Painting: In the painting of the 17th century the continental influence continued. The arrival of the Flemish A. van Dyck, who came to London in 1632, where he worked as court painter to Charles I until his death, gave English portrait painting a new direction. In the succession of Van Dyck in England were v. a. the Dutch P. Lely and the Dutch trained G. Kneller.
The international importance of English painting began in the 18th century with the painter and engraver W. Hogarth. His realistic and socially critical picture cycles, which he himself reproduced in copperplate engravings, initiated the movement of political and satirical illustration graphics. As a portraitist, he is on an equal footing with J. Reynolds, the creator of subtle psychological portraits of members of the leading society, and T. Gainsborough, whose portraits show a relaxed, almost impressionistic color scheme. With the park-like backgrounds in his pictures, inspired by Dutch painting, Gainsborough laid the foundation for a specifically English landscape painting. His rival R. Wilson, on the other hand, painted ideal landscapes. Watercolor painting was particularly popular in England (the Old Water-Color Society was founded in 1804). J. Crome founded the Norwich School in 1803, one of the prerequisites for the rise of English landscape painting at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. In the field of illustration art, classicism reached a high point in the early 19th century in Flaxman’s cyclesto Homer and Dante, which were trained in Greek vase paintings. The linear style of these outline drawings influenced the graphic artist and poet W. Blake. The Zurich-born painter and poet J. H. Füssli was also committed to classicism.
Handicrafts and applied arts: Towards the end of the 17th century, the Netherlands gave the impetus for the development of bourgeois living culture in England. The 18th century was the heyday of English handicrafts, which operated with the stylistic means of classicism. The cabinet maker T. Chippendale founded the first English furniture style of the modern era and introduced v. a. Mahogany furniture in light, curved shapes. In the second half of the 18th century, the subtle “Adam Style” (after the architect R. Adam) was particularly appreciated. English ceramics were brought to European renown by J. Wedgwood. The Chelsea and Derby factories were also important.
19th century
Architecture: The early 19th century shows different styles: neo-Gothic and classicist tendencies were lively, the latter are v. a. in R. Smirkes building of the British Museum (1823 ff.) in London, which is based on Greek antiquity. Soane took a less strict conception of classicism. In the Victorian era (1837–1901) neo-Gothic was in England, BC. a. in church construction (A. W. N. Pugin, G. G. Scott), as a binding form of architecture, the London Parliament building was also built by C. Barry and Pugin in the neo-Gothic style in 1837 ff.
In 1851 J. Paxton built the Crystal Palace in London out of iron and glass. In large public building projects, the new possibilities of iron construction led to the development of technology-oriented building types in which the neo-Gothic styles became a mere shell.
According to clothingexpress.org, the artistic and social reformist ideas of W. Morris had an impact not only on the arts and crafts, but also on architecture, especially on the architects P. S. Webb, C. F. A. Voysey and R. N. Shaw, according to his plans the first settlement in Bedford Park in London from 1875 was built by single houses. It was the prototype of the garden city, for which E. Howard presented a concept in 1898 that was also taken up in Germany.
Sculpture: In England in the 19th century, parallel to architecture, it shows a close reference to historical styles; J. Gibson, A. Stevens and R. Westmacott orientate themselves v. a. in the Greek Classical period and the Italian Renaissance. The monument sculpture gained special weight after 1875 through the “New Sculpture” movement (A. Gilbert) with symbolist works.
Painting: English painting gave decisive impulses for European painting in the early 19th century: W. Turner and J. Constable were important forerunners of the French Impressionists with their open-air painting.
In portrait painting, T. Lawrence and H. Raeburn were leaders in the first half of the 19th century. In 1848, J. E. Millais founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (W. H. Hunt, D. G. Rossetti et al.). These painters were based on Italian painting of the Middle Ages and made v. a. literary and historical subjects with a pronounced symbolic tendency. E. Burne-Jones and W. Morris were associated with them. Victorian genre and history painting (W. Dyce, W. P. Frith) influenced. The classical direction promoted by the Royal Academy (F. Leighton, G. F. Watts, A. Moore) took into account the interest in ancient art that had been stimulated by the acquisition of the Elgin Marbles (1816). The New English Art Club founded in 1886 (W. Steer, W. R. Sickert) promoted progressive currents. The American J. A. M. Whistler, who lives in London, appeared as an advocate of modern art and as a spokesman for the L’art-pour-l’art movement, from which A. V. Beardsley, the main exponent of Art Nouveau, emerged.
