Collection Selection Boxes – Trees in British Art

Trees have played an important part in the development of the landscape painting tradition in Britain, and around the world. Representations of trees range from the portrait-like to the visionary. Their delicate proportions, complicated textures and dynamic movements in the undulating currents of the wind have made trees an attractive subject for artists looking to demonstrate their technical ability across a variety of mediums, from pencil to watercolour to printmaking. An artist could make use of the picturesque atmosphere provided by a wooded area, where the play of light and shade can provoke different impressions. The often abstract entwining of branches and trunks provides a great variety of elements with which the artist can play with. Trees have also become evocative subjects in the work of romantic painters, where rural and wooded scenes become the focus of vivid explorations of colour and imagination.

In the first half of the 19th century, the publication of drawing manuals and the popular practice of sketching outdoors led to a much more scientific approach to tree drawing. John Constable (1776 – 1837), who did much to raise the stature of the landscape genre, was known for his particularly painstaking approach in his almost biographical depiction of trees in his work. In the same period, the romantic painter Samuel Palmer (1805 – 81) utilised trees as a vessel for his belief in the spiritual belief of landscape. His work was highly influential on Paul Nash (1889 – 1946) and his brother John Nash (1893 – 1977) and their seminal landscape work later in the 20th century.

Tracing the depiction of trees and wooded areas through art can also tell us broader stories about society. Attitudes towards landscape can be observed in the changing depiction of individuals within wooded areas, where people increasingly appear to use woods as spaces of leisure and recreation rather than as places of resource and work. We can even trace trends in the landscape gardening preferences of the land-owning upper class (or upper class families) by analysing the placement of trees in the highly cultivated landscapes captured in paintings they commissioned of their grand country estates and surrounding area.

Trees themselves are also rich in symbolism, built up over centuries of their interaction with society and culture. Mature trees, especially ancient oaks, have been depicted as emblems of continuity and the freedoms guaranteed by the British constitution. But trees have also become the focus for activities considered dangerous by ruling authorities. The liberty tree was a symbol of revolution, and the Tolpuddle Martyrs, whose attempts to found a trade union in 1834 led to their arrest and transportation to Australia as convicts, met under a sycamore tree.

'Into the Woods: Trees in Book Illustration' was on display at the V&A from June 2017 to January 2018. This resource was put together as part of a nationwide programme led by the Woodland Trust to mark the launch of the Charter for Trees, Woods and People in November 2017. The importance of appreciating and caring for our natural environment is increasingly recognised as the effects of the climate crisis are felt around the world.

There are three boxes available containing material related to trees in British Art. The contents of these boxes range from the 18th century to the recent past and provide an overview to the breadth of methods and meanings behind depictions of trees and demonstrating their versatile and pivotal role in the development of the landscape painting tradition. The objects have been selected by Christiana Payne, Professor Emerita of History of Art at Oxford Brookes University. Her book, Silent Witnesses: Trees in British Art, 1760 – 1870 was published in September 2017.

You can also view and download these resources as a PDF: