Art in History, History in Art

Art in History, History in Art Světlana Obenausová

Art in History, History in Art Chapters from British History Seen Through Works of Art

Světlana Obenausová

Olomouc 2015

Recenzenti:

Mgr. Pavlína Flajšarová, Ph.D. Mgr. Olga Roebuck, Ph.D., M.Litt.

Tato publikace vznikla v rámci projektu ESF „Interdisciplinární inovace výuky kulturních studií na Univerzitě Palackého v Olomouci“ (reg.č. CZ.1.07/2.2.00/28.0137) a byla spolufinancována Evropským sociálním fondem a státním rozpočtem České republiky.

Neoprávněné užití tohoto díla je porušením autorských práv a může zakládat občanskoprávní, správněprávní, popř. trestněprávní odpovědnost.

© Světlana Obenausová, 2015 © Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci, 2015 První vydání ISBN 978-80-244- 4659-2

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Contents Introduction........................................................................................................... 5 The Bayeux Tapestry . ........................................................................................... 6 Queen Elizabeth’s Portraits as a Mirror of the Period.......................................... 21 St. Paul’s Cathedral and Sir Christopher Wren . ...................................................37 William Hogarth and His Morality Tales.............................................................. 48 Some Historical Events Depicted in the Work of Joseph Mallord William Turner................................................................. 65 Turner and the Slave Trade............................................................................ 79 The Crystal Palace and the Victorians................................................................. 86 Arts and crafts as a response to the Industrial Revolution.................................. 99 Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Story of Wealth and Art in Glasgow....................................................................... 107 Britain at War......................................................................................................118 Bibliography........................................................................................................ 155 Pictures...............................................................................................................160 Abstract.............................................................................................................. 177

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Introduction Historical events have always been captured in art, to immortalise their heroes, to present the events from the point of view of the winners’perspective, or to provide examples and allegories for contemporary situations. Some such pictures illustrate the events and the period in question objectively, while in the case of others it is difficult to separate fact from fiction. The role of art, however, is not to provide historical narratives, and most works of art do not. But, if we are perceptive, we can learn a lot about an era from the works of art created in it. The more we look at pictures, the more details we see and the more we learn about the context of the events depicted there. These details can help us understand how people lived, what rules they observed, and how they felt about the society they lived in. This book is an attempt to combine my lifelong passions for art and history and provide a personal interpretation of some works of art in their historical context. The range of possible topics is wide, of course. For the purpose of this book only a few works of art related to British history were chosen. This book is not, and does not attempt to be, a systematic historical analysis; it concentrates only on certain historical periods and events as seen through their representations in art. It is a contemplation on what we can learn about history from works of art. The choice of historical periods, as well as works of art and architecture, was subjective, and so was their interpretation. That is the beauty of art, that every person can perceive it and read its message differently. There is no definitive reading. The periods and events discussed in this book are the Battle of Hastings, the Elizabethan era, London in the 17th century, 18th-century England, 19th-century reactions to the Industrial Revolution, and Britain at war. Illustrations taken from open sources are shown here directly. But some of the pictures mentioned in this book are copyright material, and so the reader will be able to view them through the links provided in this book. There are also links to more reading. Have a happy art journey!

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The Bayeux Tapestry The Bayeux Tapestry is one of the most impressive examples of art inspired by history, as well as a piece of art making history, that is, creating its own version of history. Its artist is unknown and it was most probably commissioned by Odo, the bishop of Bayeux and brother of William I.1 The tapestry is exhibited at the Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux in Bayeux, Normandy, France.2 There are other theories about its origin, yet since history is written by the victors,3 as a popular truism says, it is highly probable it was commissioned by the Normans as it picks from history only what they would have wanted to be remembered. Its name in Norman French is La telle du conquest, the canvas about the conquest, and its clear aim is to glorify the conquerors and possibly also legitimise the invasion of England by the Normans. In the telling of the historical events it gives us only the Norman point of view, omitting all events not connected with their narrative of events. It depicts the Battle of Hastings, which took place on October 14th, 1066, and yet more space in the tapestry is dedicated to the events leading to the invasion and to the preparations for the battle. Latin inscriptions help us understand the meaning of the scenes depicted. But the main message is transferred through pictures, not writing, as the tapestry wanted to address a wide public, and most people were illiterate in medieval times. In most preserved paintings, illuminated manuscripts, and stained-glass church windows we can mostly see stories from the Bible and the lives of the saints. A secular topic like the one of the tapestry was rare at the time; its purpose was to celebrate the victorious campaign of William, now known as the Conqueror, yet once nicknamed (surely especially behind his back) the Bastard, as he was an illegitimate son of the Duke of Normandy. David Bernstein sees the tapestry as a ‘two-act drama’ in which an oath is given by Harold to William, and then broken. According to medieval iconography, his punishment was to be blinding. Bernstein believes that the artist who made the tapestry changed the way Harold was killed (in accounts written by contemporaries no arrow in the eye of Harold is mentioned) to agree with the main theme of the

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia, ed. Theodore Pappas (London: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., 2002), 176. 2 Wikipedia, “Bayeux Tapestry,”last updated December 12, 2014, accessed January 4, 2015, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry. 3 Attributed to Winston Churchill, but of unknown origin. 1

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tapestry – retribution for perjury and William’s rightful claim to the English crown.4 Harold was defeated by William because God was on William’s side. Considering this interpretation, one of the most important scenes would then be Harold’s taking an oath of allegiance to Duke William on holy relics (fig. 5).

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But although it can be regarded as a piece of propaganda and we cannot take all the events depicted there for granted, the documentary value of the tapestry and the insight into the life and culture of the 11th-century society it provides is immense. From it we can learn about the clothing, hairstyles, boats, fighting, and feasting, but also the agriculture of the time both in England and Norman France. It is a rare piece of preserved secular art of the time, as most other art objects of the period are connected with the church in one way or another. It is as realistic as possible in every detail, except for the people’s faces. These are very stereotypical, almost anonymous, as Paul Johnson points out. He sees it as a typical feature of early medieval art with its inhibitions about portraying real human personality.6 It is interesting to observe the horses. Their bodies are also stereotypical at first, 4

David Bernstein, “The Blinding of Harold and the Meaning of the Bayeux Tapestry,” in Anglo-Norman Studies: Proceedings of the Battle Conference 1982, ed. Reginald Allen Brown (Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer Ltd., 1983), 49–51, accessed December 18, 2014, https://books.google.cz/books. 5 Bayeux Tapestry, detail, in Wikipedia, last updated June 2, 2014, accessed December 28, 2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry_tituli#mediaviewer/ File:BayeuxTapestryScene23.jpg. 6 Paul Johnson, Dějiny umění: Nový pohled, trans. Markéta Blažková et al. (Praha: Academia, 2006), 170.

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Art in History, History in Art

yet when it comes to the battle, the horses become very real and in their fallen corpses we feel the whole drama of the battle. The tapestry is in fact not a tapestry but an embroidered frieze. It is almost 70 metres long and half a metre wide; the main scenes in the central zone are framed by two border strips, of which the upper one seems to have only a decorative function and consists mostly of different animals and birds, mythical as well as real, while the lower frieze corresponds more with the main scenes, especially in the later development of the storyline, when it becomes full of dead warriors and horses in different poses. We can also find there scenes from rural life, such as farmers ploughing and sowing and a boy killing birds with a sling (fig. 7).

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In other places in the lower frieze we can see hunting scenes (fig. 8)

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or scenes of a clearly sexual character, which have not yet been fully explained by experts (see figs. 9 and 10) .

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Bayeux Tapestry, detail, in Wikipedia, last updated June 2, 2014, accessed January 2, 2015, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry_tituli#mediaviewer/ File:BayeuxTapestryScene10a.jpg. 8 Bayeux Tapestry, detail, in Wikipedia, last updated June 2, 2014, accessed January 2, 2015, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry_tituli#mediaviewer/ File:BayeuxTapestryScene12.jpg. 9 Bayeux Tapestry, detail, in Wikipedia, last updated June 2, 2014, accessed January 2, 2015, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry_tituli#mediaviewer/ File:BayeuxTapestryScene13.jpg. 7

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We can compare different fashions in these closely neighbouring countries. As for hairstyles, the Anglo-Saxons (fig. 11) have longer hair than the Normans (fig. 12), who may remind us of modern punks. The Anglo-Saxons have mous taches.

11

Bayeux Tapestry, detail, in Wikipedia, last updated June 2, 2014, accessed January 2, 2015, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry_tituli#mediaviewer/ File:BayeuxTapestryScene15.jpg. 11 Bayeux Tapestry, detail, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated August 28, 2014, accessed December 18, 2014, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Bayeux_ Tapestry#mediaviewer/File:Bayeux_tapestry_stitches_detail.jpg. 10

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12

As for their clothing, we can observe that both sides wore knee-length tunics or trousers; long tunics represented status, as can be seen in both the Norman Duke William (fig. 13) and the Anglo-Saxon King Edward (fig. 14).

13

Bayeux Tapestry, detail, in Wikipedia, last updated June 2, 2014, accessed December 18, 2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry_tituli#mediaviewer/ File:BayeuxTapestryScene11.jpg. 13 Bayeux Tapestry, detail, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated June 2, 2014, accessed December 18, 2014, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/BayeuxTapestryScene35.jpg. 12

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The Bayeux Tapestry

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The church dignitaries would also wear long robes, as shown below at the moment of the coronation of Harold Godwinson (fig. 15).

15

When on the battlefield both leaders wear chain mail trousers for practical reasons, and are almost indistinguishable from the other knights (see figs. 16 and 17) .

Bayeux Tapestry, detail, in Wikipedia, last updated June 2, 2014, accessed December 18, 2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry_tituli#mediaviewer/ File:BayeuxTapestryScene25.jpg. 15 Bayeux Tapestry, detail, Wikipedia, last updated June 2, 2014, accessed December 18, 2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry_tituli#mediaviewer/ File:BayeuxTapestryScene30-31.jpg. 14

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16

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We also learn about the importance of horses in battles and can admire the incredible way in which they were transported. Since in medieval battles one knight on a horse was worth 80 infantrymen,18 it was important to equip the knights with horses. It is known that six thousand horses were transported over the Channel, three for each knight.19 And here they are in the tapestry, with their legs probably hobbled so as to prevent them from jumping out of the vessels. In the pictures we can see the horses’ heads in the ships (fig. 20) and then the horses being disembarked (fig. 21). King Harold on the right. Bayeux Tapestry, detail, in Wikipedia, last updated June 2, 2014, accessed December 18, 2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry_ tituli#mediaviewer/File:BayeuxTapestryScene50.jpg. 17 Duke William with his knights. Bayeux Tapestry, detail, in Wikipedia, last updated June 2, 2014, accessed December 18, 2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry_ tituli#mediaviewer/File:BayeuxTapestryScene51a.jpg. 18 Christian Twente, dir., Von Rittern und Turnieren. Wege aus der Finsternis: Europa im Mittelalter (1/4), (ZDF, 2004.) 19 Simon Schama, “Conquest!” in Disc 1 of A history of Britain, dir. by Martin Davidson et al. (A BBC TV Production, 2006.) 16

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21

No wonder they had so many of them; horses would often die in battles, as can be seen even here (fig. 22).

22

Bayeux Tapestry, detail, in Wikipedia, last updated June 2, 2014, accessed December 18, 2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry_tituli#mediaviewer/ File:BayeuxTapestryScene38.jpg. 21 Bayeux Tapestry, detail, in Wikipedia, last updated June 2, 2014, accessed December 18, 2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry_tituli#mediaviewer/ File:BayeuxTapestryScene39.jpg. 22 Bayeux Tapestry, detail, in Wikipedia, last updated June 2, 2014, accessed December 18, 2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry_tituli#mediaviewer/ File:BayeuxTapestryScene53.jpg. 20

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And indeed the role of horses on the battlefield cannot be underestimated. Here we have the depiction of the Norman cavalry attacking the Anglo-Saxon shield wall (fig. 23). In reality, however, the Anglo-Saxons had the advantage of defending the top of a hill with their tight shield wall, thus forcing the attacking Normans to go up the hill on their horses, which made them rather vulnerable to arrows.

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We can also observe the weapons used during the 11th-century battle: lances on both sides, swords, clubs, bows and arrows, and big axes on the Anglo-Saxon side, as seen in the two pictures above. These axes were mighty weapons, and yet the soldier had a chance of just one good blow; if he missed, the knight on his horse would finish him with his sword. The bottom border strip in this part of the tapestry gives us very explicit details of the casualties, with dead soldiers as well as horses and human bodies mutilated, with their heads and limbs chopped off. Under the last scenes of the Tapestry, where King Harold is killed, the robbing of the dead has started taking place. Some characters seem to be stripping dead soldiers of their chain mail. Medieval recycling of a sort (fig. 24).

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Bayeux Tapestry, detail, in Wikipedia, last updated June 2, 2014, accessed December 18, 2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry_tituli#mediaviewer/ File:BayeuxTapestryScene52a.jpg.

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From the scenes in the tapestry it seems the battle was soon over, yet we know that it took one whole day and both sides fought bravely. The deciding moment came only with the slaying of King Harold; after that the day was lost for the Anglo-Saxons. If we follow the main storyline presented in the tapestry, we first learn about the events that led up to the Conquest. We can see Edward the Confessor, King of England, talking to Harold Godwinson, his brother-in-law, and probably sending him to Normandy, because Harold soon sets sail, after praying in church and having a farewell feast in his grand house. In Normandy he is imprisoned and brought to Duke William, yet he seems to be treated with respect and even joins William in his campaign to the Mount of Michael. Harold is presented as a brave knight saving others from danger (fig. 25).

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Bayeux Tapestry, detail, in Wikipedia, last updated June 2, 2014, accessed December 18, 2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry_tituli#mediaviewer/ File:BayeuxTapestryScene57.jpg.

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He is then made a knight of Duke William and swears loyalty to him (fig. 5). It was this oath that Duke William took as support for his claim for the English crown, allegedly promised to him by King Edward. However, when Harold is back in England and King Edward dies, Harold’s cor onation takes place on the same day as the funeral of Edward. The vision of the comet in the next scene is a sign of a bad omen. And a bad omen it was, as we can see William has started preparing ships for the invasion because he believes he should be the rightful king. Now he needs to build a huge army. Since people’s lives were governed by religion, William, who wanted to attract knights to take part in his campaign against the treacherous Harold, had sought the Pope’s approval for his campaign to England on the grounds of Harold’s sinful breaking of his oath. His international crusade received the papal blessing and “the Pope invested him with his ring and flag.”26 Ships are built for the invasion, four hundred of them,27 and then equipped with the supplies needed for the invasion – suits of chain mail, carried in a way that suggests their weight, spears, arrows, and huge casks of wine (fig. 28).

