Tudor and Elizabethan: 15th–16th centuries

The Italian sculptor Torrigiano introduced the Renaissance style in his tomb of Henry VII in Westminster Abbey (1512–18). However, the reign of Henry VIII virtually put an end to church art. Painting, in particular portrait painting, survived largely through the influence and example of the German Hans Holbein, who painted portraits of Henry's court. The best artists of the time were, like Holbein, visitors from other parts of Europe. However, in Elizabeth's reign English painters developed a distinctive style in the portrait miniature. Nicholas Hilliard and his pupil Isaac Oliver were the outstanding figures, but excellent work was produced by many artists. Portraiture was to become one of English art's most enduring achievements.

A distinctively English image of the Resurrection of Jesus, with Christ stepping on a soldier, in a 14th century Nottingham alabaster relief.

The carved stone high crosses, such as the Ruthwell Cross, were a distinctive Insular form, probably related to the Pictish stones of Scotland. Anglo-Saxon art developed a very sophisticated variety of contemporary Continental styles, seen especially in metalwork and illuminated manuscripts such as the Benedictional of St. Æthelwold. Effectively none of the large-scale paintings and sculptures that we know existed have survived. By the first half of the 11th century, English art was being lavishly patronized by the wealthy Anglo-Saxon elite,

who valued above all works in precious metals, but the Norman Conquest in 1066 brought a sudden halt to this art boom, and instead works were melted down or removed to Normandy.

After a pause of some decades, manuscript painting in England soon became again the equal of any in Europe, in Romanesque works like the Winchester Bible and the St Albans Psalter, and then early Gothic ones like the Tickhill Psalter. English illumination fell away in the final phase of the Gothic period as elite patrons began instead to commission works from Paris or Flanders. Some of the extremely rare survivals of English medieval panel paintings, like the Westminster Retable and Wilton Diptych (the artist's nationality here is uncertain) are of the highest quality. Another art form introduced through the church was stained glass, which was also adopted for secular uses. There was a considerable industry producing Nottingham alabaster reliefs for mid-market altarpieces and small statues, which were exported across Northern Europe.

16th and 17th centuries

17th century

English art was once again revitalized by foreign artists, in particular the Flemish painters Peter Paul Rubens, who visited England briefly, and Anthony van Dyck, who settled in England to become court painter to Charles I. His baroque elegance dominated 17th-century portraiture. Among his successors were William Dobson, the cavalier painter who succeeded van Dyck as court painter to Charles I, and Robert Walker (1600–59), who painted portraits of Oliver Cromwell and other Puritan leaders. During the Commonwealth and after the Restoration, the influence of foreign artists working in England continued. First among them was Peter Lely from Holland, and later Godfrey Kneller, who came from Germany in 1674. There are few English painters of the period to put beside Lely, except John Riley, James Thornhill, who worked at Greenwich and Blenheim Palace, and Robert Streater (1624–80), whose mural paintings were notable in an age of portraiture. The Flemish sculptor Jan Michiel Rysbrack carved portraits and monuments, and Grinling Gibbons, a Dutch sculptor, decorated many interiors with woodcarvings, such as panels for St Paul's Cathedral. The English sculptor Nicholas Stone, who was trained in Amsterdam, worked in a Renaissance style.

The artists of the Tudor court in the Renaissance and their successors until the early 18th century were mostly imported talents, often from Flanders. These included Hans Holbein the Younger, Van Dyck, Rubens, Orazio Gentileschi and his daughter Artemisia, Sir Peter Lely and Sir Godfrey Kneller. An exception must be made for the portrait miniature, where a strong English tradition began with the Elizabethan Nicholas Hilliard, who had learnt from Continental artists, and continued with Isaac Oliver and many other artists. By the following century a number of significant English painters of full-size portraits began to emerge, and towards the end of the century the other great English specialism, of landscape painting, also began to be practiced by natives. Both were heavily influenced by Anthony Van Dyck in particular, although he does not seem to have trained any English painters himself, he was a powerful influence in promoting the baroque style. One of the most important native painters of this period was William Dobson. During the 17th century the English nobility also became important collectors of European art, led by King Charles I and Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel in the first half of the century. By the end of the century the Grand Tour had become established for wealthy young Englishmen.

Date: 2015-01-29; view: 1067