Ullswater 1795

Joseph Wright of Derby painted this view of Ullswater, one of England’s famous Lake District scenes, using oil on canvas. Wright would have prepared his canvas, stretching it tight, before building up the image in layers of paint. Look closely, and you'll see the relatively free handling of the brush in the foreground rocks, contrasted with the smoother treatment of the distant hills and sky. These subtleties were all achieved with a simple tool - the brush - but it was one that demanded considerable skill in its deployment. Paint-making in Wright's time was itself a craft process, requiring the grinding of pigments and mixing with oil to achieve the right consistency. The resulting colors, applied with care and precision, are what give the scene its evocative, almost dreamlike quality. "Ullswater" reminds us that even seemingly straightforward landscape painting is rooted in a deep knowledge of materials and how they behave. It encourages us to look beyond the image itself, and consider the artistry involved in its creation.