Beached Vessels and a Wagon near Trouville France 

Richard Parkes Bonington painted ‘Beached Vessels and a Wagon near Trouville’ in the 1820s, likely using oil on canvas. This lovely coastal scene, with its beached boats and working horses, evokes the everyday life of the French coast. Made during the Bourbon Restoration, which followed the Napoleonic Wars, Bonington’s painting avoids grand historical narratives and instead focuses on the mundane. Artists started to turn their attention to nature and the ordinary existence of common people in that era. This shift mirrors broader societal changes, including the rise of a middle class and the romanticizing of rural life. To fully appreciate Bonington's painting, we must consider the socio-economic transformations happening at the time, as well as the evolving institutional support for landscape art. These are all crucial factors that shape what and how artists chose to paint. By consulting historical records and studying artistic trends, we gain a deeper understanding of art as a product of its time.