Bayeux Tapestry, detail, in Wikipedia, last updated June 2, 2014, accessed December 18, 2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry_tituli#mediaviewer/ File:BayeuxTapestryScene17.jpg. 26 Simon Schama, “Conquest!” in Disc 1 of A history of Britain, dir. by Martin Davidson et al. (A BBC TV Production, 2006.) 27 Simon Schama, “Conquest!” in Disc 1 of A history of Britain, dir. by Martin Davidson et al. (A BBC TV Production, 2006.) 25

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28

And again we can learn from the tapestry about the customs and habits of the time – good feasting before the battles, looting, burning houses, and terrorising their inhabitants (see figs. 29–31).

29

Bayeux Tapestry, detail, in Wikipedia, last updated June 2, 2014, accessed December 18, 2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry_tituli#mediaviewer/ File:BayeuxTapestryScene37.jpg. 29 Bayeux Tapestry, detail, in Wikipedia, last updated June 2, 2014, accessed January 2, 2015, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry_tituli#mediaviewer/ File:BayeuxTapestryScene42.jpg. 28

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30

31

Bayeux Tapestry, detail, in Wikipedia, last updated June 2, 2014, accessed January 2, 2015, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry_tituli#mediaviewer/ File:BayeuxTapestryScene43b.jpg. 31 Bayeux Tapestry, detail, in Wikipedia, last updated June 2, 2014, accessed January 2, 2015, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry_tituli#mediaviewer/ File:BayeuxTapestryScene47.jpg. 30

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The Bayeux Tapestry

The battle starts. What the tapestry does not say is that Harold’s army was battle weary, having defeated King Harald Hardrada’s army in the North just a few days before that, and the soldiers were exhausted from the long march south. Yet the army fought bravely. During the battle rumours spread that William has been killed, and some soldiers start retreating in panic, but William pushes back his helmet to reveal his face to his soldiers and encourage them to go on fighting (fig. 32).

32

The end of the battle came only with the killing of King Harold; in medieval battles kings still fought with their armies on the battlefield and if they were slain, the battle usually ended. This decisive battle established the Normans as the rulers of England since the majority of the Anglo-Saxon nobles died together with their king at Hastings. Later revolts, especially in the North of England, did not change that. The Norman occupation of England brought not only a new system of rule, governing classes, and language, but also new culture. Yet Norman art was very influential even before the invasion, as we can see from the example of Westminster Abbey in the tapestry. King Edward was half Norman and had been partially brought up in Normandy, so as an English king he was surrounded by his Norman advisers and friends and a culture he was used to. His Westminster Abbey, which 32

Bayeux Tapestry, detail, in Wikipedia, last updated June 2, 2014, accessed January 2, 2015, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry_tituli#mediaviewer/ File:BayeuxTapestryScene55.jpg.

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can also be seen in the tapestry in the funeral scene (fig. 34), was built in the Romanesque style that was then popular in Normandy and it was even built of Caen stone imported from Normandy.33

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But after the invasion the new style became firmly established, together with the new ruling class, the Norman aristocracy, which replaced the Anglo-Saxon nobles. And since the victory belonged to the Normans, it is their story that is told in the Bayeux Tapestry.

33

Deborah Kahn, “The Norman World of Art,” History Today 36 (1986), issue 3, accessed January 2, 2015, http://historytoday.com/deborah-kahn/norman-world-art. 34 Bayeux Tapestry, detail, in Wikipedia, last updated June 2, 2014, accessed December 18, 2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry_tituli#mediaviewer/ File:BayeuxTapestryScene26.jpg.

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Queen Elizabeth’s Portraits as a Mirror of the Period So much has been written about Queen Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen. No book dealing with English history can avoid her. The aim of this chapter is not to provide any breakthrough facts; rather, let us just briefly ponder some of her portraits and attempt to deduce what they tell us about the 16th century. Portraits of monarchs reflect the status of the person portrayed and the fashion of the time, as well as the level of portraiture of the time, as each monarch always invited the best artists available, very often from abroad; thus, Henry VIII asked Hans Holbein the Younger to paint his portraits and Charles I wanted Anthony van Dyck to immortalise him and his wife in beautiful portraits. These are the names of just two of the many great painters who worked for the royals or other nobles at their courts. Yet there were many whose names we do not know, because it was the painting that mattered, not the artist’s name. The artist was known to the patron and was paid well for the job; if the patron was satisfied, he might get another commission from him or another person of means, to whom he was recommended. This is how artists got to the court, through personal references. Even Hans Holbein did. In fact, it was only Hans Holbein who made portraiture popular in England. Who would care to have his portrait made if he could not recognise himself in it? And so those who cared for art being displayed in their homes usually bought Flemish tapestries. Yet Holbein, introduced to England by Thomas More, painted portraits that were so elaborate, vivid, and true to life that very soon after his ar rival Holbein was already working for the king. And the courtiers soon followed the king’s example and they all wanted to be immortalised in portraits, later displayed in the long galleries of their palaces. But for a long time Holbein had no match in portraiture in England, so the quality of the portraits varied; the situation changed only in the Elizabethan period, when Nicholas Hilliard became a prominent painter, admired especially, but not only, for his miniatures. 35 The first portrait of Elizabeth presented here is also one of the most beautiful ones of her (fig. 36). It was painted either by William Scrots, to whom it is formally attributed, or by an artist working in his manner. In this portrait from circa 1546 we can see the young Princess Elizabeth, aged thirteen, in the happy period when she was back in the favour of her father King Henry VIII, who put her back in the 35

Kenneth O. Morgan, ed., The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 278–279.

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line of succession to the throne, after Edward and Mary. She is still a girl, yet the picture shows her as a young lady, very beautiful, gentle, and dignified, exquisitely dressed, with the richness of the fabric of her dress and her jewellery stressing her status. The portrait makes it clear that she is also well educated; she is shown not with one book as a symbol of learning, but two of them, one in the background and one in her hands. The books are surely purposely chosen accessories here and are used to stress her intellect. We do not know if it was her decision to be shown as learned (or pious if the books are the Old and the New Testaments, as some scholars think) or if it was rather her father, who commissioned the portrait, who wanted her to be remembered as such by posterity. After she became Queen twelve years later, the way she was portrayed was fully in her hands and all her portraits are laden with symbolism, with all the accessories meticulously chosen.

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William Scrots, Portrait of Elizabeth I as a Princess, oil on oak panel, circa 1546, 3’ 6 3/4” x 2’ 8 1/4” (Royal Collection, Windsor Castle), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated March 3, 2014, accessed February 10, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Elizabeth_I_when_a_Princess.jpg. The painting is only formally attributed to William Scrots (flourished from 1537-53).

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Queen Elizabeth’s Portraits as a Mirror of the Period

What a difference in attire there is when it is compared to the portrait of the young queen twelve years later. Even her face is somehow impersonal, as if it was the beginning of the ageless mask of the later period. She is still very young, only 25 years of age, and yet her body is now the political body of the monarch, which is stressed by her coronation robes, trimmed with ermine, symbolising the status of the kings and queens, and the Tudor roses, symbol of the royal dynasty, which appear in the pattern of the precious floral fabric. Her hair is loose, uncovered, because she is the Virgin Queen, not a married woman. Like her father, she was Protestant and became the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, and her crown and coronation orb both bear the cross as a symbol of this unity of the church and monarchy, which was later sealed by the Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity (fig. 37).

