In plein air or outdoor landscape painting began with the
Romantics (fl.1789-1830) whose search for authenticity gave a particular value
to the spontaneous drawing of nature. Al Serino (Albert Serino), a Brooklyn-based landscape
painter shares that, among the first pioneers of plein-air landscapes were
Meindert Hobbema (1638- 1709), John Constable (1776-1837) and Richard Parkes
Bonington (1802-28), who with JWM Turner (1775-1851) exemplified 19th-century
English landscape painting. Although most of Constable's outdoor work was
limited to drawings, in pencil and oil, which were later worked on in his
studio, at least one of his works, his masterpiece, Boatbuilding Near Flatford
Mill (1815), was painted completely outdoors. Serino points out that famous
outdoor painting schools include: Barbizon School (1830-75); French
Impressionism (1873-85); the Heidelberg school of Australian Impressionism
(1886-1900); and the Russian Wanderers (itinerants) (c.1865-1900). For an
explanation of the work of the members of these schools, see: Analysis of
modern paintings (1800-2000).
