Art History: British Art in an Age of Exploration and Empire

Over three terms, this course charts the development of British art between the 18th and mid-20th centuries, concentrating on the interface between painting, exploration and empire. The close relationship between art, curiosity and power was expressed in many ways: the opportunities for painter-explorers to investigate remote parts of the world, the wealth of British institutions and collectors which supported the arts; a growing demand for illustrations of diverse cultures, peoples, and places. In the first term we consider the work of painters and draughtsmen of the 18th century, as Britain’s extended its international interests from the Americas to the Pacific. The growth of Britain’s empire coincided with the rise of a British school of art and had a direct impact on the careers of draughtsmen including William Hodges, Augustus Earle and painters like Johann Zoffany. Less directly – but of equal significance – the evils of international trade in goods and people were addressed by artists like Turner and Blake around the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries.