Description

This module will explore the salient themes and issues that informed the work of painters in the Britain during the eighteenth century. We begin by considering the different ways in which the history of painting in the British Isles has been written about (beginning with one of the very first attempts to articulate the idea of an ‘English School’ of painting). By uncovering the international origins and cosmopolitan aspirations of painting in eighteenth-century Britain, we encounter a recurring theme of the module: what does it mean to define the art of the period as ‘British’ (or ‘English’)? The course continues with the rise to prominence of William Hogarth, one of the leading and most versatile figures within the mid-eighteenth-century British art world.

We go on to investigate the emergence of a powerful exhibition culture in Britain during the 1760s and 1770s – decades in which the politics of art became far more visible than ever before under the spotlight of the Royal Academy. We will examine the impact of the Academy on the work and reputation of artists including Angelica Kauffman, Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough, before foregrounding two painters who operated with considerable success outside of the purview of the Royal Academy: Joseph Wright of Derby and George Stubbs. Finally, we return our attention to the complex relationship between art and nation by focusing on the visual representation of military victory (and defeat) during the second half of the century.

Twice-weekly seminars will be discussion based, so thorough preparation using the key texts and further reading is vital to the success of our meetings. During the term you will be asked to take a lead by presenting at least one seminar, to introduce and engage critically with images and texts, and open up discussion for the rest of the group.

Objectives

By the end of the module, students should have acquired:

• a sound knowledge of the painters who shaped the art world of eighteenth-century Britain
• an understanding of the relationship between art theory and practice in the period
• a grasp of some of the major social, cultural and political changes of the period
• a command of Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) and other key digital resources

Preliminary reading

Although you are not expected to have read all of these books before the start of the course, most will be included in the seminar reading during the term. Any of the texts will provide a good introduction to some of the issues we will explore during the course. In addition, you could usefully look at some of the many books and catalogues on individual artists, and explore the online resources of museums and galleries with good collections of British art (beginning, perhaps, with Tate, the National Gallery and the Yale Center for British Art).

• Dana Arnold and David Peters Corbett, A Companion to British Art 1600 to the Present (Oxford, 2012)
• John Barrell, The Political Theory of Painting from Reynolds to Hazlitt (New Haven and London, 1986)
• David Bindman, ed., The History of British Art 1600-1870 (New Haven and London, 2008)
• John Brewer. The Pleasures of the Imagination: English Culture in the Eighteenth Century (London, 1997)
• Edmund Burke, A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful (modern edition available in Oxford World's Classics series)
• Matthew Craske, Art in Europe, 1700-1830 (Oxford, 1997)
• Linda Colley, Britons: Forging the Nation: 1707-1837 (New Haven and London, 1992)
• Mark Hallet and Christine Riding, Hogarth, exh. cat. (London: Tate, 2006)
• Charles Harrison, Paul Wood and Jason Gaiger (eds). Art in Theory, 1648-1815 (Oxford, 2001)
• Paul Langford, A Polite and Commercial People: England 1727-1783 (Oxford, 1989)
• Martin Postle, ed., Joshua Reynolds: the creation of celebrity, exh. cat. (London: Tate, 2005)
• Kate Retford, The Art of Domestic Life: family portraiture in eighteenth-century England, (New Haven and London, 2006)
• Joshua Reynolds, Discourses on Art (various editions available from Yale University Press and Penguin Classics)
• Michael Rosenthal, Thomas Gainsborough: 'A Little Business for the Eye' (New Haven and London, 1999)
• David H. Solkin, Art on the Line: The Royal Academy's Exhibitions at Somerset House, 1780-1836 (New Haven and London, 2001)
• David H. Solkin, Painting for Money: The Visual Arts and the Public Sphere in Eighteenth Century England (New Haven and London, 1993)