English art#16th and 17th centuries

The earliest English art – also Europe's earliest and northernmost cave art – is located at Creswell Crags in Derbyshire, estimated at between 13,000 and 15,000 years old.{{cite web|url=http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/story-of-england/prehistory/arts-and-invention/ |title=Prehistory: Arts & Invention |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=28 August 2017 }} In 2003, more than 80 engravings and bas-reliefs, depicting deer, bison, horses, and what may be birds or bird-headed people were found there. The famous, large ritual landscape of Stonehenge dates from the Neolithic period; around 2600 BC.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7894635/Worlds-oldest-doodle-found-on-rock.html |title=World's oldest doodle found on rock |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=28 August 2017 }} From around 2150 BC, the Beaker people learned how to make bronze, and used both tin and gold. They became skilled in metal refining and their works of art, placed in graves or sacrificial pits have survived.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/environment/archaeology/12096040/Why-these-Bronze-Age-relics-make-me-jump-for-joy.html |title=Why these Bronze Age relics make me jump for joy |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=28 August 2017 }} In the Iron Age, a new art style arrived as Celtic culture and spread across the British isles. Though metalwork, especially gold ornaments, was still important, stone and most likely wood were also used.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/oct/04/celts-great-torque-snettisham-hoard-british-museum-alice-roberts |title=The Celts: not quite the barbarians history would have us believe |newspaper=The Observer |access-date=28 August 2017 }} This style continued into the Roman period, beginning in the 1st century BC, and found a renaissance in the Medieval period. The arrival of the Romans brought the Classical style of which many monuments have survived, especially funerary monuments, statues and busts. They also brought glasswork and mosaics.{{cite web|url=http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/story-of-england/romans/arts-and-invention/ |title=Romans: Arts & Invention |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=28 August 2017 }} In the 4th century, a new element was introduced as the first Christian art was made in Britain. Several mosaics with Christian symbols and pictures have been preserved.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2003/apr/19/art.artsfeatures |title=Jesus, the early years |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=28 August 2017 }} England boasts some remarkable prehistoric hill figures; a famous example is the Uffington White Horse in Oxfordshire, which "for more than 3,000 years ... has been jealously guarded as a masterpiece of minimalist art."{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2003/apr/19/art.artsfeaturehttps://www.theguardian.com/media/2003/may/04/channel4.bigbrother |title=Big Brother's logo 'defiles' White Horse |newspaper=The Observer |access-date=10 September 2017 }}

File:Ochre Horse.jpg|Ochre horse illustration from the Creswell Crags; 11000-13000 BC.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1434785/Graffiti-disfigured-Ice-Age-cave-art.html|title=Graffiti disfigured Ice Age cave art|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=11 September 2017 }}

File:Stonehenge Sunset (1) - geograph.org.uk - 1626228.jpg|Stonehenge; 2600 BC.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/artblog/2007/aug/17/stonehengenotarchaeologybut|title=Stonehenge: not archaeology, but art|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=11 September 2017 }}

File:Aerial view from Paramotor of Uffington White Horse - geograph.org.uk - 305467.jpg|Uffington White Horse; {{circa|1000 BC}}.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/great-works/uffington-white-horse-c1000bc-744432.html|title=Uffington White Horse (c.1000BC)|newspaper=The Independent|access-date=11 September 2017 }}

File:Winchester Hoard items.jpg|Winchester Hoard items; 75-25 BC.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/may/02/arts.artsnews|title=Archaeologists and amateurs agree pact|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=11 September 2017 }}

File:Hinton St Mary.jpg|Hinton St Mary Mosaic; 4th century AD.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3624494/Sacred-mysteries.html|title=Sacred mysteries|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=11 September 2017 }}

After Roman rule, Anglo-Saxon art brought the incorporation of Germanic traditions, as may be seen in the metalwork of Sutton Hoo.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2009/sep/27/anglo-saxon-treasure-hoard-staffordshire |title=Anglo-Saxon treasure hoard casts Beowulf and wealthy warriors of Mercia in a new light |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=28 August 2017 }} Anglo-Saxon sculpture was outstanding for its time, at least in the small works in ivory or bone which are almost all that survive.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/normans/ivory_01.shtml |title=Ivory Carvings in England from Before the Norman Conquest |publisher=BBC History |access-date=28 August 2017 }} Especially in Northumbria, the Insular art style shared across the British Isles produced the finest work being produced in Europe, until the Viking raids and invasions largely suppressed the movement;{{cite web|url=http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195396584/obo-9780195396584-0014.xml |title=Insular Art |publisher=Oxford Bibliographies Online |access-date=28 August 2017 }} the Book of Lindisfarne is one example certainly produced in Northumbria.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2003/jul/12/art.artsfeatures |title=Everything is illuminated |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=28 August 2017 }} Anglo-Saxon art developed a very sophisticated variation on contemporary Continental styles, seen especially in metalwork and illuminated manuscripts such as the Benedictional of St. Æthelwold.{{cite web|url=http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/sacredtexts/staethel.html |title=Benedictional of St Aethelwold |publisher=British Library |access-date=28 August 2017 }} None of the large-scale Anglo-Saxon paintings and sculptures that we know existed have survived.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.historytoday.com/mildred-budny/anglo-saxon-art-7th-century-norman-conquest |title=Anglo-Saxon art from the 7th century to the Norman conquest |magazine=History Today |access-date=28 August 2017 }}

By the first half of the 11th century, English art benefited from lavish patronage by a wealthy Anglo-Saxon elite, who valued above all works in precious metals.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/6227061/Largest-Anglo-Saxon-hoard-in-history-discovered.html |title=Largest Anglo-Saxon hoard in history discovered |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=28 August 2017 }} but the Norman Conquest in 1066 brought a sudden halt to this art boom, and instead works were melted down or removed to Normandy.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.historytoday.com/deborah-kahn/norman-world-art |title=The Norman World of Art |magazine=History Today |access-date=28 August 2017 }} The so-called Bayeux Tapestry - the large, English-made, embroidered cloth depicting events leading up to the Norman conquest - dates to the late 11th century.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2185282/Campaign-to-bring-the-Bayeux-Tapestry-back-to-Britain.html |title=Campaign to bring the Bayeux Tapestry back to Britain |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=28 August 2017 }} Some decades after the Norman conquest, manuscript painting in England was soon again among the best of any in Europe; in Romanesque works such as the Winchester Bible and the St. Albans Psalter, and then in early Gothic ones like the Tickhill Psalter.{{cite web|url=http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195396584/obo-9780195396584-0074.xml |title=Romanesque Art |publisher=Oxford Bibliographies Online |access-date=29 August 2017 }} The best-known English illuminator of the period is Matthew Paris ({{circa|1200}}–1259).{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Matthew-Paris |title=Matthew Paris: English artist and historian |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=29 August 2017 }} Some of the rare surviving examples of English medieval panel paintings, such as the Westminster Retable and Wilton Diptych, are of the highest quality.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/12014969/Rarest-medieval-panel-painting-saved-by-recycling.html |title='Rarest' medieval panel painting saved by recycling |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=29 August 2017 }} From the late 14th century to the early 16th century, England had a considerable industry in Nottingham alabaster reliefs for mid-market altarpieces and small statues, which were exported across Northern Europe.{{cite web |url=http://www.nottinghamcastle.org.uk/alabaster |title=Alabaster Collection |publisher=Nottingham Castle |access-date=29 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803051338/http://www.nottinghamcastle.org.uk/alabaster |archive-date=3 August 2017 |url-status=dead }} Another art form introduced through the church was stained glass, which was also adopted for secular uses.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3585906/Object-of-the-week-stained-glass.html |title=Object of the week: stained glass |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=11 September 2017 }}

