THOMAS GIRTIN AND HIS ROLE IN HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANDSCAPE WATERCOLOUR OF THE TURN OF THE XVIII-XIX CENTURIES
In the article the author specifies the opinion about T. Girtin as one of the early representatives of romanticism in the English landscape watercolour prevailing in foreign historiography. The painter’s creative work, which hasn’t been studied purposefully in the art criticism of our country yet, is considered in the context of the history of the English watercolour of the turn of the XVIII-XIX centuries. Significant attention is paid to the comparison of T. Girtin’s creative works with J. M. W. Turner’s early watercolours. The author analyzes in detail the evolution of the painter’s style from working in the genre of “topographical landscape” to its fundamental reconsideration. The role of T. Girtin is identified by the adoption of a new view on depicted nature and by the discovery of several promising ways in landscape interpretation.