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Elizabeth I in coronation robes, oil on panel, a copy painted between 1600 and 1610 of a lost original of c.1559, 127.3 × 99.7 cm (National Portrait Gallery, London) in Wikimedia Commons, last updated November 4, 2014, accessed February 10, 2015, http://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elizabeth_I_in_coronation_robes.jpg.

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Quite a different orb can be seen in the next picture, shown below. Here we have a queen sure of herself and her position, after the Spanish Armada was defeated and the globe became her orb as she is now not only the sovereign of England, but also the ruler of the future naval empire. The symbolism of this picture is well known; it commemorates the victory of the English fleet over the Spanish Armada in 1588 (fig. 38).

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Elizabeth could hardly be depicted as a ruler-warrior in armour and with a sword, so she is portrayed in her majestic robes with a crown close to her victorious ships in the background, while the defeated Spanish navy is seen shipwrecked in the top right corner. Her hand is resting on the globe, symbolising the newly gained international power of England. That was, of course, just wishful thinking and the war at sea was only a small part of the wars in Western Europe, and Elizabeth had to invest huge sums of

38

Portrait of Elizabeth I of England, the Armada Portrait , unknown English artist, oil on panel, circa 1588, 133 × 105 cm (Woburn Abbey), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated November 27, 2014, accessed February 10, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Elizabeth_I_(Armada_Portrait).jpg.

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money and send a lot of troops to help the French Huguenots and the Dutch against the Catholic League to safeguard England against further invasions.39 Yet her situation and England’s position in mostly Catholic Europe were surely safer after the defeat of the Spanish Armada than before, as can be nicely illustrated by an earlier portrait of her, where she is holding an olive branch that symbolizes peace and has a sword at her feet, because war with Spain is threatening (fig. 40).

40 39 40

Morgan, ed., The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain, 271–272. Marcus Gheeraerts the Elder, The Wanstead or Welbeck Portrait of Elizabeth I or The Peace Portrait of Elizabeth I, oil on panel, between 1580 and 1585, , 45.7 × 38.1 cm (Private Collection, United Kingdom), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated August 27, 2013, accessed February 11, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elizabeth_I_ of_England_Marcus_Gheeraerts_the_Elder.jpg.

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We can observe other things than political symbols in this painting. In her left hand Elizabeth is holding gloves of a golden colour and a beautiful fan of pink feathers with a handle of gold with pink precious stones. Gloves and fans were accessories given as usual gifts to women in her time, and at the beginning of her reign, when she was asked about what gifts she would like to get, the reply was a fan, which sounded modest, and yet the fans she would receive during her reign were luxurious indeed.41 Her white dress with black mantles is part of her image as the Virgin Queen because in the colour code of the time white meant purity and black constancy, and these two colours together represented eternal virginity. Mortimer also points to the fact that another reason for her choice of colours could be the fact that England had relatively few dyes of natural strength, bright red being one of the most difficult to obtain, and therefore it was reserved for the aristocracy and church only.42 But if these expensive coloured fabrics were accessible to the aristocracy, getting them was surely not a problem for the queen, so the choice of colours was probably really deliberately symbolic in some of her portraits. She did have dresses of many other colours, as we can see in the choice of bright colours in another picture of her, this time painted by the highly esteemed artist Nicholas Hilliard (fig. 43).

Ian Mortimer, The Time Traveller’s Guide to Elizabethan England (London: Random House, 2012), 174. 42 Mortimer, The Time Traveller’s Guide to Elizabethan England , 159. 41

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43

This superbly executed portrait is full of symbolic features referring to her royal lineage, because for the Catholic League abroad and the remaining Roman Catholics at home she was still considered illegitimate, and Mary Stuart, then already a prisoner in England, was regarded as a lawful successor to Queen Mary Tudor by many.44 Yet there are more things to observe in this painting. In this picture Elizabeth is about forty years old and as she is not married, her hair is not covered; it is curled in the fashion of the day, or maybe it is one of her wigs – the Nicholas Hilliard, Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, oil on wood panel, between 1573 and 1575, 78.7 × 61 cm (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated December 22, 2014, accessed February 11, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Nicholas_Hilliard_(called)_-_Portrait_of_Queen_Elizabeth_I_-_Google_Art_Project. jpg. 44 Morgan, ed., The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain, 267. 43

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queen had dozens of them and used them to match the colour of her robe and to cover her grey locks later in her life.45 Wealthy women would also put jewellery in their hair and attach it to their clothes; apart from that they would usually wear one special pendant jewel over the breast. This jewel would have symbolic relevance to the bearer. Elizabeth had one such fantastic pendant of gold, ebony, pearls, and diamonds in the form of a ship, presented to her by Francis Drake.46 In this painting she is wearing a pendant with a pelican, the bird symbolising the sacrifice of Christ and the Eucharist, here presenting Elizabeth as the mother of the Church of England.47 We can also observe the long sleeves of her dress. According to strict rules, women could not show their arms and legs, but this ban did not apply to their bosom; they could display it freely until they got married. Elizabeth’s pictures usually show her in high lace collars, but it is documented that she liked exposing her bosom practically till her death. A French diplomat once noted that the queen displayed not just her cleavage but her whole breast. At that time Elizabeth was already in her sixties,48 which is nicely documented by her allegorical portrait below (fig. 50). It is not a decolleté dress, strictly speaking, as her shoulders and arms are well-hidden, yet her neckline is very low. The serpent on her sleeve was supposed to mean wisdom in her time, yet the old Christian symbol of Satan and original sin was also part of common awareness, so in another portrait of the queen the painter was probably made to replace a serpent by a bunch of roses, surely because of the double symbolism of the snake.49

Mortimer, The Time Traveller’s Guide to Elizabethan England , 172–173. Mortimer, The Time Traveller’s Guide to Elizabethan England , 175. 47 “Pelican Symbol,” in Religion facts, last updated 2015, accessed February 12, 2015, http:// www.religionfacts.com/christianity/symbols/pelican.htm. 48 Mortimer, The Time Traveller’s Guide to Elizabethan England , 157. 49 “Queen Elizabeth I,” in National Portrait Gallery, last updated March 4, 2010, accessed February 12, 2015, http://www.npg.org.uk/about/press/queen-elizabeth-i-press.php. 45

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50 50

Isaac Oliver or Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, The Rainbow Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, oil on canvas, between 1600 and 1602, 127 × 99.1 cm (in the collection of the Marquess of Salisbury, on display at Hatfield House, Hatfield, Hertfordshire), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated September 24, 2014, accessed February 11, 2015, http://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elizabeth_I_Rainbow_Portrait.jpg. The portrait is attributed to Isaac Oliver (1556–1617) and also to Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger (1561–1636).

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The face of the queen looks very young because the painter wanted to stress her ageless nature. It was an idealisation and glorification of the triumphant queen against all possible adversaries, because the political and economic situation in England was far from good as a result of wars, widespread corruption, and the inefficient taxation system, and local taxation rose while the wealthiest evaded tax; all that led to economic distress during which perhaps as many as two-fifths of the population found themselves below subsistence level; there was widespread malnutrition and occasional starvation in places.51 When one looks at her portraits with their depictions of her unchanging face over the decades, it becomes clear that portraits of Elizabeth were tightly con trolled and she always had to be presented as glorious and young-looking, even at a later age. A painting reflecting her real age and executed in her lifetime thus comes as a surprise (fig. 52).

51

Morgan, ed., The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain, 273–275.