File:Sutton.hoo.helmet.jpg|Sutton Hoo helmet; c. 625.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/picture/2012/aug/01/sutton-hoo-helmet-british-art|title=Savage warrior: Sutton Hoo Helmet|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=11 September 2017 }}

File:Lindisfarne Gospels folio 209v.jpg|Lindisfarne Gospels; c. 700.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/may/30/books.booksnews|title=Revealed: hidden art behind the gospel truth|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=11 September 2017 }}

File:LichfieldGospelsEvangelist.jpg|Lichfield Gospels; c. 730.{{cite web|url=https://www.lichfield-cathedral.org/about-us/cathedral-treasures|title=St Chad Gospels|publisher=Lichfield Cathedral|access-date=11 September 2017|archive-date=30 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200330205807/https://www.lichfield-cathedral.org/about-us/cathedral-treasures|url-status=dead}}

File:Bayeux Deense bijl.jpg|Detail from the so-called Bayeux Tapestry; {{circa|1070s}}.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/mar/27/leadersandreply.mainsection|title=Towns and a tapestry|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=11 September 2017 }}

File:Wga 12c illuminated manuscripts Mary Magdalen announcing the resurrection.jpg|Mary Magdalen announcing the Resurrection, from the St. Albans Psalter; 1120–1145.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-14543496|title=Psalter returns to St Albans Cathedral|work=BBC News|access-date=11 September 2017 }}

File:Peterborough Psalter c 1220-25 Mercy and Truth.jpg|The Fitzwilliam Peterborough Psalter; before 1222.{{cite web|url=http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/collections/illuminatedmanuscripts/MS_12|title=The Peterborough Psalter|publisher=Fitzwilliam Museum|access-date=11 September 2017 }}

File:Westminster Retable.jpg|The Westminster Retable; {{circa|1270s}}.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/may/19/research.arts|title=National Gallery unveils England's oldest altarpiece|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=11 September 2017 }}

File:StepanAngl.jpg|King Arthur in Matthew Paris's Flores Historiarum; 1306–1326.{{cite web|url=http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/illmanus/cottmanucoll/t/011cotclae00008u00027v00.html|title=The Creation of the World, in the 'Flowers of History'|publisher=British Library|access-date=11 September 2017|archive-date=30 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200330205811/http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/illmanus/cottmanucoll/t/011cotclae00008u00027v00.html|url-status=dead}}

File:Queen Mary's Psalter.jpg|The Queen Mary Psalter; 1310–1320.{{cite web|url=http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/record.asp?MSID=6467|title=Detailed record for Royal 2 B VII|publisher=British Library|access-date=11 September 2017|archive-date=30 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200330205814/http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/record.asp?MSID=6467|url-status=dead}}

File:SmrtBecketta.jpg|Becket's death in the Luttrell Psalter; 1320–1345.{{cite web|url=http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/sacredtexts/luttrellpsalter.html|title=Luttrell Psalter|publisher=British Library|access-date=11 September 2017|archive-date=30 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200330205819/http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/sacredtexts/luttrellpsalter.html|url-status=dead}}

File:Gorleston3.jpg|Gorleston Psalter; 14th century.{{cite web|url=http://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2012/10/virile-if-somewhat-irresponsible-design-the-marginalia-of-the-gorleston-psalter.html|title='Virile, if Somewhat Irresponsible' Design: The Marginalia of the Gorleston Psalter|publisher=British Library|access-date=11 September 2017 }}

File:Tickhill.jpg|Tickhill Psalter; 14th century.{{cite web|url=https://aha.missouri.edu/news/tickhill-psalter|title=Tickhill Psalter|publisher=University of Missouri|access-date=11 September 2017|archive-date=12 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170912055329/https://aha.missouri.edu/news/tickhill-psalter|url-status=dead}}

File:The Wilton Diptych (Right).jpg|The Wilton Diptych (right); {{circa|1395}}–1399.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/a-precious-stone-set-in-a-silver-sea-the-wilton-diptych-andrew-graham-dixon-deciphers-the-royal-1508749.html|title=A precious stone set in a silver sea: The Wilton Diptych: Andrew Graham-Dixon deciphers the royal message for so long concealed within medieval England's most famous painting|newspaper=The Independent|access-date=11 September 2017 }}

File:StThomasEnthroned.jpg|Nottingham Alabaster of St Thomas Becket; 15th century.{{cite web|url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O69836/consecration-of-st-thomas-becket-panel-unknown/|title=Consecration of St Thomas Becket as archbishop|publisher=Victoria and Albert Museum|access-date=31 August 2017 }}

File:Seven Churches of Asia in the East Window at York Minster.jpg|Stained glass at York Minster by John Thornton (fl. 1405–1433).{{cite news|url=http://www.birminghampost.co.uk/lifestyle/nostalgia/coventry-glazier-john-thornton-created-5674954|title=Midlands glazier created this medieval masterpiece|newspaper=Birmingham Post|access-date=11 September 2017 }}

Nicholas Hilliard ({{circa|1547}}–7 January 1619) – "the first native-born genius of English painting"{{cite book |title=British Art |last=Wilson |first=Simon |year=1979 |publisher=The Tate Gallery & The Bodley Head |location=London |isbn=0370300343 |page=12}} – began a strong English tradition in the portrait miniature.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/4470344/Small-is-beautiful.html |title=Small is beautiful |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=12 September 2017 }} The tradition was continued by Hilliard's pupil Isaac Oliver ({{circa|1565}}–bur. 2 October 1617), whose French Huguenot parents had escaped to England in the artist's childhood.

