English art - Definition

English art is a term referring to a vast body of art originating from the geographical region presently referred to as England. This results in the term being almost indefinable, although Nikolaus Pevsner attempted a definition in his 1956 book The Englishness of English Art.

Originating with cave painting, it has developed over millennia to several current movements, such as Brit art, and encompasses all forms - painting, sculpture and performance art.

Famous English artists presently working range from Lucian Freud and Damien Hirst.

Oil painting came comparatively late to England. Hans Holbein, an imported talent, is generally credited with founding an English school of portrait painting. The rich ecclesiastical decoration of English churches was, in great measure, lost during the iconoclasm of the Reformation.

And although Charles I of England built up a great royal collection of art, the disposal of these treasures during the English Commonwealth and the subsequent democratisation of society meant that the patronage of the state never formed great palace collections such as seen in other European states.

It is often considered that English landscape painting typifies English art, mirroring as it does the development of the country house and its landscaping.

Artists to whom a quality of Englishness has been ascribed include:

• J. M. W. Turner
• William Hogarth
• William Blake
• Samuel Palmer
• Paul Nash
• Stanley Spencer
• Thomas Gainsborough
• John Constable

Museums exhibiting English Art

• British Museum
• Victoria and Albert Museum
• National Portrait Gallery
• National Gallery
• Tate Britain

See also

• English school of painting
• Museums in England
• British art
• Neo-romanticism