Discuss the depiction of nature in two paintings by British artists.

The way in which British artists depicted nature changed considerably as different artists of different periods adapted it to their contemporary. Before the eighteenth-century paintings of nature was seen as inferior other genres of painting popular at the time, such as history and portraiture. Thomas Gainsborough, was a prolific painter of the eighteenth-century, though he gained popularity and fortune through his portraiture commissioned by wealthy British Aristocrats, he had a great passion for the natural landscape. 'Gainsborough's Forest' (1746-1747) is an early work of the artists depicting a wooded area near Sudbury in Suffolk. Though, based on a specific place, nature is not depicted topographically instead it is highly constructed to make the composition and subject appear more aesthetically appealing and harmonious, something seen in earlier works of Claude Lorrain. Indeed, Gainsborough often painted from his studio using vegetables to recreate the actual landscape. Though figures are present in the painting, labouring the landscape in the foreground, they appear secondary to nature which seems to belittle them. The importance of nature in British painting arguably reached it's apex just over a century later, with the rise of the Pre-Raphaelite painters. The aim of this English group was to depict nature as truthfully and accurately as possible. This was something that was encouraged by art critic John Ruskin, who believed that artists should depict 'truth to nature'. John Brett's 'The Glacier of Rosenlaui' (1956), certainly presents this. Brett visited the rocky site in the Swiss alps and painted on the site, in doing this he makes sure that the painting is as specifically accurate as possible. Each element is painted in microscopic detail with the imperfections of corrosion in full display. This can be seen for example in the jagged edges of the boulders in the foreground. The interest in scientific accuracy, seen in the depiction of geology, stems from the rise in scientific thinking and theory. In this painting the natural landscape triumphs over humanity, as it consumes the whole canvas with not a figure depicted. This, evidences how, with it's growing popularity as an independent genre, British artists depiction of nature developed from Gainsborough's constructed admiration to Brett's truthful fascination.