Carronade on the Ramparts of Fort Regent, St Helier, Jersey
Pierre Outin (1840–1889)
Jersey Heritage
Castles were among the most prominent buildings in the early landscape. They reflected the power of the government and of the nation, so are a natural element in paintings of military or historical events.
In the seventeenth century, castles and fortifications were important elements in the composition of the idealised ‘classical landscape’, topping a mountain or cliff, or dominating a bend in a river. In the eighteenth century, the rediscovery of Britain’s antiquities made crumbling city walls, ruined castles and monasteries very common subjects in art. They were a key ingredient in the new appreciation of the ‘picturesque’ – that which looks good in a picture. Such ruins also evoked a lost romantic past and reminded viewers of their own mortality.
