Frederic, Lord Leighton, The Villa Malta, Rome, 1860s. © The Gere Collection, on long-term loan to the National Gallery

LONDON.- By the early 19th century, the practice of painting oil sketches in the open air was widespread across Europe. Oil sketching was seen primarily as training for the hand and eye, with artists exhorted to paint quickly to capture fleeting effects of light and atmosphere. In the space of just two hours, some artists were able to make works of tremendous freshness and beauty. Artists from Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Belgium and Scandinavia were particularly attracted to the Roman Campagna but also found inspiration in their native lands.

These sketches were rarely intended for public exhibition. Painted on small-scale wooden panels or paper, they were piled in the corner of the artist's studio, little valued and largely ignored until generations later. This National Gallery Room 1 exhibition celebrates the rediscovery and re-evaluation of these remarkable works of art, drawing on one of the finest collections of oil sketches in the world.

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