Jones, Wren, English Palladianism, The Grand Tour and The English School

1603 - James I ruled both England and Scotland (aspiration more than anything else)

1649 - James I loses his head. Charles I takes over - Stuart dynasty.

Period of commonweath under Oliver Cromwell until 1660, then Charles II restores the Monarchy.

1688 - William and Mary, glorious revolution.Kings/Lords/Commons, limitation on power of the Monarchy.

1707 - The merging of the two parliaments. Scotland was doing badly economically so decided to get involved with the rising English.

Rising imperial power. Industrial revolution. Industrious landscapes. Where there is industry there is investment in agriculture and interest in trade. Increasing wealth and population. Rise of taste and self consciously, school of painting. Overriding need to match military achievements and artistic skills.

Inigo Jones had a huge influence on British architecture.

Inigo Jones, Banqueting House, 1619-22, London

Inigo Jones, The Queen's House, 1616-35, Greenwich, London

• Jones had been to Italy, had been on what was to become, The Grand Tour. He was not the first to bring back a continental style, but always talked about.

• He had been highly influenced by the work of Palladio, admiring the Balance, Symmetry and Restraint.

Inigo Jones, West facade of Old St. Paul's Cathedral, 1630s, London

• He used a classical portico for the west facade of Old St. Paul's.

Christopher Wren, St Paul's Cathedral, 1675-1720s, London

Christopher Wren, St Paul's Cathedral, 1675-1720s, London

• Christopher Wren was commissioned to rebuild many churches after the great fire of London at the time of the Restoration under Charles II. St Paul's was build as a statement that London and England and the Monarchy, that it is a modern European power. It has an elements of sobriety and the Baroque extravagance (the towers similar to that of Sant' Agnese in Agone).

C. & G. Rainaldi & Borromini, Sant' Agnese in Agone, 1652, Rome

Wren, Vanbrugh, Hawksmoor, Greenwich Hospital, 1694, Greenwich, London

Interior Greenwich Hospital

Fresco Greenwich Hospital

James Thornhill, detail, George I and his family, 1717-1727, Upper Hall, Greenwich Hospital

• The Greenwich Hospital replaced the old palace. Again, this is a statement of the power of Britain and its munificence. The arched window pushing up into the pediment is a very Baroque element and also a signature of Hawksmoor. Inside, there is a lot of multimedia - gilded columns, painted ceilings, overwhelming frescoes. The main fresco has St Paul's painted in the background, as an emblem of rising Britain. Allegorical figures are placed on clouds, there is a lot of Baroque illusionism, as the little putti appear to come into the picture space. The ceiling (not pictured) shows the "four" continents of the world, to show Britain's aspirations of conquering. George I comes onto the throne in 1714, George IV finishes his reign in 1830 (the Georgian period).

Sir John Vanbrugh & Nicholas Hawksmoor, Blenheim Palace, 1705-24

• Blenheim Palace shows a nostalgia for the Medieval, there are some classical features, but very far away from the restraint of Palladio. 

Colen Campbell, Vitruvius Britannicus, 4 vols., 1715-24, London

• Colen Campbell wrote Vitruvius Britannicus. The Baroque is associated with Catholicism, absolute power, Palladian rationality and restraint, the "correct" Italian style that was more suited to Britain. Britain saw itself as the New Roman Empire. The Early Georgian period was even called the Augustus Age, they were comparing themselves to the early Roman heirs of the rule of Augustus. 

Colen Campbell, engraving for Somerset House, London

Brick Market, Newport, Rhode Island, begun 1762

• The engraving for Somerset House was influential to many, including Brick Market, Rhode Island.

George Knapton, Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, 1763, Chatsworth, Derbyshire

William Kent, Chiswick House, 1725-29, Chiswick, London

• Lord Burlington took William Kent to Italy for inspiration. Chiswick house displays a self consciousness in the restraint of it's decoration. The interior decor is also restrained. 

• English Palladianism, is quite pedantic, there is no movement of parts as there are in the Baroque. 

Earl of Leicester and Lord Burlington, Marble Hall at Holkham Hall, 1734-64, Norfolk

• At Holkham Hall, the so called 'Marble Hall' is actually made out of alabaster. Ceiling inspired by the Pantheon. 

Sir Godfrey Kneller, Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Oxford, 1710-1715, National Portrait Gallery, London

C. Campbell, J. Gibbs, & W. Kent, Houghton House, 1722-35, Norfolk

• Houghton House was built for the Prime Minister, Robert Walpole. It is Palladian in most elements but there is some movement in the Baroque domes. It has Venetian windows (an arched window in the middle of two rectangular windows).

William Hogarth, The Battle of the Pictures, 1743

• Hogarth was fanatically Anti-Catholic, and published many satirical cartoon slating the Catholic Church.

• Props of Italy were used in portraits of British men on The Grand Tour - statues from antiquity/paintings, etc.


The Rise of the English School.

• William Hogarth was an influential painter despite the fact that he never went to Italy, or on The Grand Tour, or ever had aristocratic patrons. He was seen as a bourgeois artist rather than being interested in the culture of the aristocracy.

William Hogarth, Self-Portrait with a Pug, 1745, Tate Britain, London

• In this painting, Hogarth illustrates himself in an artist's cap, proudly presenting himself as an artist. The message on his palette refers to his theoretical aspiration. He is also display himself as a Britophile, with the stack of literature (Shakespeare, Milton and Swift) next to the palette. The pug represents his pugnacious attitude.

