The Golden Age of English Art at the National Gallery with Hattie Bennett

In this talk, we will question why it was only in the 18th century that an established "English School" of art began. Beginning with William Hogarth who attempted to create an English style, ignoring influences from the continent, we will trace the development of a national style, through the founding of the Royal Academy and explore the influence of succeeding generations of artists.

The image of the English Country Gent is personified by Thomas Gainsborough in his portrait of the Suffolk landowner Robert Andrews and his wife Francis elegantly placed in a glorious English countryside. From this painting two strands of English art, that of portraiture and landscape begins. In this talk, we will look at the life and work of Thomas Gainsborough from provincial artist to fashionable society painter and contrast his art against his great rival, Sir Joshua Reynolds, the founder of the Royal Academy, who transformed his aristocratic patrons into classically inspired paragons with motifs borrowed from the renaissance. Joseph Wright of Derby used dramatic light to illuminate his scientific scenes of the Enlightenment whilst George Stubbs' understanding of the physiognomy of the horse enabled startlingly realistic paintings of the animal in motion which capture the British love affair with the horse. George Romney perfected the close bond of mother and child in his charming portraits. The landscapes of Constable give a naturalistic view of the English landscape whilst Turner injects his scenes with intense Romantic sensibilities, both artists much admired by the French Impressionists.

Led by an expert on Art History, Hattie Bennett, this interactive seminar will focus on British 18th and 19th-century art, The Golden Age. Designed to inform curiosity as well as future travels, participants will come away with an increased understanding of the development of a British National School of Art.