Road and Rail

The main purpose of roads is to provide systematic routes to people, animals, and vehicles. In art, they play a vital role for paintings, typically as a pathway towards the landscape. Hence, many landscape paintings used to feature roads in them.
To address poor road conditions, railways were established as a means of providing a convenient and fast mode of transportation. It was the well-known “Rain, Steam, and Speed” painting by J.M.W Tuner in the 19th century which conveyed the railway’s allure to idealistic artists.

The designs of the travel posters demonstrated how railways allow and encourage city labours to make inexpensive outings to seaside resorts. Numerous paintings of notable steam engines found in transport museums are excellent representations of the basic concerns in transportation history which are the infrastructure, automobiles, and locomotives.