Other notable English artists across the period include: Nathaniel Bacon (1585–1627); John Bettes the Elder (active {{circa|1531}}–1570) and John Bettes the Younger (died 1616); George Gower ({{circa|1540}}–1596), William Larkin (early 1580s–1619), and Robert Peake the Elder ({{circa|1551}}–1619).{{cite book |title=A Concise History of English Painting |last=Gaunt |first=William |year=1978 |publisher=Thames & Hudson |location=London |pages=15–56}} The artists of the Tudor court and their successors until the early 18th century included a number of influential imported talents: Hans Holbein the Younger, Anthony van Dyck, Peter Paul Rubens, Orazio Gentileschi and his daughter Artemisia, Sir Peter Lely (a naturalised English subject from 1662), and Sir Godfrey Kneller (a naturalised English subject by the time of his 1691 knighthood).{{cite web|url=https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/about/paintings-and-miniatures/paintings |title=Paintings |publisher=Royal Collection Trust |access-date=12 September 2017 }}

The 17th century saw a number of significant English painters of full-size portraits, most notably William Dobson 1611 (bapt. 1611–bur. 1646); others include Cornelius Johnson (bapt. 1593–bur. 1661){{cite web|url=http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/display/2015/cornelius-johnson-charles-is-forgotten-painter.php |title=Cornelius Johnson: Charles I’s Forgotten Painter |publisher=National Portrait Gallery |access-date=29 August 2017 }} and Robert Walker (1599–1658). Samuel Cooper (1609–1672) was an accomplished miniaturist in Hilliard's tradition, as was his brother Alexander Cooper (1609–1660), and their uncle, John Hoskins (1589/1590–1664). Other notable portraitists of the period include: Thomas Flatman (1635–1688), Richard Gibson (1615–1690), the dissolute John Greenhill (c. 1644–1676), John Riley (1646–1691), and John Michael Wright (1617–1694). Francis Barlow (c. 1626–1704) is known as "the father of British sporting painting";{{Art UK bio|retrieved=8 September 2016|ref=1}} he was England's first wildlife painter, beginning a tradition that reached a high-point a century later, in the work of George Stubbs (1724–1806).{{cite web|url=http://artuk.org/discover/artworks/monkeys-and-dogs-playing-117766 |title=Monkeys and Dogs Playing: Francis Barlow (1626–1704) |publisher=Art UK |access-date=8 September 2016}} English women began painting professionally in the 17th century; notable examples include Joan Carlile (c. 1606–79), and Mary Beale (née Cradock; 1633–1699).{{cite book |title=A Concise History of English Painting |last=Gaunt |first=William |year=1978 |publisher=Thames & Hudson |location=London |pages=29–56}}

In the first half of the 17th century the English nobility became important collectors of European art, led by King Charles I and Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/22/charles-art-collection-reunited-first-time-350-years-royal-academy/ |title=Charles I art collection reunited for first time in 350 years as Royal Academy relocates works from Van Dyke and Titian |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=29 August 2017 }} By the end of the 17th century, the Grand Tour – a trip of Europe giving exposure to the cultural legacy of classical antiquity and the Renaissance – was de rigueur for wealthy young Englishmen.{{cite web|url=http://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/travel-guide/a8080/grand-tour/ |title=The Town & Country Grand Tour |publisher=Town and Country Magazine |access-date=29 August 2017 }}

File:AnneBoleyn56.jpg|Hoskins's miniature of Anne Boleyn (c. 1501–1536); n.d.{{cite web|url=http://onthetudortrail.com/Blog/2011/02/07/would-the-real-anne-boleyn-please-come-forward/comment-page-1/|title=Would the real Anne Boleyn please come forward?|publisher=On the Tudor Trail|access-date=1 September 2017 }}

File:George Gower Elizabeth Sieve Portrait 2.jpg|George Gower's sieve portrait of Elizabeth I; 1579.{{cite book|title=The Subject of Elizabeth: Authority, Gender, and Representation|last=Montrose|first=Louis|year=2006|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago|isbn=0226534758|page=123}}

File:Elizabeth I attrib john bettes c1585 90.jpg|John Bettes the Younger's portrait of Elizabeth I; c. 1585.{{cite web|url=http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/elizface2.htm|title=Portraits of Queen Elizabeth The First, Part 2: Portraits 1573-1587|publisher=Luminarium: Anthology of English Literature|access-date=12 September 2017 }}

File:Nicholas Hilliard - Young Man Among Roses - V&A P.163-1910.jpg|Nicholas Hilliard's Young Man Among Roses; 1587.{{cite web|url=http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/y/nicholas-hilliards-young-man-among-roses/|title='Young Man Among Roses' by Nicholas Hilliard (1547–1619)|publisher=Victoria and Albert Museum|access-date=29 August 2017 }}

File:Isaac Oliver d. Ä. 002.jpg|Isaac Oliver's A Young Man Seated Under a Tree; 1590–1595.{{cite web|url=https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/420639/a-young-man-seated-under-a-tree|title=A Young Man Seated Under a Tree, c. 1590-1595|publisher=Royal Collection|access-date=11 September 2017 }}

File:Elizabeth I. Procession portrait (detail).jpg|Detail of Robert Peake the Elder's procession portrait of Elizabeth I; c. 1601.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.historytoday.com/janet-dickinson-and-neil-younger/final-years-elizabeth-reign|title=The Final Years of Elizabeth I's Reign|magazine=History Today|access-date=12 September 2017 }}

File:CHANDOS3.jpg|The Chandos portrait of Shakespeare, attributed to John Taylor; 1600–1610.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/mar/02/arts.books|title=The only true painting of Shakespeare - probably|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=2 September 2017 }}

File:William Larkin Sir Francis Bacon 2.jpg|William Larkin's portrait of Sir Francis Bacon; c. 1610.{{cite book|title=Literature and Ethics: Essays Presented to A. E. Malloch|last=Wihl|first=Gary|year=1988|publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press|location=Montreal, Quebec|isbn=0773506624|page=[https://archive.org/details/literatureethics0000unse/page/37 37]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/literatureethics0000unse/page/37}}

File:Charles II when Prince of Wales by William Dobson, 1642.jpg|Dobson's portrait of Charles II when Prince of Wales; 1644.{{cite web|url=https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/2105/charles-ii-1630-1685-king-scots-1649-1685-king-england-and-ireland-1660-1685-when-prince-wales-page|title=William Dobson: Charles II, 1630 - 1685. King of Scots 1649 - 1685. King of England and Ireland 1660 - 1685 (When Prince of Wales, with a page)|publisher=Scottish National Portrait Gallery|access-date=12 September 2017 }}

