The most outstanding The most outstanding British PaintersBritish Painters of the of the

XVIII centurXVIII centuryy

• The history of British painting is intimately linked with the broader traditions of European painting. German, Dutch, and Flemish artists. British painters found inspiration and guidance from their journeys abroad, in Italy especially.

•Beginning with the early eighteenth century, English artists began to develop their own styles in portraiture and allegorical painting. For rather more than a century England was to see a brilliant succession of geniuses: •Joshua Reynolds, •Thomas Gainsborough•John Constable •William Turner.

Joshua ReynoldsJoshua Reynolds

•Brought fresh tendencies to the ceremonial portraiture

• Worked mostly with socially prominent people

• Became an important influence on his contemporaries

Born in Devonshire, England

Possessed an exceptionally strong will, determination to succeed, personal creative power and variety of pictorial invention

Specialized in portraiture, group pictures and historical themes

Mo st famo us canvase s:•Mrs Siddons as the Tragic Muse

•The Portrait of Admiral Keppel

Three Ladies Adorning the Term of Hymen

The Portrait of Nelly O’Brien

Thomas GainsboroughThomas GainsboroughBirth: Suffolk, England (1727);

Acquired love of rustic scenes;

Diversified interests (an amateur violinist and lover of the drama).

Depicted both, the rich and the poor;

Had a longing for painting landscapes more than for portraits;

Influenced his successors;

Death: 1788.

T. Gainsborough’s InnovationsT. Gainsborough’s Innovations combined two branches of art: landscape painting and portraiture;

achieved phenomenon of optics and spectroscopy;

avoided artificiality;

transient impression of the sitters.

Most famous canvases: Mrs. SiddonsBlue Boy

The Morning Walk

Two Daughters

The Portrait of Mr. and Mrs. Andrews