Art

Celtic & Medieval (ca. 800 B.C.-16th C.)

The Celts, mixed with plenty of Scandinavian and Dutch tribes of varying origins, ruled England until the Romans established rule there in A.D. 43. Celtic art survived the Roman conquest and medieval Christianity mainly as carved swirls and decorations on the "Celtic Crosses" peppering cemeteries. During the medieval period, colorful Celtic images and illustrations decorated the margins of Bibles and Gospels, giving the books their moniker "illuminated manuscripts."

Important examples and artists of this period include:

Wilton Diptych, National Gallery, London. The first truly important, truly British painting, this diptych (a painting on two hinged panels) was crafted in the late 1390s for Richard II by an unknown artist who mixed Italian and Northern European influences.

Lindisfarne Gospels, British Library, London. One of Europe's greatest illuminated manuscripts from the 7th century, this work is particularly well crafted and well preserved.

Matthew Paris (d. 1259). A Benedictine monk who illuminated his own writings, Paris put his significant artistic gifts to good use as the official St. Albans Abbey chronicler. Examples of his work are now in London's British Library and Cambridge's Corpus Christi College.

Renaissance & Baroque (16th-18th C.)

The Renaissance hit England late, but its museums contain many important old-master paintings from Italy and Germany. Renaissance means "rebirth," in this case, the renewed use of Classical styles and forms originating in ancient Greece and Rome. Artists strove for greater naturalism, using newly developed techniques such as linear perspective. A few foreign Renaissance masters did come to work at the English courts and had an influence on some local artists, but significant Brits didn't emerge until the baroque.

The baroque, a more decorative version of the Renaissance approach, mixes compositional complexity and explosions of dynamic fury, movement, color, and figures with an exaggeration of light and dark, called chiaroscuro, and a kind of super-realism based on using peasants as models. The rococo period is baroque art gone awry, frothy and chaotic.

Significant artists of this period include:

Pietro Torrigiano (1472-1528). An Italian Renaissance sculptor, Torrigiano had to flee Florence after breaking the nose of classmate Michelangelo. He ended up in London crafting elaborate tombs for the Tudors in Westminster Abbey, including Lady Margaret Beaufort, Henry VII, and Elizabeth of York. London's Victoria and Albert Museum preserves Torrigiano's terra-cotta bust of Henry VII.

Hans Holbein the Younger (1497-1543). A German Renaissance master of penetrating portraits, Holbein the Younger cataloged many significant figures in 16th-century Europe: Sir Thomas More's family (Nostel Priory outside Wakefield in West Yorkshire; this may be a copy), Henry VIII and the Duke of Norfolk (Castle Howard outside York), and Erasmus (whom Holbein knew; Longford Castle, Wiltshire). More portraits are in London's National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery and in Windsor Castle.

Antony Van Dyck (1599-1641). This Belgian artist painted passels of portraits in the baroque style for the Stuart court, setting the tone for British portraiture for the next few centuries. You'll find his works in London's National Portrait Gallery, National Gallery, Wallace Collection, and Wilton House, with more in Oxford's Ashmolean Museum and Liverpool's Walker Art Gallery.

Joshua Reynolds (1723-92). A fussy baroque painter and first president of the Royal Academy of Arts, Reynolds was a firm believer in a painter's duty to celebrate history. Reynolds spent much of his career casting his noble patrons as ancient gods in portrait compositions cribbed from Old Masters. Many of his works are in London's National Gallery, Tate Britain, Wallace Collection, and Dulwich Picture Gallery; Oxford's Cathedral Hall; Liverpool's Walker Art Gallery; and Birmingham's Museum and Art Gallery and Barber Institute of Fine Arts.

Thomas Gainsborough (1727-88). Although he was a Classical/baroque portraitist like his rival Reynolds, at least Gainsborough could be original. Too bad his tastes ran to rococo pastels, frothy feathered brushwork, and busy compositions. When not immortalizing noble patrons such as Jonathan Buttell (better known as "Blue Boy"), he painted a collection of landscapes just for himself. His works grace the Victoria Art Gallery in Bath (where he first came to fame), London's National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery, Cambridge's Fitzwilliam Museum, Oxford's Cathedral Hall and Ashmolean Museum, Liverpool's Walker Art Gallery, and Birmingham's Museum and Art Gallery and Barber Institute of Fine Arts.

The Romantics (Late 18th-19th C.)

