Aristotle, Da Vinci, Nature & Constable

Aristotle was the first of the "natural philosophers" as scientists were called in those days. He wrote extensively on the natural world around him & was considered an authority. But this had the unfortunate effect on his successors as they studied Aristotle rather than nature.

Leonardo da Vinci, the Renaissance Polymath was the first to go back to studying nature at first hand, as pointed out by Fritjof Capra in his two books on Leonardo. Even the flora & fauna in his paintings were specific to the region & season depicted in the painting, rather than being merely ornamental.

Similarly, the early landscape painters created their art from nature, but coloured by myths & prevailing conventions. Their successors also copied them instead of going back to nature. John Constable was the first to go back to nature & depict her in all her true glory, untainted by any preconceptions. His paintings were so accurate that the time & place where they were depicted became clinically accurate. To use the phrase "time space continuum" in an entirely different artistic context, his works were rooted even to the hour & mile of the natural scene inspiring them. Even so, he was disappointed by the landscape paintings (presumably including his own) noting that they were a watered down imitation of the true glory of nature, as remarked by John Sunderland in his magnificently illustrated monograph on Constable.