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52

Her omnipresent strings of pearls were another mighty symbol of her power, because according to the Sumptuary Laws of the time only the closest members of the royal family and the highest ranks of noblewomen such as Duchesses, Bar onesses, and Countesses were allowed to wear strings of pearls and use spangles of pearls for trimming and embroidering their clothes. It was not enough to be wealthy; what mattered most was social status. Laws about the colour, fabric, and 52

Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, A genuine and realistic c. 1595 portrait of Queen Elizabeth I by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, oil on canvas, c. 1595, 127 × 99.1 cm (Folgers Shakespeare Library, Washington, DC), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated March 21, 2014, accessed February 11, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elizabeth_I_ portrait,_Marcus_Gheeraerts_the_Younger_c.1595.jpg. Attributed to Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger (1561-1636).

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material used for clothing existed before the Elizabethan era, but Queen Elizabeth made them even stricter, because huge quantities of luxurious fabrics were im ported to England at that time and she was worried that rich people would want to spend too much money on them and dress above their social position. Sumptuary Statutes, formulated carefully and to the last detail, were issued twice, in 1562 and 1574.53 Every single item of garmenture was described meticulously and the details of the greatness of hose and length of swords were specified. The purpose of all these regulations was not only to make sure that people of different rank could be recognised at first sight54 but also to curb extravagance and to make sure that wealthy people did not use their money on extravagantly expensive clothing. That was reserved only for the mightiest. We can compare the change of status of a noblewoman in two of her portraits. Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury (c. 1527–1608), later known as Bess of Hardwick, was one of the richest women in Elizabethan times, who rose to wealth as well as the highest level of English nobility through marriages, especially her fourth one, to George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury; this final marriage made her the Countess of Shrewsbury. In the first portrait from the 1550s her title is still Lady (fig. 55), while in the second one she is a Countess and can wear pearls (fig. 56).

Maggie Secara, Elizabethan Sumptuary Statutes, last updated July 14, 2001, accessed February 12, 2015, http://elizabethan.org/sumptuary/. 54 To see a detailed table with Elizabethan clothing allowed for women go to http://www. elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-clothing-allowed-women.htm. To see a detailed table with Elizabethan clothing allowed for men go to http://www.elizabethan-era.org. uk/elizabethan-clothing-allowed-men.htm. 53


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55

55

Bess of Hardwick (later Elizabeth Countess of Shrewsbury) when Mistress St Lo, 1550s, unknown artist, 1550s, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated May 23, 2014, accessed February 12, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bess_of_Hardwick_as_Mistress_St_Lo.jpg.

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56

So we should be able to distinguish clearly who is who in the picture below, illustrating a panorama of society in the Elizabethan period (fig. 58). But unless its painter uses colours of his own choosing, we can see that proclamations are one thing and enforcing them quite another. Transgressors could be reported to the manorial courts, caught, and fined, yet there were just too many of them.57 Bess of Hardwick, unknown artist, oil on canvas, circa 1590, 98.8 x 78.7 cm, (National Portrait Gallery London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated November 4, 2014, accessed February 12, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elizabeth_Talbot,_ Countess_of_Shrewsbury_from_NPG.jpg. 57 Mortimer, The Time Traveller’s Guide to Elizabethan England , 158. 56


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58

But those in the vicinity of the queen always paid attention to how they dressed and behaved. Below is a painting illustrating one of the rituals of Queen Elizabeth, her royal progress (fig. 59) . Elizabeth knew how to demonstrate her royal status; she of all people knew how to build her public image in the pre-media age. She simply used her physical presence, not only in her palaces and parliament, but also in very public places. Her long processions through the streets of London made sure people knew how magnificent their queen was and they could admire her and praise her. In the summer the Queen and her court often went on a royal progress throughout the whole country. She stayed at the palaces and great houses of her nobles, who had to entertain her and the court. Her long processions through villages and the countryside were the only chance for many ordinary people to see her in her splendour. They could see her in her exquisite white dress and the shining jewellery on her neck and hair. She must have looked like a goddess to them, or an angel. The Virgin Queen who sacrificed herself for the good of her country, her people. This was the image built in her subjects for many decades and that is how she was mostly remembered by future generations. The mythical Gloriana.

58

Joris Hoefnagel, A Marriage Feast at Bermondsey, oil on wooden panel, circa 1569, 73.8 × 99 cm (private collection in the United Kingdom), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated August 8, 2014, accessed February 12, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:Joris_Hoefnagel_Fete_at_Bermondsey_c_1569.png.

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59

59

Robert Peake the Elder, Procession Portrait of Elizabeth, between 1600 and 1603 (Sherborne Castle), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated February 11, 2015, accessed February 12, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elizabeth_I,_Procession_Portrait..jpg. Attributed to Robert Peake the Elder (1551–1619).

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St. Paul’s Cathedral and Sir Christopher Wren

60

This painting by Giovanni Antonio Canal, called il Canaletto (1697–1768), shows the view of the River Thames and the City of London from Richmond House as seen in 1747, that is, 50 years after the cathedral was consecrated for use (fig. 60). How majestic St. Paul’s Cathedral looked then and what it must have meant for the Londoners. It was a mighty symbol of London; it dominated the skyline and dwarfed all the other churches in London.

60

Giovanni Antonio Canal, The Thames and the City of London from Richmond House, oil on canvas, 1747, 105 x 117.5 cm (private collection), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated December 25, 2014, accessed January 15, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Canaletto_london.jpg?uselang=cs.

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It was still an important symbol of London in the first half of the 20th century, when it miraculously survived the bombing of the City during World War II, as shown in the photographs below (see figs. 61 and 62).

61

62

Air Raid Damage in Britain during the Second World War, photo Herbert Mason, Daily Mail, 1940, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated June 23, 2014, accessed January 15, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Air_Raid_Damage_in_Britain_during_ the_Second_World_War_HU36220A.jpg?uselang=cs. 62 St. Paul’s Cathedral after the Blitz, photo Herbert Mason, Daily Mail, 1940, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated March 17, 2014, accessed January 15, 2015, http://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St_Paul_destroyed.jpg?uselang=cs. 61


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This may be the reason why it was later dwarfed by taller buildings as the bombing cleared the space for the development of the area; the look of this new City skyline still saddens many people, including Prince Charles. The photograph below is taken from relatively close up, so St. Paul’s still looks majestic despite the tall buildings in the vicinity (fig. 63).

63

But in the next photograph of the skyline of the City of London, taken from a distance, St. Paul’s is barely distinguishable (fig. 64).

64

City of London skyline at dusk, photo jikatu, 2012, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated October 5, 2014, accessed January 15, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:City_of_London_skyline_at_dusk.jpg?uselang=cs. 64 Shard and City of London skyline from Greenwich, photo Daniel Case, 2014, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated December 13, 2014, accessed January 15, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shard_and_City_of_London_skyline_from_Greenwich. jpg?uselang=cs. 63

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When looking at present-day photographs it becomes clear why modern visitors to London can hardly imagine what the City looked like when St. Paul’s Cathedral towered over all the other buildings and why it was such an important symbol of London. To understand its significance we need to go back in history. This panoramic etching by Václav Hollar (1607–1677, known as Wenceslaus in England) from 1647 shows London in the early 1640s (fig. 65).

65

A detailed cut-out from this etching shows the original St. Paul’s Cathedral and also the densely-built houses in the City, mostly wooden, the reason for both disasters that hit London in the 1660s (fig. 66).

