The Arts In England
October 1 - November 19
10.45–12.45 Thursdays
£86.00 – £570.00
Description
What, if anything, has characterised English art over the centuries? What lies behind some of its spectacular periods of success or failure? Through painting, architecture and Nature, this course considers the creativity of a nation.
“Your previous course was your best course yet! And that’s a high bar! I really enjoyed the journey around Europe looking at many wonderful treasures. That course has certainly provided us with many “tres riches heures!”. Thank you.”
Course Outline
01 Oct 2026 – Introduction and the Medieval
We begin with a consideration of the span of this series, from High Gothic to Hockney, a reminder not only of some of the great native individuals, but also of the foreigners, from Holbein to van Dyck and Winterhalter, who brought novelty and stimulus to England. We continue by examining the first great flowering of the English in the architecture and artefacts of the Middle Ages.
08 Oct 2026 – Renaissance Glory
With the Tudors comes stability and the craving for an image to match the splendour of their Continental peers. Holbein and Hampton Court under Henry VIII and Nicholas Hilliard and prodigy houses for Elizabeth I capture the aspirations of the age.
15 Oct 2026 – The Cosmopolitan Stuarts
Through the age of the Stuarts, the image of England and ambition is largely in the hands of imported artists. Our image of power and majesty is created by the painting of Flemings like Antony van Dyck and Peter Paul Rubens, but the most conspicuous public statement is made by Englishmen – by the architecture of Inigo Jones and Christopher Wren.
22 Oct 2026 – The Rise of England
What is it about the climate of the 18th century which favours English character and values? This is the Age of Enlightenment, of moral engagement in the satire of Hogarth, and the heyday of portraiture, exemplified by Sir Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Gainsborough and their contemporaries.
29 Oct 2026 – Blake and Romanticism
A dramatic change of mood comes with the Revolutionary Wars. Faith in Reason gives way to fear, uncertainty and the triumph of Romanticism, notably in the work of William Blake. It is also the first time that caricaturists such Gillray and Rowlandson can move art beyond a privileged elite to a mass market.
05 NOV 2026 – Nature and Monuments
Against the background of the Industrial Revolution, society re-evaluates landscape with nostalgia, in the art of Constable and Turner, the landscape gardens of Capability Brown. The re-establishment of country seats creates a Palladian architectural flowering in contrast to the fantasy world of the Brighton Pavilion.
12 NOV 2026 – Art, Science and Empire
The Victorian age is exemplified by Empire and by science, by the Great Exhibition and the spread of photography – modulated by the craving for respectability. We examine these, and some of the artists, like Landseer and Frith, who reflect these values, as well as the rise of others, such as the Pre-Raphaelites and the Glasgow Boys, who transgress societal aspirations.
19 NOV 2026 – “It’s Art If I Say So!” (Marcel Duchamp)
The experiences and diversity of the last century are present in art, from Vorticism to exploding sheds via L.S. Lowry. In this final lecture we consider some modernist threads and ask whether there is still anything distinctively English about them, before concluding with a review of the series.