Bonington

English landscape artist Richard Parkes Bonington has all the makings of a Romantic hero: death from tuberculosis at age 26 in 1828; artistic exile and frequent travels in France and Italy; a highly personal style that lent a distinctive stamp to his jewel-like, powerful watercolors, oils and sketches. If Bonington is not considered in a class with Constable or Turner, his brand of eclecticism is nonetheless an integral part of the Romantic movement, according to Cormack, curator of paintings at the Yale Center for British Art. In this short, splendidly illustrated monograph, Bonington the inner man remains elusive, but careful readings of individual works help us to better appreciate the magic in his luminous seascapes, marvelous street scenes of Venice, Verona and Rouen, psychological dramas woven from history and drawings of houses, boats and people. (Sept.)