66

The cathedral looked impressive even then and towered over the entire City, yet at the time it was already past its prime. By that time its medieval splendour had gone; the spire (once one of the tallest in Europe) had collapsed during the fire of 1561 and during the Reformation the cathedral’s interior suffered a lot of damage; shrines and images were destroyed and precious artefacts taken away. Wenceslaus Hollar, Panoramic view of London, 1647, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated November 11, 2014, accessed January 16, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:1647_Long_view_of_London_From_Bankside_-_Wenceslaus_Hollar.jpg. 66 Wenceslaus Hollar, Panoramic view of London, 1647, detail. 65


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Plans for restoration were made only under the Stuarts; however, the restoration work was stopped during the Civil War and subsequent Protectorate. It was only after the Restoration of King Charles II in 1660 that new plans to restore the cathedral were made. There were disputes about what the future appearance of the cathedral should be and eventually Christopher Wren (1632–1723) was appointed to do the job. But when the scaffolding had been erected and the works were due to start, a big fire struck the City and the damage done to the cathedral was so great that it had to be completely rebuilt.67 Bad omen or blessing? The Great Fire was the second disaster in a short period of time. The first one was the Great Plague, which broke out in early summer 1665, killing between 75,000 and 100,000 people, almost one fourth of the inhabitants of London. Plague was not so uncommon then; there had been a long series of plague epi demics, but this one hit not only the rat-infested poor suburbs, but also the City.68 Most people believed the plague was sent by God, yet some, such as William Boghurst, a general practitioner, correctly attributed the causes to “filth and squalor, inadequate disposal of sewage, and poor nutrition among London’s impover ished residents.”69 People in London lived in cramped conditions within the walls of the City. There were houses even on London Bridge, as can be seen in Hollar’s etching above. Most houses in narrow streets were still built with wood and thatch and the warehouses in the City contained a lot of highly flammable material, so when the fire broke out in Pudding Lane on September 2, 1666, it spread quickly, helped by the wind and lack of rain. A map located in the Museum of London illustrates the damage (fig. 71). The fire lasted four long days and destroyed one third of London, including 13,200 houses and 87 out of 109 churches.70

“History” in St Paul’s Cathedral, accessed January 16, 2015, https://www.stpauls.co.uk/ history-collections/history. 68 “The Great Plague of London, 1665,” in Harvard University Library Open Collections Program. Contagion, accessed January 16, 2015, http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/contagion/ plague.html. 69 “The Great Plague of London, 1665,” in Harvard University Library Open Collections Program. Contagion, accessed January 16, 2015, http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/contagion/ plague.html. 70 “How much of London was destroyed,” in Museum of London, accessed January 16, 2015, http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/explore-online/pocket-histories/what-happenedgreat-fire-london/how-much-london-was-destroyed/. 67

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71

As can be seen in Hollar’s map, a large part of the City was completely de stroyed (fig. 73). And indeed, in the walled City 373 acres (out of 448) burnt down.72

73 71

Map showing the burnt area (Museum of London), picture taken by the author, 2014. Stephen Inwood, Historie Londýna, trans. Miloš Calda (Praha: BB art, 2003), 236. 73 Wenceslav Hollar, Map of the burned area of the City after the Great Fire of London, 1666, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated September 14, 2006, accessed January 16, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Map.London.gutted.1666.jpg. 72


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Although it was a real tragedy for thousands of people who lost their homes, for London itself it could mean a step forward from a typical medieval town with all of its problems to a modern city with large streets and fashionable houses. This grandiose scheme was proposed immediately after the fire by Christopher Wren, John Evelyn, Robert Hooke, and others.74 But this plan was too grandiose and did not respect the rights of the owners of destroyed houses (fig. 75).

75

A compromise was reached after the King made it clear that he would not allow wooden houses to be built in narrow streets and ordered the builders to use bricks and stone, and the law about the renewal of the City was passed in 1667. New houses had to be built within 3 years and 9 months, so those with not enough means to build in such a short period of time were compensated by the City and their plots were then sold to others. The renewal of the City, except for the churches, was more or less finished in 1671.76

Inwood, Historie Londýna, 237. Christopher Wren, Sir Christopher Wren’s plan for reconstructing the city following the 1666 Great Fire of London, Geographicus Rare Antique Maps, 1744, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated November 4, 2014, accessed January 19, 2015, http://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Christopher_Wren%27s_plan_for_rebuilding_London_after_the_Great_Fire. 76 Inwood, Historie Londýna, 237–9. 74 75

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According to the Rebuilding Act of 1670, fifty-one out of eighty-seven of the destroyed parish churches were to be renewed. And the man who was sup posed to design them all, as well as St. Paul’s Cathedral, was none other than Christopher Wren.77 Quite unbelievable from today’s perspective. So who was Christopher Wren that he got such an enormous commission? It may sound shocking today, especially when considering the fact that he was not even an architect. Before jumping to an easy conclusion, it should be stated here that in his time there were no architectural schools in England yet. The first Architec tural Association was only founded in London in 1847 and it was only reorganised into a more systematic day school in 1901.78 Talented artists or mathematicians became architects through learning from architects of the time or old masters. So we can say that Wren got the job on the basis of his merits and previous brilliant designs in Cambridge and Oxford. Before he turned his attention to architecture, he was a renowned Professor of Astronomy, one of the founders of the Royal Society, and a geometrician admired even by Newton.79 Considering all that, it should come as no surprise that he was appointed Surveyor-General of the King’s Works in 1669. And in 1670, after the Rebuilding Act was passed, the City churches started being rebuilt under Wren’s supervision, in a beautiful variety.80 Wren proved his creative genius in many more commissions, from which at least the Royal Observatory at Greenwich (see figs. 81 and 82) and Greenwich Hospital for Sailors (fig. 83) should be mentioned here.

David Watkin, English Architecture. A concise history (London: Thames and Hudson, 1979), 107. 78 “School of Architecture” in Architectural Association, last updated 2015, accessed January 19, 2015, http://www.aaschool.ac.uk/AASCHOOL/LIBRARY/aahistory.php. 79 John Fleming, Hugh Honour, and Nikolaus Pevsner, Dictionary of Architecture (London: Penguin, 1991), 482. 80 Watkin, English Architecture. A concise history, 107. 77

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81

82

Greenwich Observatory, cca 1833 (The Penny Magazine), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated October 12, 2012, accessed January 19, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:Greenwich_Observatory.jpg?uselang=cs. 82 Greenwich Observatory today, picture taken by the author, 2014. 81

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83

Being such a prolific architect, he completely changed the appearance of London. According to Watkin, “it is easy to forget that there was no precedent what ever for the design of classical churches in England, save marginally in the work of Inigo Jones.”84 He brought fresh new ideas to English architecture and did not lack the passion to persuade others about his visions. But in his best-known and most highly-valued work of art, St. Paul’s Cathedral, he had to change his plans quite dramatically over the years; still, he managed to keep there the feature he probably cherished most, the dome, now considered one of the most revered icons of London (fig. 85).

85 83

Greenwich Hospital from the Thames, picture taken by the author, 2014. Watkin, English Architecture. A concise history, 108. 85 St. Paul’s Cathedral, picture taken by the author, 2014. 84


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The historical significance of St. Paul’s Cathedral for the English is also clear from its hosting many national events, such as Queen Victoria’s Jubilee Celebrations and the state funerals of many important Englishmen, such as Lord Nelson or Winston Churchill, as well as a royal wedding.