File:Charles I at his trial.jpg|Edward Bower's King Charles I at his trial; 1648.{{cite web|url=http://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/353001|title=King Charles I at his Trial|publisher=National trust|access-date=11 September 2017 }}

File:Walker, Robert John - Evelyn.jpg|Robert Walker's portrait of diarist John Evelyn; 1648.{{cite web|url=http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw08141/John-Evelyn|title=John Evelyn|publisher=National Portrait Gallery, London|access-date=11 September 2017 }}

File:Charles II by John Michael Wright.jpg|John Michael Wright's portrait of Charles II; c. 1676.{{cite web|url=https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/404951/charles-ii-1630-1685|title=Charles II (1630-1685) c.1676|publisher=Royal Collection Trust|access-date=12 September 2017 }}

File:John Locke by Greenhill.jpg|John Greenhill's portrait of John Locke; c. 1672–1676.{{cite web|url=http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw03962/John-Locke?LinkID=mp02773&role=sit&rNo=0|title=John Locke|publisher=National Portrait Gallery, London|access-date=12 September 2017 }}

File:Coursing the Hare.JPG|Francis Barlow's Coursing the Hare; 1686.{{cite book|title=Francis Barlow: The First Master of English Book Illustration|last=Hodnett|first=Edward|year=1978|publisher=Scolar Press|location=London|isbn=0859673502|page=106}}

File:Samuel Pepys by John Riley (Yale University Art Gallery).tif|John Riley's portrait of Samuel Pepys; c. 1690.{{cite web|url=http://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/10087|title=Artist: John Riley, British, 1646-1691; Samuel Pepys|publisher=Yale University Art Gallery|access-date=12 September 2017 }}

{{main|Art of the United Kingdom}}

In the 18th century, English painting's distinct style and tradition continued to concentrate frequently on portraiture, but interest in landscapes increased, and a new focus was placed on history painting, which was regarded as the highest of the hierarchy of genres,{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-features/10562014/Painting-history-Manet-on-a-mission.html |title=Painting history: Manet on a mission |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=29 August 2017 }} and is exemplified in the extraordinary work of Sir James Thornhill (1675/1676–1734). History painter Robert Streater (1621–1679) was highly thought of in his time.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2008/aug/04/architecture |title=Sheldonian ceiling restored |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=29 August 2017}}

William Hogarth (1697–1764) reflected the burgeoning English middle-class temperament — English in habits, disposition, and temperament, as well as by birth. His satirical works, full of black humour, point out to contemporary society the deformities, weaknesses and vices of London life. Hogarth's influence can be found in the distinctively English satirical tradition continued by James Gillray (1756–1815), and George Cruikshank (1792–1878).{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/11202643/Hogarth-the-father-of-the-modern-cartoon.html |title=Hogarth, the father of the modern cartoon |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=29 August 2017}} One of the genres in which Hogarth worked was the conversation piece, a form in which certain of his contemporaries also excelled: Joseph Highmore (1692–1780), Francis Hayman (1708–1776), and Arthur Devis (1712–1787).{{cite book |title=Britain in the Hanoverian Age, 1714-1837 |last=Newman |first=Gerald |year=1978 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=0815303963 |page=525}}

Portraits were in England, as in Europe, the easiest and most profitable way for an artist to make a living, and the English tradition continued to show the relaxed elegance of the portrait-style traceable to Van Dyck. The leading portraitists are: Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788); Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792), founder of the Royal Academy of Arts; George Romney (1734–1802); Lemuel "Francis" Abbott (1760/61–1802); Richard Westall (1765–1836); Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769–1830); and Thomas Phillips (1770–1845). Also of note are Jonathan Richardson (1667–1745) and his pupil (and defiant son-in-law) Thomas Hudson (1701–1779). Joseph Wright of Derby (1734–1797) was well known for his candlelight pictures; George Stubbs (1724–1806) and, later, Edwin Henry Landseer (1802–1873) for their animal paintings. By the end of the century, the English swagger portrait was much admired abroad.{{cite web|url=http://therp.co.uk/a-short-history-of-british-portraiture/ |title=A Short History of British Portraiture |publisher=Royal Society of Portrait Painters |access-date=29 August 2017}}

London's William Blake (1757–1827) produced a diverse and visionary body of work defying straightforward classification; critic Jonathan Jones regards him as "far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced".{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/arts/critic/feature/0,1169,1469584,00.html |title=Blake's heaven |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=31 August 2017 }} Blake's artist friends included neoclassicist John Flaxman (1755–1826), and Thomas Stothard (1755–1834) with whom Blake quarrelled.

In the popular imagination English landscape painting from the 18th century onwards typifies English art, inspired largely from the love of the pastoral and mirroring as it does the development of larger country houses set in a pastoral rural landscape.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/nov/23/constable-turner-gainsborough-making-landscape |title=Constable, Turner, Gainsborough and the Making of Landscape |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=30 August 2017}} Two English Romantics are largely responsible for raising the status of landscape painting worldwide: John Constable (1776–1837) and J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851), who is credited with elevating landscape painting to an eminence rivalling history painting.{{cite journal| quote="At the turn of the 18th century, history painting was the highest purpose art could serve, and Turner would attempt those heights all his life. But his real achievement would be to make landscape the equal of history painting."| last=Lacayo| first=Richard| title=The Sunshine Boy| work=Time| url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1670528,00.html| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012172424/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1670528,00.html| url-status=dead| archive-date=October 12, 2007| date=11 October 2007}}{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/art/landscape-painting |title=British Watercolours 1750-1900: The Landscape Genre |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=29 August 2017}} Other notable 18th and 19th century landscape painters include: George Arnald (1763–1841); John Linnell (1792–1882), a rival to Constable in his time; George Morland (1763–1804), who developed on Francis Barlow's tradition of animal and rustic painting; Samuel Palmer (1805–1881); Paul Sandby (1731–1809), who is recognised as the father of English watercolour painting;{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-reviews/7691403/Paul-Sandby-at-Royal-Academy-Seven-magazine-review.html |title=Paul Sandby at Royal Academy |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=29 August 2017 }} and subsequent watercolourists John Robert Cozens (1752–1797), Turner's friend Thomas Girtin (1775–1802), and Thomas Heaphy (1775–1835).{{cite web|url=http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/b/british-watercolours-landscape-genre/ |title=Landscape painting |publisher=Victoria and Albert Museum |access-date=29 August 2017}}

The early 19th century saw the emergence of the Norwich school of painters, the first provincial art movement outside of London. Short-lived owing to sparse patronage and internal dissent, its prominent members were "founding father" John Crome (1768–1821), John Sell Cotman (1782–1842), James Stark (1794–1859), and Joseph Stannard (1797–1830).{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/norfolk/content/articles/2008/04/09/mie_norfolk_feature.shtml |title=Made In England: Norfolk |work=BBC Online |access-date=29 August 2017}}

