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Over the course of the 1800s, Britain underwent such significant social changes that by the close of the century, both the country’s cultural and physical landscape were almost unrecognisable. The Royal Academy remained the key institution for the training of artists and the subsequent display of their works. The century began with John Constable and JMW Turner dominating British art and celebrating the beauty and drama of the English countryside and coastline. However as time progressed, rebellious groups such as the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood challenged the conventions of image-making, both in terms of concept and technique. This was also the era of towering Victorian Academic artists including Lord Leighton. Revivals in the Gothic style affected not just architecture but also sculpture and key figures such as John Ruskin and William Morris encouraged a total rejection of industrial mass-production. The Arts & Crafts Movement was one aspect of this attitude. 

The works of these individuals, often coinciding with tumultuous periods in history, are frequently considered the benchmark by which many of their peers have been measured. Integral to the development of new styles, or inspiring later generations of artists, the five examples chosen here have transcended the environs of the art gallery to become household names. All are synonymous with the concept of a ‘great’ artist, though in reality some struggled for recognition in their own lifetime while others achieved fame quickly and attained ‘legendary’ status. The periods in which they worked, from the second half of the 19th century to the present day, were crucial to their artistic development and we will examine this aspect alongside the techniques, subjects and life experiences which shaped their work and processes. Tracking their careers in chronological order, key achievements and canonical works by each will form the basis of this course. 

This course traces the developments and trends, which dominated European art, from the dawn of the Renaissance in the early 15th Century, through to the first decades of the 19th Century when Romanticism came to the fore in both art and literature. We will explore the social, cultural and political factors, which contributed to the practices of painters and sculptors from a range of European locations. We will discover how many of these styles were often a reaction against those preceding them. Part 1 traces painting, sculpture and architecture from the Early Italian Renaissance to the Dutch Golden Age of the 17th Century.