The romantics felt the classically minded Renaissance and baroque artists had gotten it wrong; the Gothic Middle Ages was the place to be. They idealized the romantic tales of chivalry; had a deep respect for nature, human rights, and the nobility of peasantry; and were suspicious of progress. Their paintings tended to be heroic, historic, dramatic, and beautiful. They were inspired by critic and art theorist John Ruskin (1819-1900), who traveled throughout Northern Italy and was among the first to sing the praises of pre-Renaissance painting and Gothic architecture.

Significant artists of this period include:

William Blake (1757-1827). Romantic archetype Blake snubbed the stuffy Royal Academy of Arts to do his own engraving, prints, illustrations, poetry, and painting. His works were filled with melodrama, muscular figures, and sweeping lines; modern, angst-ridden, "Goth" teens really dig his stuff. Judge for yourself at London's Tate Britain and Manchester's Whitworth Art Gallery.

John Constable (1776-1837). Constable was a great British landscapist whose scenes (especially those of happy, agricultural peasants) got more idealized with each passing year -- while his compositions and brushwork became freer. You'll find his best stuff in London's National Gallery and Victoria and Albert Museum, and Liverpool's Walker Art Gallery.

J. M. W. Turner (1775-1851). Turner, called by some "The First Impressionist," was a prolific and multitalented artist whose mood-laden, freely brushed watercolor landscapes influenced Monet. The River Thames and London, where he lived and died, were frequent subjects. He bequeathed his collection of some 19,000 watercolors and 300 paintings to the people of Britain with the request that his completed works be kept in one place. London's Tate Britain displays the largest number of Turner's works, while others grace London's National Gallery, Cambridge's Fitzwilliam Museum, Liverpool's Walker Art Gallery, Birmingham's Museum and Art Gallery, Barber Institute of Fine Arts, and Manchester's Whitworth Art Gallery.

Pre-Raphaelites (1848-70s). This "brotherhood" of painters declared that art had gone all wrong with Italian Renaissance painter Raphael (1483-1520) and set about to emulate the Italian painters who preceded him -- though they were not actually looking at specific examples. Their symbolically imbued, sweetly idealized, hyper-realistic work depicts scenes from romantic poetry and Shakespeare as much as from the Bible. There were seven founders and many followers, but the most important were Dante Rossetti, William Hunt, and John Millais; you can see work by all three at London's Tate Britain, Oxford's Ashmolean Museum, Liverpool's Walker Art Gallery, and Manchester's City Art Gallery.

The 20th Century

The only artistic movement or era the Brits can claim a major stake in is contemporary art, with many young British artists bursting onto the international gallery scene just before and after World War II. Art of the last century often followed international schools or styles -- no major ones truly originated in Britain -- and artists tended to move in and out of styles over their careers. If anything, the greatest artists of this period strove for unique and individual expression rather than adherence to a particular school.

In the examples below, a city name refers to the major modern art gallery in that location; "London" stands for the Tate Modern, "Birmingham" for the Museum and Art Gallery, and "Liverpool" for the Walker Art Gallery. Important British artists of the 20th century include:

Henry Moore (1898-1986). A sculptor, Moore saw himself as a sort of reincarnation of Michelangelo. He mined his marbles from the same quarries as the Renaissance master and let the stone itself dictate the flowing, abstract, surrealistic figures carved from it. The Henry Moore Institute in Leeds, where he studied, preserves his drawings and sculpture. You'll also find his work in London, Liverpool, Birmingham, and Cambridge's Fitzwilliam Museum and Clare College.

Francis Bacon (1909-92). A dark and brooding expressionist (a style that expresses an artist's inner thoughts and feelings), Bacon presented man's foibles in formats, such as the triptych (a set of three panels, often hinged and used as an altarpiece), that were usually reserved for religious subjects. Find his works in London, Birmingham, and Manchester's Whitworth Art Gallery.

Lucien Freud (b. 1922). Freud's portraits and marvelous nudes live in a depressing world of thick paint, fluid lines, and harsh light. The grandson of psychiatrist Sigmund Freud, this artist has pieces in London, Liverpool, and Manchester's Whitworth Art Gallery.

David Hockney (b. 1937). The closest thing to a British Andy Warhol, Hockney employs a less pop-arty style than the famous American -- though Hockney does reference modern technologies and culture -- and is much more playful with artistic traditions. His work resides in London and Liverpool.

Damien Hirst (b. 1965). The guy who pickles cows, Hirst is a celebrity/artist whose work sets out to shock. He's a winner of Britain's Turner Prize, and his work is prominent in the collection of Charles Saatchi, whose Saatchi Gallery in London displays his holdings.