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William Hogarth and His Morality Tales When we want to learn more about how people lived in the second half of the 18th century, there is hardly a better artist than William Hogarth (1697–1764) to be considered. He was born into Georgian Britain, which was a strikingly different period from the turbulence of the previous century, the clashes between the royal house and Parliament resulting in the Civil War, and the expulsion of James II after the seemingly calmer years of the Restoration. After the death of Queen Anne her nearest Protestant relative, George of Hanover, became King George I of England. There were no more clashes between the king and the parliament, because the king could not care less; he did not even speak English. Unlike the majority of European countries of the time, where the main authority derived from the monarch, Britain had the situation where Parliament was more important as a source of authority than the monarch.86 On one hand, national identity was strongly connected with Protestantism and there was fierce rejection of everything connected with Roman Catholicism; on the other hand, in the first half of the 18th century people of means slavishly imitated the lifestyle of the upper classes in Catholic countries, mainly France. Hogarth ridiculed this fascination in his picture Taste in High Life from 1742, presented here in a later engraving from 1746 (fig. 87).

86

Michael Snodin and John Styles, Design & the decorative arts. Georgian Britain 1714–1837 (London: V&A Publications, 2004), 10–11.

William Hogarth and His Morality Tales

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87

As Terry Riggs mentions, “Numerous xenophobic references indicate Hogarth’s low opinion of the French,”88 so it should not surprise us that he satirises nobles copying French fashion to the extent that even the monkey is dressed in French style and is reading a menu listing French dishes. Yet what may be surprising is the fact that the original painting was ordered by a woman from the upper classes, which means that there was a certain self-awareness in their circles. In fact, the person who paid for the picture and wanted the artist “to ridicule the reigning fashions of high life” was probably the same as the others; she only wanted her revenge after she had been “laughed at for some singularities in her manner.”89 “The British copied a great deal from the French, despite their virulent FrancoWilliam Hogarth, Taste in High Life, original painting 1742, Hogarth engraving 1746, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated May 10, 2012, accessed January 5, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Taste_high_life.jpg. 88 Terry Riggs, “William Hogarth – O the Roast Beef of Old England (ʻThe Gate of Calaisʼ) 1748,ˮ in Tate, March 1998, accessed January 5, 2015, http://www.tate.org. uk/art/artworks/hogarth-o-the-roast-beef-of-old-england-the-gate-of-calais-n01464/ text-summary. 89 John Trusler, The Works of William Hogarth: In a Series of Engravings With Descriptions, and a Comment on Their Moral Tendency (London: Jones & Co., 1833), 37–38, accessed January 5, 2015, http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22500/22500-h/22500-h.htm. 87

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phobia.”90 Although the picture is satirical in its intentions, it provides valuable insights into the fashion of the period, as well as the luxurious interior decorations of the houses of the upper classes, considered as proof of high status. Notice also the little black boy on the left, obviously a slave, as will be discussed later, even if he is now treated as a little toy for the ladies. Slaves were also proof of wealth and high status. What a contrast to another picture from the same period, The Distressed Poet from 1736, now located in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (fig. 91).

91

References to Pope’s “Dunciad” and possibly Hogarth’s comments on the life of an artist in general have been discussed elsewhere, but our interest should remain fixed solely on the depiction of the lodgings of the impoverished family. The poet is a gentleman with gentlemanly manners, he has a wig, is still dressed in his nightgown as if waiting for his servants to dress him, and in the painting there is his sword lying on the floor, while in this copy only the hilt can be seen in the foreground. His family is not as poor as the majority of people then, and yet it is slowly getting there. His wife is darning the clothes on her own and looks Michael Snodin and John Styles, Design & the decorative arts. Georgian Britain 1714–1837 (London: V&A Publications, 2004), 14. 91 William Hogarth, The Distressed Poet, oil, 1733–1736 (Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated August 28, 2014, accessed January 5, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Distressedpoet-oil.jpg. 90


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unpleasantly surprised by the woman who has entered the room, demanding money to cover the bill. The scene is set in an unkempt garret with a bare plank floor, furnished only with a table and two chairs, old but still stylish, the child sleeps in what is probably the only bed in the room, and the only visible cupboard is open and frighteningly empty. This picture may well also be his comment on “the precarious situation of men of classical education” like his father, the author of a Latin Dictionary, who had spent several years compiling it, and yet he met with “cruel treatment from booksellers and printers”;92 later, when he tried running a Latin-speaking coffee-house, he was not successful and eventually ended up in prison for debt.93 All this might have influenced young Hogarth to mistrust formal classical education and he knew from a young age that he had to rely on himself. “My father’s pen, like that of many other authors, did not enable him to do more than put me in a way of shifting for myself.”94 His attitude to formal education reflects this: “Drawing in an academy, though it should be after the life, will not make the student an artist.”95 He wanted to find a shorter path. He was trained as an engraver and he rightly believed in his talent and observational skills. He wanted to provide for his family through his art, and yet that was not an easy task, and again and again he encountered the monopoly of print sellers trying to make a profit from artists. That probably pushed him into becoming his own agent and he started selling his prints to subscribers. He also needed to find a niche not yet occupied by any other artist to offer something new to his prospective buyers and produce art that would be sufficiently profitable. All this led to him turning his thoughts to a “novel mode, … painting and engraving modern moral subjects, a field not broken up in any country or any age. [He thought that] both writers and painters had, in the historical style, totally overlooked that intermediate species of subjects, which may be placed between the sublime and grotesque; [he] therefore wished to compose pictures on canvas, similar to representations on the stage.”96 He did not want to become a “portrait manufacturer” so this new field of interest satisfied him artistically as well as financially, as he collected small sums from his subscribers for the prints he engraved from his own pictures.97 Occasionally he would produce a portrait and sell it for a good price, like the one of David Garrick in Richard III, 92

93 94 95 96 97

William Hogarth, Anecdotes of William Hogarth: Written by Himself (London: J. B. Nichols and Son, 1833), 2, digitised June 28, 2007, accessed January 7, 2015, https://archive.org/ details/anecdoteswillia01hogagoog. Eva Bendová and Ondřej Váša, Proměny Williama Hogartha. Nezřízenost bídy (Praha: Národní galerie, 2013), 13. Hogarth, Anecdotes of William Hogarth, 1. Hogarth, Anecdotes of William Hogarth, 3. Hogarth, Anecdotes of William Hogarth, 7–8. Hogarth, Anecdotes of William Hogarth, 11.

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for which he was paid two hundred pounds, much more than was common at the time,98 which says something about Hogarth’s popularity at the time, as well as the passion for portraits, the longing to be immortalised. This portrait from 1745, now located in the Walker Art Gallery, shows that he was a distinguished painter, not just a popular pictorial satirist and cartoonist (fig. 99).

99

But let us return to his morality tales, because their depiction of 18th-century London is so rich in detail and very vivid. His aim was “to establish modern urban life, including low life, as an appropriate subject for high art.100 The first of his Modern Moral Subjects was a series of six pictures (later engravings) completed in 1732, called A Harlot’s Progress. It is a fictional story of an innocent coun try girl who comes to London seeking a job and is tricked into prostitution by a brothel keeper, but soon becomes accustomed to this immoral life and cheats Hogarth, Anecdotes of William Hogarth, 22. William Hogarth, David Garrick as Richard III, oil on canvas, 1745, 190.5 x 250.8 cm (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated August 26, 2014, accessed January 7, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Hogarth_-_ David_Garrick_as_Richard_III_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg. 100 “Hogarth: Hogarth’s Modern Moral Series,” in Tate, accessed January 7, 2015, http:// www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/hogarth/hogarth-hogarths-modernmoral-series. 98

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on her wealthy patron. What follows is a common sad story of a lowly prostitute, poverty, unwanted pregnancy, venereal disease, imprisonment, and death. In the final scene of the wake we can see other prostitutes luring their clients, unaffected by her sad fate.101 It is as if Hogarth himself was aware of this never-ending process. Scenes 2 (fig. 102) and 5 (fig. 103) show the contrast between the life of a mis tress kept by her patron and that of a common prostitute after her downfall.