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood movement, established in the 1840s, dominated English art in the second half of the 19th century. Its members — William Holman Hunt (1827–1910), Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882), John Everett Millais (1828–1896) and others — concentrated on religious, literary, and genre works executed in a colorful and minutely detailed, almost photographic style.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-features/5497198/Pre-Raphaelite-art-the-paintings-that-obsessed-the-Victorians.html |title=Pre-Raphaelite art: the paintings that obsessed the Victorians |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=29 August 2017}} Ford Madox Brown (1821–1893) shared the Pre-Raphaelites' principles.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/7157133/Into-the-Frame-the-Four-Loves-of-Ford-Madox-Brown-by-Angela-Thirlwell-review.html |title=Into the Frame: the Four Loves of Ford Madox Brown by Angela Thirlwell: review |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=29 August 2017}}

Leading English art critic John Ruskin (1819–1900) was hugely influential in the latter half of the 19th century; from the 1850s he championed the Pre-Raphaelites, who were influenced by his ideas.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/mar/29/ruskin-effie-marriage-inconvenience-brownell |title=John Ruskin's marriage: what really happened |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=31 August 2017 }} William Morris (1834–1896), founder of the Arts and Crafts Movement, emphasised the value of traditional craft skills which seemed to be in decline in the mass industrial age. His designs, like the work of the Pre-Raphaelite painters with whom he was associated, referred frequently to medieval motifs.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/03/24/william-morris-the-influential-designer-and-radical-thinker-whos/ |title=Who was William Morris? The textile designer and early socialist whose legacy is still felt today |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=31 August 2017}} English narrative painter William Powell Frith (1819–1909) has been described as the "greatest British painter of the social scene since Hogarth",{{cite web|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/william-powell-frith-194 |title=William Powell Frith, 1819–1909 |publisher=Tate |access-date=11 September 2017}} and painter and sculptor George Frederic Watts (1817–1904) became famous for his symbolist work.

The gallant spirit of 19th century English military art helped shape Victorian England's self-image.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/nov/23/artist-and-empire-review-tate-britain |title=Artist and Empire review – a captivating look at the colonial times we still live in |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=31 August 2017}} Notable English military artists include: John Edward Chapman 'Chester' Mathews (1843–1927);{{cite web|url=https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=2000-06-184-1 |title=The Charge of the 21st Lancers at Omdurman, 2 September 1898 |publisher=National Army Museum |access-date=31 August 2017 }} Lady Butler (1846–1933);{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-news/11751356/Tate-Britain-to-explore-but-not-celebrate-art-and-the-British-Empire.html |title=Tate Britain to explore - but not celebrate - art and the British Empire |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=31 August 2017}} Frank Dadd (1851–1929); Edward Matthew Hale (1852–1924); Charles Edwin Fripp (1854–1906);{{cite web|url=https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=1960-11-182-1 |title=The Battle of Isandlwana, 22 January 1879 |publisher=National Army Museum |access-date=31 August 2017}} Richard Caton Woodville, Jr. (1856–1927);{{cite web|url=https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=1988-06-19-1 |title=The Charge of the Light Brigade, 1854 |publisher=National Army Museum |access-date=31 August 2017 }} Harry Payne (1858–1927);{{cite web|url=http://www.lookandlearn.com/blog/9556/harry-payne-artist/ |title=Harry Payne: Artist |publisher=Look and Learn |access-date=31 August 2017}} George Delville Rowlandson (1861–1930); and Edgar Alfred Holloway (1870–1941).{{cite web|url=http://angloboerwarmuseum.com/Boer93l_holloway.html |title=Edgar Alfred Holloway - 1870-1941 |publisher=Canadian Anglo-Boer War Museum |access-date=31 August 2017}} Thomas Davidson (1842–1919), who specialised in historical naval scenes,{{cite web|url=http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/147966.html |title=Nelson's Last Signal at Trafalgar |publisher=National Maritime Museum |access-date=12 September 2017}} incorporated remarkable reproductions of Nelson-related works by Arnald, Westall and Abbott in England's Pride and Glory (1894).{{cite web|url=http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/13291.html |title=England's Pride and Glory |publisher=National Maritime Museum |access-date=12 September 2017}}

To the end of the 19th century, the art of Aubrey Beardsley (1872–1898) contributed to the development of Art Nouveau, and suggested, among other things, an interest in the visual art of Japan.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/oct/01/shunga-sex-pleasure-erotic-japanese-art |title=Erotic bliss shared by all at Shunga: Sex and Pleasure in Japanese Art |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=30 August 2017}}

File:The west wall of the Painted Hall at the Old Royal Naval College.jpg|West wall of James Thornhill's Painted Hall at the Old Royal Naval College; 1707–1726.{{cite web|url=https://www.ornc.org/history-of-the-painted-hall|title=History of the Painted Hall|publisher=Old Royal Naval College|access-date=1 September 2017|archive-date=11 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190711072701/https://www.ornc.org/history-of-the-painted-hall|url-status=dead}}

File:Alexander Pope circa 1736.jpeg|Richardson's portrait of Alexander Pope; c. 1736.{{cite web|url=http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/alexander-pope-32107|title=Alexander Pope|publisher=Museum of Fine Arts, Boston|access-date=1 September 2017 }}

File:Marriage A-la-Mode 2, The Tête à Tête - William Hogarth.jpg|Hogarth's Marriage A-la-Mode: 2, The Tête à Tête; c. 1743.{{cite web|url=https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/william-hogarth-marriage-a-la-mode-2-the-tete-a-tete|title=Marriage A-la-Mode: 2, The Tête à Tête|publisher=National Gallery|access-date=1 September 2017 }}

File:Major-General James Wolfe.jpg|Highmore's portrait of General James Wolfe; 1749.{{cite web|url=http://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/529075|title=General James Wolfe (1727-1759) as a Young Man|publisher=National Trust-Quebec House|access-date=1 September 2017 }}

File:Thomas Gainsborough-Andrews.jpg|Gainsborough's Mr and Mrs Andrews; c. 1750.{{cite web|url=https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/thomas-gainsborough-mr-and-mrs-andrews|title=Mr and Mrs Andrews|publisher=National Gallery|access-date=1 September 2017 }}

File:Arthur Devis 13.jpg|Arthur Devis's "conversation piece" portrait of the East India Company's Robert James and family; 1751.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/great-works/great-works-the-james-family-1751-by-arthur-devis-8495335.html|title=Great Works: The James Family (1751) by Arthur Devis|newspaper=The Independent|access-date=1 September 2017 }}

