we would like to present you with the final lecture of our three-part series given by Tom Richards, Assistant Director of The Florence Academy of Art, focusing on various dualisms within the broad genre of “landscape.”

The first lecture “Symbols vs. Facts” introduced us to the series and began with an invitation to consider how people have created art that reflects the world around them throughout time, as well as the symbolic and very real threats and inspirations that the natural world presents.

The second lecture “Real vs. Ideal” expanded on these concepts by exploring the imagined and more psychological ability of landscapes to mirror a chosen mood in a composition as well as touching on the idea of a “portrait of a place” as the reason for including a landscape, and how the artist’s connection to a certain place influences how they depict it in their work.

In this final installment Tom Richards expertly guides us through several paintings, drawings, and preparatory studies by artists such as Claude Lorrain, John Constable, and Isaac Levitan, focusing, in a more practical sense, how the artists made the artworks they did. Discussing the differences between work made in the studio vs in the field, Richards touches on the difficulties these artists went through as well as a gives us insight into the working practice that created the variety of works you see in this lecture.

Click below to for the list of selected artists mentioned in this lecture!