The Redgrave in my last post isn't the best example of what I was trying to say - since Redgrave's boy is actually resting in the sun. But in other paintings, such as this one by Edmund George Warren, 1862, the figures are clearly enjoying the shade - usually in beech woods.
Conditions in 19th-century London (no air-conditioning, crowded urban spaces, unhealthy summers) and the restrictions imposed by conventions (clothing that covered every inch of the body, and moreover had lots of layers even on hot days) made woods appealing in a way they perhaps aren't today. And the Victorians were not sun-worshippers intent on getting a suntan.
Result: paintings focusing on sunlight coming through trees and dappled shade beneath them.
Conditions in 19th-century London (no air-conditioning, crowded urban spaces, unhealthy summers) and the restrictions imposed by conventions (clothing that covered every inch of the body, and moreover had lots of layers even on hot days) made woods appealing in a way they perhaps aren't today. And the Victorians were not sun-worshippers intent on getting a suntan.
Result: paintings focusing on sunlight coming through trees and dappled shade beneath them.
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