File:Lord Clive meeting with Mir Jafar after the Battle of Plassey.jpg|Francis Hayman's Robert Clive and Mir Jafar after the Battle of Plassey; 1757.{{cite web|url=http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw01347/Robert-Clive-and-Mir-Jafar-after-the-Battle-of-Plassey-1757|title=Robert Clive and Mir Jafar after the Battle of Plassey, 1757|publisher=National Portrait Gallery, London|access-date=1 September 2017 }}

File:Whistlejacket by George Stubbs edit.jpg|George Stubbs's Whistlejacket; c. 1762.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/stubbss-equine-masterpiece-puts-animal-passion-into-the-national-1335914.html|title=Stubbs's equine masterpiece puts animal passion into the National|newspaper=The Independent|access-date=11 September 2017 }}

File:Warren Hastings by Joshua Reynolds.jpg|Sir Joshua Reynolds's portrait of Warren Hastings; 1766–1768.{{cite web|url=http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw02979/Warren-Hastings|title=Warren Hastings|publisher=National Portrait Gallery, London|access-date=1 September 2017 }}

File:Joseph Wright of Derby - Experiment with the Air Pump - WGA25892.jpg|Joseph Wright of Derby's An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump; 1768.{{cite web|url=https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/joseph-wright-of-derby-an-experiment-on-a-bird-in-the-air-pump|title=An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump|publisher=National Gallery|access-date=2 September 2017 }}

File:George Romney - Emma Hart in a Straw Hat.jpg|George Romney's Emma Hart in a Straw Hat; 1785.{{cite web|url=http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/exhibitions/romney/biography/emmageorge.aspx|title=Emma Hamilton and George Romney|publisher=Walker Art Gallery|access-date=1 September 2017 }}

File:Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1758-1805, 1st Viscount Nelson.jpg|Lemuel Francis Abbott's portrait of Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson; 1797.{{cite web|url=http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw04633/Horatio-Nelson|title=Horatio Nelson|publisher=National Portrait Gallery, London|access-date=1 September 2017 }}

File:Europe a Prophecy copy D 1794 British Museum object 1.jpg|William Blake's The Ancient of Days, frontispiece to Europe a Prophecy; 1794.{{cite web|url=http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1344764&partId=1|title=Europe: a Prophecy|publisher=British Museum|access-date=11 September 2017 }}

File:Palmerston 1802.jpg|Thomas Heaphy's portrait of Palmerston; 1802.{{cite web|url=http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portraitExtended/mw04846/Henry-John-Temple-3rd-Viscount-Palmerston|title=Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston|publisher=National Portrait Gallery, London|access-date=11 September 2017 }}

File:Nelson at Cadiz.jpg|Richard Westall's Nelson in conflict with a Spanish launch, 3 July 1797; 1806.{{cite web|url=http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/14381.html|title=Nelson in conflict with a Spanish launch, 3 July 1797|publisher=National Maritime Museum|access-date=12 September 2017 }}

File:Thomas Stothard Canterbury Pilgrims 318 x 952 mm.jpg|Thomas Stothard's Procession of the Canterbury Pilgrims; 1806–7.{{cite web|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/stothard-the-pilgrimage-to-canterbury-n01163|title=The Pilgrimage to Canterbury, 1806–7|publisher=Tate|access-date=11 September 2017 }}

File:James Gillray - The Plum-Pudding in Danger - WGA08993.jpg|Gillray's The Plumb-pudding in danger; 1805.{{cite web|url=https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/the-plumb-pudding-in-danger---or---state-epicures-taking-un-petit-souper-by-gillray|title=The Plumb-pudding in danger - or - State Epicures taking un Petit Souper by Gillray|publisher=British Library|access-date=2 September 2017 }}

File:Saluting the Regent's Bomb.jpg|Cruikshank's Saluting the Regent's Bomb; 1816.{{cite web|url=http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1600515&partId=1|title=Saluting the R-ts bomb uncovered on his birth day August 12th. 1816|publisher=British Museum|access-date=2 September 2017 }}

File:Sir Arthur Wellesley Duke of Wellington.jpg|Lawrence's post-Waterloo Portrait of the Duke of Wellington; 1816.{{cite web|url=http://waterloo200.org/200-object/thomas-phillips-portrait-of-wellington/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160925105953/http://waterloo200.org/200-object/thomas-phillips-portrait-of-wellington/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=September 25, 2016|title=Portrait of Duke of Wellington|publisher=Waterloo 200|access-date=2 September 2017 }}

File:The Battle of the Nile.jpg|George Arnald's The Destruction of 'L'Orient' at the Battle of the Nile, 1 August 1798; 1825–27.{{cite web|url=http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/12001.html|title=The Destruction of 'L'Orient' at the Battle of the Nile, 1 August 1798|publisher=National Maritime Museum|access-date=12 September 2017 }}

File:Lord Byron in Albanian dress.jpg|Phillips's Lord Byron in Albanian Dress; c. 1835.{{cite web|url=https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/byron-portrait|title=Portrait of Lord Byron in Albanian Dress|publisher=British Library|access-date=1 September 2017|archive-date=28 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170328165248/http://www.bl.uk/collection-items/byron-portrait|url-status=dead}}

File:George IV 1821 color.jpg|King George IV depicted wearing coronation robes and four collars of chivalric orders: the Golden Fleece, Royal Guelphic, Bath and Garter by Thomas Lawrence; c. 1821

File:John Constable The Hay Wain.jpg|John Constable's The Hay Wain; c. 1821

File:John Constable - Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Garden - Google Art Project.jpg|Constable's Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Grounds; c. 1826 version

File:Turner temeraire.jpg|Turner's The Fighting Temeraire; 1839.{{cite web|url=https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/joseph-mallord-william-turner-the-fighting-temeraire|title=The Fighting Temeraire|publisher=National Gallery|access-date=1 September 2017 }}

File:Ophelia john everett millais.JPG|Millais's Ophelia; 1851–1852.{{cite web|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/millais-ophelia-n01506|title=Ophelia, 1851–2|publisher=Tate|access-date=2 September 2017 }}

File:Hunt english coasts.jpg|Holman Hunt's Our English Coasts; 1852.{{cite web|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hunt-our-english-coasts-1852-strayed-sheep-n05665|title=Our English Coasts, 1852 (‘Strayed Sheep’) 1852|publisher=Tate|access-date=10 September 2017 }}

File:Ford Madox Brown, The last of England.jpg|Ford Madox Brown's The Last of England; 1852–1855.{{cite web|url=http://www.bmagic.org.uk/objects/1891P24|title=Oil Painting - The Last of England|publisher=Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery|access-date=2 September 2017 }}

