Constable to Delacroix

This catalogue accompanies the Spring 2003 exhibition at Tate Britain. After years of cultural standoff, the period of High Romanticism was one of fervent artistic exchange between France and Britain. In the aftermath of Waterloo, British artists contributed regularly to Paris Salon, shared studios with French artists, collaborated with Parisian print publishers and established themselves as drawing masters to the French aristocracy. Artists from both countries criss-crossed the channel. Key themes emerged between the artists of the two nations: landscape; literature; history; portraiture; and painting in watercolour. These themes are explored, illustrated by many of the acknowledged masterpieces of Romantic painting including Constable, Corot, Delacroix, Gericault, Ingres Turner, Vernet and Wilke.