Full Description
Britain has played a key part in the history of the last five centuries, and its art reflects this in absorbing and complex ways. The distinguished art historian Andrew Wilton traces the story of British painting from its hesitant beginnings under the influence of Holbein through its maturity in the time of Hogarth and Reynolds, when it reflected a prosperous society with growing imperial influence.
The pioneering role of Constable and Turner in the revolutions of the Romantic period is fully explored, and the enigmatic position of artists in Victorian England, when a stiff moral code came into conflict with the uncertainties of the age of Darwin. Consistent undercurrents revealed include Britain's preference for the real world (landscape, portraiture) as against 'high' art and abstraction.
Andrew Wilton offers new insights into the great personalities of British painting, and assesses afresh the latest flowering, in which many threads of modern art come together in sometimes startling guises.
Contents
Introduction 1. The Renaissance Princes: The Tudors 1500-1603 2. The Renaissance Princes: The Stuarts 1603-1688 3. The Age of Improvement 1688-1750 4. The Age of Industry 1750-1800 5. Romantic Virtuosos 1800-1840 6. Middle-Class Moralities 1840-1860 7. The Apogee of Empire 1860-1910 8. The Grand Illusion 1910-1960 9. A New Reality Since 1960
