The Junction of the Severn and the Wye with Chepstow in the Distance 1830

David Cox’s watercolor shows a picturesque view of the British countryside, seemingly untouched by the industrial revolution then in full swing. Cox was a leading figure in the Society of Painters in Water Colours, an institution founded to promote the status of watercolor painting. British landscape painting of this period served an ideological function. By presenting an image of a tranquil, rural idyll, artists encouraged viewers to identify with a certain idea of Englishness, linked to the land and traditional ways of life. But we shouldn’t take these images at face value. The rural population was in fact rapidly declining as people moved to the cities to find work. The art market and its institutions played a part in shaping both the production and consumption of such images. To better understand Cox’s project, we can turn to sources such as exhibition reviews and the records of art societies, allowing us to appreciate how landscapes were imbued with social and political meaning.