ENGLISH ART
Very little is known of the state of the art of painting among the Anglo-Saxons;
but in the 9th century Alfred the Great caused numerous MSS. to be adorned with miniatures, and about the end of
the 10th century Archbishop Dunstan won reputation as a minature painter . Under William the Conqueror and his
two sons the painting of large pictures began to be studied, and Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, adorned the
vault of his church with paintings. Numerous miniatures of the 13th and 14th centuries have come down to us, rude
in execution, but not without originality. From this period down to the 18th century a succession of foreign painters
resided in England of whom the chief were Mabuse, Hans Holbein Federigo Zucchero, Cornelius Jansen, Vandyck. Lely,
and Kneller. Of native artists few are of importance prior to that original genius William Hogarth (1697 - 1764).
Throughout the 18th century English artists attained higher eminence in portrait painting than in other departments,
and it culminated in Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723 - 92), Thomas Gainsborough (1727 -88), and Romney (1734 - 1802).
These were followed by Raeburn (1756 - 1823) and Lawrence (1769 - 1830). Barry (1741 - 1806), West (1738 - 1820),
and Copley (1737 - 1815) gained distinction in historical compositions, especially in pictures of battles. Landscape
- painting was represented by Richard Wilson, 1714 - 82, who painted classical scenes with figures from heathen
mythology, and by Gainsborough already mentioned, who painted scenes of English nature and humble life.
The Royal Academy of Arts, of which Reynolds was the first president was established in London in 1769. Sir David Wilkie (1785 -1841), in what is known abroad as genre painting has gained a European reputation that is unsurpassed. Is the same class of art C. R. Leslie (1794 - 1859), Newton (1795 - 1885), Collins (1788 - 1847), Mulready (1786 - 1863), gained great distinction. In landscape the reputation of Turner (1775 - 1857) stands alone, solitary, colossal (Wornum). Other distinguished landscape-painters are Clarkson Stanfield (1798 - 1867); David Roberts (1796 - 1864), who greatly excelled in picturesque architecture; Wm. Muller (1812 - 45); and John Constable (1776 - l837); whose works exercised great influence in France and Calcott ( 1799 - 1844 ) . In historical painting Hilton (1786 - 1839 ), Eastlake (1793 - 1865), Etty (1787 - 1849), E. M. Ward (1816 - 79), C. W. Cope (1811 - 90), and D. Maclise (1811 - 70) attained celebrity. John Philip (1817 - 67) greatly distinguished him-self by his scenes from Spanish life and by his mastery in colour. Landseer (1802 - 73) stands by himself as a painter of animals.
In 1824 the nucleus of the National Gallery was formed by the purchase of the Angerstein collection, and in 1832
the vote was passed for the erection of the National Gallery building. The competitions held in Westminster Hall
1843, 1844, and 1847, with a view to the decoration of the House, of Parliament exercised great influence on art.
Up to this time English pictures were rather distinguished for colour and effect of light and shade than for carefulness
of modelling and exactness of drawing. In aiding to bring about a more accurate and careful style of work, the
Pre-Raphaelites (1840 - 60), while seeking to restore in their practice an early phase of Italian art, exercised
a beneficial influence, while they themselves ultimately abandoned the style to which at the first they had been
devoted.
The modern group of British painters may be held to date from about 1850. Prominent among these the following may
be named: -
In historical painting Leighton, Alma-Tadema, Watts, Poynter, Long, Goodall, Holman Hunt, Noel Paton, Burne - Jones
and Madox Brown, as also W. P. Frith, whose Derby Day and Rlailway Station, so descriptive of modern life, may
well be classed as historical. In figure painting or genre T. Faed, Erskine Nicol Fildes, Orchardson, Herkomer,
and Pete. In portraiture Millais, Frank Roll, Unless, and Richmond. In landscape Linnell, Hook, Pettie . In portraiture
Millais, Frank Holl, Ouless, and Richmond . In landscape Linnell, Hook, Peter Graham, John Brett, Vicat Cole, H.
Moore, and Keeley Halswelle. In watercolours the most eminent artists have been Girtin (1773 - 1802), Cotman (1782
- 1842), Liverseege (1803 -32), Stothard (1755 - 1834), Turner, David Cox (1788 - 1859), De Wint (1784 - 1849),
Copley Fielding (1787-1855), Barret (1774 - 1842), Samuel Prout (1783 - 1852), W. H. Hunt ( l790 -1864 ), Louis
Haghe (1806 - 85), W. L. Leitch (1804 - 83), Sam Bough (l822 -78), J.F. Lewis (1805 - 76).