File:Charles Dickens by Frith 1859.jpg|William Powell Frith's portrait of Dickens; 1859.{{cite web|url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O17333/charles-dickens-oil-painting-frith-william-powell/|title=Charles Dickens|publisher=Victoria and Albert Museum|access-date=11 September 2017 }}

File:John Ruskin CDV by Elliott & Fry, 1867.jpg|John Ruskin, leading English art critic of the Victorian era; 1867.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/mar/24/art|title=What to say about... John Ruskin|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=2 September 2017 }}

File:Charles George Gordon by Julia Abercromby.jpg|Julia, Lady Abercromby's portrait of General Gordon; after 1885.{{cite web|url=http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw02625/Charles-George-Gordon|title=Charles George Gordon|publisher=National Portrait Gallery, London|access-date=2 September 2017 }}

File:England's Pride and Glory.jpg|Thomas Davidson's England's Pride and Glory; 1894.{{cite web|url=http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/13291.html|title=England's Pride and Glory|publisher=Art UK|access-date=13 September 2017 }}

File:RCWoodvilleJr 21Lancers Omdurman.jpg|Woodville's The Charge of the 21st Lancers at the Battle of Omdurman, 2 September 1898; 1898.{{cite web|url=http://prints.national-army-museum.ac.uk/image/821084/the-charge-of-the-21st-lancers-at-the-battle-of-omdurman-1898|title=The Charge of the 21st Lancers at the Battle of Omdurman, 1898|publisher=National Army Museum|access-date=11 September 2017 }}

Impressionism found a focus in the New English Art Club, founded in 1886.{{cite web|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/n/new-english-art-club |title=New English Art Club |publisher=Tate |access-date=1 September 2017 }} Notable members included Walter Sickert (1860–1942) and Philip Wilson Steer (1860–1942), two English painters with coterminous lives who became influential in the 20th century. Sickert went on to the post-impressionist Camden Town Group, active 1911–1913, and was prominent in the transition to Modernism.{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Walter-Richard-Sickert |title=Walter Richard Sickert: British artist |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=1 September 2017 }} Steer's sea and landscape paintings made him a leading Impressionist, but later work displays a more traditional English style, influenced by both Constable and Turner.{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Philip-Wilson-Steer |title=Philip Wilson Steer: British artist |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=1 September 2017 }}

Paul Nash (1889–1946) played a key role in the development of Modernism in English art. He was among the most important landscape artists of the first half of the twentieth century, and the artworks he produced during World War I are among the most iconic images of the conflict.{{cite web|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/paul-nash/context-comment/articles/paul-nash-war-artist |title=The Archival Trail: Paul Nash the war artist |publisher=Tate |access-date=1 September 2017 }} Nash attended the Slade School of Art, where the remarkable generation of artists who studied under the influential Henry Tonks (1862–1937) included, too, Harold Gilman (1876–1919), Spencer Gore (1878–1914), David Bomberg (1890–1957), Stanley Spencer (1891–1959), Mark Gertler (1891–1939), and Roger Hilton (1911–1975).

Modernism's most controversial English talent was writer and painter Wyndham Lewis (1882–1957). He co-founded the Vorticist movement in art, and after becoming better known for his writing than his painting in the 1920s and early 1930s he returned to more concentrated work on visual art, with paintings from the 1930s and 1940s constituting some of his best-known work. Walter Sickert called Wyndham Lewis: "the greatest portraitist of this or any other time".{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturereviews/3555970/Wyndham-Lewis-a-monster-and-a-master-of-portrait-painting.html |title=Wyndham Lewis: a monster - and a master of portrait painting |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=1 September 2017}} Modernist sculpture was exemplified by English artists Henry Moore (1898–1986), well known for his carved marble and larger-scale abstract cast bronze sculptures, and Barbara Hepworth (1903–1975), who was a leading figure in the colony of artists who resided in St Ives, Cornwall during World War II.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/why-its-time-you-fell-in-love-with-britains-battered-post-war-st/ |title=Why it's time you fell in love with Britain's battered post-war statues |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=1 September 2017}}

Lancastrian L. S. Lowry (1887–1976) became famous for his scenes of life in the industrial districts of North West England in the mid-20th century. He developed a distinctive style of painting and is best known for his urban landscapes peopled with human figures often referred to as "matchstick men".{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/jun/24/ls-lowry-tate-britain |title=LS Lowry at Tate Britain: glimpses of a world beyond |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=1 September 2017 }}

Notable English artists of the mid-20th century and after include: Graham Sutherland (1903–1980); Carel Weight (1908–1997); Ruskin Spear (1911–1990); pop art pioneers Richard Hamilton (1922–2011), Peter Blake (b. 1932), and David Hockney (b. 1937); and op art exemplar Bridget Riley (b. 1931).

Following the development of Postmodernism, English art became in some respect synonymous toward the end of the 20th century with the Turner Prize; the prize, established in 1984 and named with ostensibly credible intentions after J. M. W. Turner, earned for latterday English art a reputation arguably to its detriment.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/11154277/Not-all-modern-art-is-trivial-buffoonery.html |title=Not all modern art is trivial buffoonery |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=1 September 2017 }} Prize exhibits have included a shark in formaldehyde and a dishevelled bed.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/jan/11/arts.artsnews |title=He's our favourite artist. So why do the galleries hate him so much? |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=1 September 2017 }}

While the Turner Prize establishment satisfied itself with weak conceptual homages to authentic iconoclasts like Duchamp and Manzoni,{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/art/what-to-see/art-in-2015-forget-the-turner-prize---this-was-the-year-the-old/ |title=Art in 2015: forget the Turner prize - this was the year the Old Masters became sexy |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=10 September 2017}} it spurned original talents such as Beryl Cook (1926–2008).{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/2043397/Beryl-Cook.html |title=Beryl Cook |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=10 September 2017 }} The award ceremony has since 2000 attracted annual demonstrations by the "Stuckists", a group calling for a return to figurative art and aesthetic authenticity. Observing wryly that "the only artist who wouldn't be in danger of winning the Turner Prize is Turner", the Stuckists staged in 2000 a "Real Turner Prize 2000" exhibition, promising (by contrast) "no rubbish".{{cite web|url=http://www.artnet.com/Magazine/news/artnetnews/artnetnews10-27-00.asp |title=Stuck on the Turner Prize |publisher=Artnet |access-date=12 September 2017 }}

File:GirlsRunning Steer.jpg|Philip Wilson Steer's Girls Running, Walberswick Pier; 1888–94.{{cite web|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/steer-girls-running-walberswick-pier-n06008|title=Girls Running, Walberswick Pier; 1888–94|publisher=Tate|access-date=1 September 2017 }}

