Landscape with Cattle and Figures: A Storm Coming On

Cattle and figures animate a landscape under the dramatic conditions of an approaching storm in this 1781 painting at the Royal Academy of Arts. As an elected Royal Academician from 1781, de Loutherbourg exhibited regularly at the annual exhibitions that were the principal showcase for contemporary British art. Storm landscapes allowed him to combine the peaceful pastoral of cattle and countryside with the sublime drama of threatening weather—a duality that perfectly expressed the Romantic landscape aesthetic.

The approaching storm creates a dramatic diagonal of dark clouds that contrasts with the still-lit foreground where cattle and figures continue their activities. De Loutherbourg exploits the transition from light to darkness to create maximum visual drama. The cattle are solidly modeled, their dark forms anchoring the foreground against the turbulent sky.