Landscape with Farm Buildings 1760

George Lambert painted "Landscape with Farm Buildings" sometime in the first half of the 18th century. It's an oil on canvas depicting a tranquil rural scene, but the tranquility itself speaks volumes about the cultural values of the time. Lambert was instrumental in establishing a truly British school of landscape painting. Before him, artists looked to continental models. Here, the ordered, picturesque countryside reflects the values of the land-owning elite. The farmers and travelers are present, but they're secondary to the land itself, which represents wealth, power and social status. The founding of institutions like the Society of Artists of Great Britain also played a role in shaping the market for these images. The rising middle class looked to paintings like this to express their own aspirations to social advancement. To understand this artwork fully, we need to delve into the economic and social history of 18th-century England. What was the Enclosure Act and how did that influence the artistic portrayal of land?