File:Spencer Gore Balcony at the Alhambra 1910-11.jpg|Spencer Gore's Balcony at the Alhambra; 1910–11.{{cite web|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/camden-town-group/spencer-gore-inez-and-taki-r1139016|title=Spencer GoreInez and Taki; 1910|publisher=Tate|access-date=12 September 2017 }}

File:Gilman leeds market.jpg|Harold Gilman's Leeds market; c. 1913.{{cite web|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/gilman-leeds-market-n04273|title=Harold Gilman: Leeds Market, c.1913|publisher=Tate|access-date=12 September 2017 }}

File:BrightonPierrotsWalterSickert.jpg|Walter Sickert's Brighton Pierrots; 1915.{{cite web|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/sickert-brighton-pierrots-t07041|title=Brighton Pierrots; 1915|publisher=Tate|access-date=1 September 2017 }}

File:Mark Gertler - Merry-Go-Round - Google Art Project.jpg|Mark Gertler's Merry-Go-Round; 1916.{{cite web|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/gertler-merry-go-round-t03846|title=Mark Gertler: Merry-Go-Round, 1916|publisher=Tate|access-date=13 September 2017 }}

File:We are Making a New World Art.IWMART1146.jpg|Paul Nash's We are Making a New World; 1918.{{cite web|url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/20070|title=We are Making a New World|publisher=Imperial War Museum|access-date=1 September 2017 }}

File:Sappers at work - Canadian Tunnelling Company, R14, St Eloi Art.IWMART2708.jpg|David Bomberg's Sappers at Work: Canadian Tunnelling Company, R14, St Eloi; 1918.{{cite web|url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/2616|title=Sappers at Work: Canadian Tunnelling Company, R14, St Eloi|publisher=Imperial War Museum|access-date=11 September 2017 }}

File:A Battery Shelled Art.IWMART2747.jpg|Wyndham Lewis's A Battery Shelled; 1919.{{cite web|url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/16688|title=A Battery Shelled|publisher=Imperial War Museum|access-date=1 September 2017 }}

File:Patients waiting Outside a First Aid Post in a Factory Art.IWMARTLD2683.jpg|Ruskin Spear's Patients waiting Outside a First Aid Post in a Factory; 1942.{{cite web|url=http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/artwar/artworks/ld_2683_patients-waiting_e.shtml|title=Patients waiting outside a first aid post in a factory|publisher=Canadian War Museum|access-date=1 September 2017 }}

File:Recruit's Progress- Medical Inspection Art.IWMARTLD2909.jpg|Carel Weight's Recruit's Progress; 1942.{{cite web|url=http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/artwar/artworks/ld_2909_medical-inspection_e.shtml|title=Recruit's progress: medical inspection|publisher=Canadian War Museum|access-date=1 September 2017 }}

File:Shipbuilding on the Clyde, The Furnaces (Art.IWM ART LD 5871).jpg|Stanley Spencer's Shipbuilding on the Clyde: The Furnaces; 1946.{{cite web|url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/25167|title=Shipbuilding on the Clyde: The Furnaces|publisher=Imperial War Museum|access-date=11 September 2017 }}

File:Going to Work - L S Lowry.jpg|L. S. Lowry's Going to Work; 1959.

File:Coventry Cathedral interior - geograph.org.uk - 291162.jpg|Graham Sutherland's Christ tapestry in the rebuilt Coventry Cathedral; 1962.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-31629514|title='World's largest tapestry' at Coventry Cathedral repaired|work=BBC News|access-date=1 September 2017 }}

File:Barbara Hepworth Geograph-685325-by-Fractal-Angel.jpg|Barbara Hepworth's Four-Square (Walk Through); 1966.{{cite web|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hepworth-four-square-walk-through-l00937|title=Four-Square (Walk Through), 1966|publisher=Tate|access-date=12 September 2017 }}{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/3344503/Henry-Moore-exhibition-at-Kew-is-a-triumph.html|title=Henry Moore exhibition at Kew is a triumph|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=12 September 2017 }}

The sculptor Antony Gormley (b. 1950) expressed doubts a decade after winning the Turner Prize about his "usefulness to the human race",{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2016/jun/29/antony-gormley-legacy-painters-paintings-national-gallery |title=The legacy game: Gormley isn't the first artist to worry about his place in history |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=12 September 2017 }} and work including Another Place (2005) and Event Horizon (2012) has achieved both acclaim and popularity. The pseudo-subversive urban art of Banksy,{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2006/sep/22/arts.visualarts |title=Supposing ... Subversive genius Banksy is actually rubbish |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=11 September 2017 }} has been much discussed in the media.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/26/britain-artwork-banksy-art-girl-with-balloon |title=Britain’s best-loved artwork is a Banksy. That’s proof of our stupidity |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=11 September 2017 }}

A highly visible and much praised work of public art, seen for a brief period in 2014 was Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red, a collaboration between artist Paul Cummins (b. 1977) and theatre designer Tom Piper. The installation at the Tower of London between July and November 2014 commemorated the centenary of the outbreak of World War I; it consisted of 888,246 ceramic red poppies, each intended to represent one British or Colonial serviceman killed in the War.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/28/blood-swept-lands-story-behind-tower-of-london-poppies-first-world-war-memorial |title=Blood-swept lands: the story behind the Tower of London poppies tribute |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=1 September 2017 }}

Leading contemporary printmakers include Norman Ackroyd and Richard Spare.{{cn|date=May 2025}}

• British Museum
• Delaware Art Museum
• National Gallery
• National Portrait Gallery
• Tate Britain
• Victoria and Albert Museum
• Walker Art Gallery
• Yale Center for British Art

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• Art of the United Kingdom
• Arts Council England
• List of British painters
• Museums in England
• Royal Collection

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• David Bindman (ed.), The Thames and Hudson Encyclopaedia of British Art (London, 1985)
• Joseph Burke, English Art, 1714–1800 (Oxford, 1976)
• William Gaunt, A Concise History of English Painting (London, 1978)
• William Gaunt, The Great Century of British Painting: Hogarth to Turner (London, 1971)
• [https://archive.org/stream/englishnessofeng00pevs/englishnessofeng00pevs_djvu.txt Nikolaus Pevsner, The Englishness of English Art (London, 1956)]
• William Vaughan, British Painting: The Golden Age from Hogarth to Turner (London, 1999)
• Ellis Waterhouse, [https://archive.org/details/paintinginbritai0000wate_i7n4/ Painting in Britain, 1530-1790], 4th Edn, 1978, Penguin Books (now Yale History of Art series)

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