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Throughout the history of European art, the tree has been of great importance as a punctuation mark within a composition, to create perspective, to draw attention, to offer a framework or to give meaning to the subject of the painting or sculpture.  Dead or broken trees can symbolise death, a living tree in contrast can indicate everlasting life or resurrection, and in the Garden of Eden the Tree of Knowledge is crucial to the Fall of Adam and Eve. The study day will explore the myriad of ways in which artists and sculptors use trees in their work.

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The day will comprise three lectures:

Lecture 1:   From Dead Trees to Living Trees in Medieval and Renaissance Art

 

So much of medieval and renaissance art and sculpture is concerned with Christian subject matter and the tree plays a key part in two ways.  Its most important role is symbolic and ever present in the Garden of Eden and the action of Adam and Eve. Then a dead tree is often present in the depiction of the Crucifixion of Christ and can be accompanied by a living tree in the Resurrection as in the work of Giotto or Giovanni Bellini.  However, there are other practical roles of trees at this period as key components of a composition, to draw the spectator’s eye across the surface of the painting or sculpture, to support and reinforce key elements within the composition as in the work of Duccio, Fra Angelico or Piero della Francesca.  Equally fascinating is the way in which artists, particularly during the 15th century begin to explore the atmospheric and more natural possibilities of groups of trees to create a three-dimensional setting and to begin to explore the painting of identifiable species of trees, as in the work of Jan van Eyck, Memling or Gerard David.

 
Lecture 2: The Tree Triumphant in 16th and 17th Century Painting

 

The 16th and 17th centuries saw the invention of landscape painting by early 16th century Flemish and German painters, such as the Flemish painter Joachim Patinir or German his contemporaries Dürer, Lucas Cranach and Albrecht Altdorfer.  These German painters, in particular, became all too aware of the defining the particular species of trees typical of the areas in which they lived and worked, for example the fir trees of the Rhine and Danube areas.  By the 17th century trees became all important in creating the specific nature of the flat quintessentially Dutch landscape of artists such as Esaias van der Velde, Jan van Goyen or Salomon van Ruysdael in the landscape art of the newly emerging Dutch Republic.  Jacob van Ruisdael or Rembrandt of the next generation, by contrast, saw the dramatic power and melancholy of trees, by grouping and exaggerating their importance to lend a powerful presence in the landscape, often suggestive of a symbolism of the transitory nature of life in their paintings or etchings.  Rubens on the other hand infused his trees with an autumnal warmth which influenced Watteau at the beginning of the 18th century and Gainsborough towards the end of that century.  The structure of the tree is used to great effect by Titian and his tree groupings are taken further in the work of Annibale Carracci, Poussin and Claude.

 
Lecture 3: The Diversity of the Tree in 18th and 19th Century Art

 

Throughout Europe and Britain artists exploited the tree in a myriad of different ways.  Trees become stylised backgrounds to the idyllic garden or wooded landscapes of Nicolas Lancret or Joshua Reynolds behind single or groups of figures.  One of the most innovative artists in whose work the tree takes on a very special role is Caspar David Friedrich, who infused the tree, in his paintings and drawings, with a power and resonance not seen before.  The tree also is used and painted with a distinctive clarity and elegant simplicity by Scandinavian painters by such as Christen Købke or Helene Schjerfbeck.  Towards the end of the century the tree is used to great effect in the ways in which it is painted by Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painters from Claude Monet to Vincent van Gogh or Cezanne.  Equally varied are the ways in which the tree can be used in book illustrations from William Morris to Arthur Rackham.  Diverse also are the tree forms of art nouveau painters, sculptors and architects from Gustav Klimt to Otto Wagner.​​​​​