Hogarth, The Analysis of Beauty - Plate 1, 1753

• Hogarth was trying to illustrate that one didn't have to be a pretentious connoisseur, or to have been to Italy. That there was something universal about the serpentine line, beauty and grace. In everything, faces, corsets, drapery, chair legs, shells, muscles, furniture, etc.

Hogarth, Marriage a-la-mode: 1, The Marriage Settlement, c. 1743

• He specialised in modern moral subject or comic history painting. Marriage a-la-mode deviates from academic taste and there is a definite set of morals and narrative. Above is the first scene in this series, it is a modern moral subject as it shows modern manners, referring to new money and old money. Taste here is represented as the taste of the connoisseurs.

Hogarth, Marriage a-la-mode: 2, The Tête à Tête, c. 1743

• The second scene presents the couple, now married, but up to no good - their morals are suspect. The steward of the house is exclaiming at the outrageous bills, Their taste in decor is awful and ugly, e.g. the ornate Baroque clock. The dog draws the viewer's attention to the husband's pocket where another woman's underwear lies.

Hogarth, Marriage a-la-mode: 6, The Lady's Death, c. 1743

• In the final scene, set in the house of the merchant. The city of London and Old London bridge seen out of the window, on the walls are Dutch paintings of somewhat unpolite subject matters - his manifesto is clear. The wide is committing suicide, her father already pulling her ring off of her finger. A pigs head on the table and a scrawny dog. Hogarth uses theatrical conversions in a way. This was painted at the time of the novel, here, modern middle class life and values expressed in print. The series is representative of the vulgarity and meanness of aristocratic pretentiousness.

Hogarth, The Graham Children, 1745, National Gallery, London

• Hogarth was good at painting the portraits of children, as he was able to capture their character and personality. Life, death, innocence and comedy all apparent in this painting.

Hogarth, Captain Thomas Coram, 1740, Foundling Hospital

• Captain Coram founded the Foundling Hospital for abandoned children. This Grand Style portrait is slightly awkward; Coram was a self conscious, self made man. Hogarth and his friends displayed their paintings in the Foundling Hospital, this was the first public occasion for the display of these British artists.

Hogarth, Gin Lane and Beer Street, 1751

• Most people would have seen Hogarths work through engravings. Gin Lane and Beer Street shows everything going to rack and ruin, the only shop that is doing well in Gin Lane is the pawn brokers. In Beer Street, illustrates fat people with mugs of beer, the only run down shop here is the pawn brokers. Hogarth was always very specific in his London geography.

Thomas Gainsborough, Mr & Mrs Andrews, c. 1750, National Gallery, London

Thomas Gainsborough, Mr & Mrs Hallett (The Morning Walk), 1785, National Gallery, London

• Gainsborough's Mr & Mrs Hallett is a full scale portrait, very 'fluffy' painterly technique. He was the second most expensive portrait artist in London in the late 18th century.

John Wright of Derby, A Philosopher giving a Lecture on the Orrery, in which a lamp is put in the place of the Sun, exhibited 1766, Derby Art Galleries and Museums

• John Wright of Derby can be associated with the industrial revolution, scientific revolution and the enlightenment. Modern and secular subject to his paintings with a moral tone.

Joshua Reynolds, Self-Portrait as Doctor of Civil Law, 1773, Royal Academy, London

• Joshua Reynolds went on The Grand Tour, he was instrumental in setting up the Royal Academy in 1768 and regular exhibitions thereafter. His paintings often had a lack of detail and convey grand sentiment and feeling.

Johan Zoffany, Academicians of the Royal Academy, 1772-3, Royal Collection, London

• Zoffany painted the academicians of the Royal Academy; there were two female members but they are merely portrayed as portraits on the wall as there is a nude male model in the room so there were not allowed to be present.

Angelica Kauffman, Design, 1778-80, Royal Academy, London

Angelica Kauffman, Colour, 1778-80, Royal Academy, London

• Angelica Kauffman painted allegorical figures inc. Deign and Colour. Using allegorical figures as a strategy for the female artist to represent themselves as the allegorical figures to assert themselves.

Sir Joshua Reynolds, Lady Sarah Bunbury Sacrificing to the Graces, 1765, Art Institute of Chicago, USA

• As well as being the 1st president of the Royal Academy, Joshua Reynolds was mainly a portraitist. However he was aware that history paintings were the most highly regarded form of painting, he therefore dressed up his subjects as mythological figures.

Thomas Gainsborough, Giovanna Baccelli, 1782, Tate Britain, London

• Unlike Reynolds, Gainsborough relied on his signature manor. He made his money by presenting graceful, very painterly, portraits. He was satirical about Reynolds dressing up his subjects.

Benjamin West, The Death of Wolfe, 1770, Ottowa

• Benjamin West (American) was the 2nd president of the Royal Academy. This painting shows a scene from the Seven Years War, the capturing of Canada. Shown as a secular martyr, suggesting that the nation was a substitute for religion.

Unknown artist (formerly attributed to Zoffany), Dido Elizabeth Belle & Lady Elizabeth Murray, c. 1779, Perth

• This painting depicts Dido Elizabeth Belle and her cousin Lady Elizabeth Murray bringing the fruit from the kitchen garden. Dido Elizabeth Belle was allowed to sit at the table with the family, she is represented as a servant but also on an intimate terms with Lady E. Murray. She is almost on the same level, although she is in the background, she seems to be coming forward. She also wears and nice dress and jewellery. The turban was typical of servants to make them look oriental. Liminal (on the threshold) painting.