English sculpture was long merely an accessory to architecture, and few English sculptors are known by name till comparatively modern times. During the Renaissance period Torregiano came from Italy and executed two masterpieces in England, the tomb of the mother of Henry VII., and that of Henry himself at Westminster. The troubles of the reign of Charles I. and the Commonwealth produced a stagnation in the art, and were the cause of the destruction of many valuable works. Alter the Restoration two sculptors of some note appeared, Grinling Gibbons, a wood-carver, and Caius Gabriel Cibber. During the 18th century there was no English sculpture of great eminence till John Flaxman (1755 - 1826). He had for rival and successor Sir Francis Chantrey (1781 - 184l ), who acquired renown by the busts and statues which he made of many of the eminent men of his time. John Carew, Sir Richard Westmacott ( 1775 - 1856 ), E. H. Baily (1788 - 1867), John Gibson (1790 - 1866), P. MacDowell (1799 - 1870), H. Weekes (1807 -77), and J. H Foley (1818 - 74), are a few of the eminent sculptures of the 19th century. W. H. Thorneycroft J. E. Boehm, E. Onslow Ford, C. B. Birch, and Alfred Gilbert are among the foremost sculptors of the present time. The sculptures of the English school in general are characterized by a sort of romantic grace which is their distinguishing, mark, and by extraordinary delicacy and finish in detail; but they frequently exhibit weakness in the modelling of naked parts, especially in female figures.
As regards architecture little can be said with regard to the style prevalent between the invasion of the Anglo Saxons and the Norman Conquest, from the fact that the remains of buildings erected in England before the Conquest are few and insignificant. The Norman style was introduced in the reign of Edward the Confessor, though the workmen, both then and after the Conquest being English, the earlier work preserved many native characteristics. The Norman period extends from about 1090 to 1150, some of the best examples being parts of the cathedrals of Rochester, Winchester, Durham, and Canterbury. In the brief period 1169 to 1195. marked change took place in the adoption of the pointed arch and what is known as the Early English style. Improved methods of construction led to the use of lighter walls and pillars instead of the heavy masses employed in the Norman style. Narrow lancet-shaped windows took the place of the round arch; hold projecting buttresses were introduced; and the roofs and spires became more lofty ad more pointed, while in the interiors pointed arches rested on lofty clustered pillars. The best Early English type is Salisbury Cathedral. The Early English style has been regarded as lasting from 1190 to 1270, when the Decorated style of Gothic began to prevail. The transition to the Decorated style was gradual, but it may be considered as lasting to 1377. Exeter Cathedral is an excellent example of the earliest Decorated style. Between 1360 and 1399 the Decorated style gave place to the Perpendicular, which prevailed from 1377 to 1547, and was an exclusively English style. Gothic architecture, though it lingered on in many districts, practically came to an end in England in the reign of Henry VIII The Elizabethan and Jacobean styles which followed were transitions from the Gothic to the Italian, with which these styles were more or less freely mixed. Many palatial mansions were built in these styles. In the reign of Charles I. Inigo Jones designed, among other buildings, Whitehall Palace and Greenwich Hospital in a purely classic style. After the great fire in London (1666) Sir Christopher Wren designed an immense number of churches and other buildings in classic style, particularly St. Paul's Cathedral, the Sheldonian Theatre of Oxford, Chelsea Hospital. Various phases of classic or Renaissance continued to prevail during the 18th and earlier part of the 19th century. About 1836 the Gothic revival commenced, and that style has been employed with considerable success in the churches erected in recent times. The Houses of Parliament, erected in 1840 - 60 in the Tudor style, the Law Courts of Salford, St. Pancras railway-station, and the Law Courts of London (opened 1882) in the Gothic served to sustain an impetus that had been given to the use of that style. At the present day Gothic is much employed for ecclesiastical and collegiate buildings, and a mild type of Renaissance for civil buildings. Of late years a style that has received the name of 'Queen Anne ' is much in vogue for private residences. It is very mixed, but withal highly picturesque. The moat striking novelties in the 19th century have been induced by the extensive use of iron and glass, as exemplified in the Exhibition building of 1851, the Crystal Palace, Sydenham, and the great railway-stations