102

101

For the full story see e.g. http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/ hogarth/hogarth-hogarths-modern-moral-series/hogarth-hogarths. 102 William Hogarth, A Harlot’s Progress, Plate 2, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated August 26, 2014, accessed January 7, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Hogarth-Harlot-2.png.

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103

What may be rather surprising for a modern viewer is the prison scene, so different from our conception of prison today. Since nothing in Hogarth’s work is based solely on imagination, we must trust his depiction. We can see that prisoners wore their own clothes, they had to work if they did not want to be punished like the one in the background in the upper left-hand corner, and men and women worked in the same room (fig. 105). In fact, it was not a regular prison but rather “the House of Correction” where such “lewd and disorderly persons” were imprisoned for “one or two months at hard labour, e.g. beating hemp for the navy.”104

Hogarth, A Harlot’s Progress, Plate 5, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated August 26, 2014, accessed January 7, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Hogarth-Harlot-5.png. 104 Rictor Norton, The Georgian Underworld, part 3 – The Fight Against Crime, last updated January 28, 2012, accessed January 10, 2015, http://rictornorton.co.uk/gu03.htm. 103 William


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105

A Harlot’s Progress was a breakthrough in Hogarth’s career and its success encouraged him to work on another moralist series. But since his first moralist prints were sold in numerous pirated versions, he waited with the publication of his new series for the Engravers’ Copyright Act (1735), for which he had lobbied in parliament.106 Hogarth portrayed not only poverty and sexual frivolity, but also the moral decline of the society he lived in. In his next series, The Rake’s Progress, he stud ied another phenomenon of the society of his time. A rake, just like a prostitute, was a common figure of literature and newspaper stories of the time; ‘the rake’ was “a symbol of masculine waywardness and depravity”. He usually started as an innocent country boy corrupted by the city, where he spent all his inherited money on sex, drinking, and gambling, while destroying the innocence and life of at least one young woman.107 Hogarth, A Harlot’s Progress, Plate 4, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated August 26, 2014, accessed January 7, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Hogarth-Harlot-4.png. 106 Eva Bendová and Ondřej Váša, Proměny Williama Hogartha. Nezřízenost bídy (Praha: Národní galerie, 2013), 13–14. 107 “Hogarth: Hogarth’s Modern Moral Series. The Rake’s Progress,”in Tate, accessed January 10, 2015, http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/hogarth/hogarthhogarths-modern-moral-series/hogarth-hogarths-0. 105 William

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The Rake’s Progress (the paintings 1732–33, engravings 1735) is exactly one such story in eight scenes. Tom Rakewell inherits a fortune, rejects his pregnant girlfriend, goes to London, and spends his money on a luxurious life, prostitutes, and gambling. To get more money he then marries a rich old widow, spends all her money on gambling too, and ends up in a debtor’s prison and finally a mental asylum, the famous London ‘Bedlam’.108 Interestingly, the original paintings are exhibited in Sir John Soane’s Museum in London, where visitors are informed that Sir John Soane’s son was one such rake, eventually disinherited by his father. The second picture of the series shows Tom in his luxurious new apartment, surrounded by many visitors (fig. 109). The whole interior is supposed to assert the owner’s magnificence. It is interesting to see what type of paintings he bought to confirm his status – the large painting is a mythological scene. As we will learn later, these scenes, as well as idealised historical scenes of important battles, were in fashion among aristocrats. Landscape paintings started making their way into popular taste much later in Britain.

109 108 For

the full story see e.g. http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/ hogarth/hogarth-hogarths-modern-moral-series/hogarth-hogarths-0. 109 William Hogarth, The Rake’s Progress, Scene 2, oil on canvas, 1732–35, 62.5 x 75 cm (Sir John Soane’s Museum), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated September 26, 2013, accessed January 10, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Hogarth_022.jpg.


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In the third picture of the series we can see the brothel scene (fig. 110). In this painting we can see very well the black spots on the faces of the prostitutes. These ‘beauty spots’ were used to cover sores caused by syphilis – we can observe them elsewhere in Hogarth’s paintings and engravings. Whenever he wants to suggest the person has a venereal disease, he marks his or her face with these spots. We will be able to observe this in the Marriage à-la-mode series.

110

It is also very interesting to see that gambling was very common in 18th-century England and probably caused as much damage to individuals and their families as it does now. The scene in the gambling house in the sixth painting shows Tom in the foreground; he has probably just lost more money and in an angry gesture to heaven he has dumped his wig onto the floor. His head is bald, probably to avoid lice. On the right somebody else is probably adding another loan to his debt and a gambler behind him is preparing another game of dice (fig. 111).

110

William Hogarth, The Rake’s Progress, Scene 3, oil on canvas, 1732–35, 62.5 x 75 cm (Sir John Soane’s Museum), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated January 10, 2015, accessed January 12, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Hogarth_027.jpg.

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111

The last painting is a grim comment on Tom’s final home – the mental asylum (fig. 114). Besides lunatics and Tom’s former girlfriend, we can see fashionably dressed women in the background. These are not lunatics dressed up as aristocrats; they are ladies who came to observe the poor creatures as a spectacle. In the 18th century that was still an act of curiosity, in Victorian times it became an act of charity and an effort to improve the conditions of mainly female prisoners,112 and it was possible then for an upper-class woman to become a ‘Lady Visitor’ to prisons with female prisoners to become guiding figures for them.113

111

William Hogarth, The Rake’s Progress, Scene 6, oil on canvas, 1732–35, 62.5 x 75 cm (Sir John Soane’s Museum), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated October 13, 2014, accessed January 12, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Hogarth_024.jpg. 112 One of the leading figures in this effort was Elizabeth Fry, see e.g. http://womenshistory. about.com/od/reformmore/p/elizabeth_fry.htm. 113 This practice was described e.g. in the historical novel by Sarah Waters, Affinity (London: Virago, 1999).


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114

Marriage à-la-mode is a series of six paintings created in about 1743, now exhibited in the National Gallery in London.115 This time Hogarth criticises arranged marriages entered into for money and status (here the bridegroom is a bankrupt nobleman, the bride the daughter of a rich merchant), and he clearly wants to show that the upper classes are surely not virtuous life model. The husband is as promiscuous as he was before the marriage (the syphilitic spot on his neck is already visible at the moment of the signing of the marriage contract). His wife is no better and seems already to be planning an affair in the first painting. When her husband eventually finds out about her lover and catches them together, the lover kills him; the wife commits suicide after her lover has been hanged.116 Most of the scenes take place in luxurious interiors designed to impress visitors and demonstrate power and rank; the magnificence of their owners is displayed here. 114

William Hogarth, The Rake’s Progress, Scene 8, oil on canvas, 1732–35, 62.5 x 75 cm (Sir John Soane’s Museum), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated March 7, 2014, accessed January 12, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Hogarth_019.jpg. 115 “William Hogarth” in The National Gallery, accessed January 12, 2015, http://www. nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/william-hogarth. 116 For the full story see e.g. http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/ hogarth/hogarth-hogarths-modern-moral-series/hogarth-hogarths-2.

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Again, as in the previous series, we can see the status confirmed by expensive huge paintings showing mythological scenes or portraits of important members of the family (fig. 117).

117

In the third painting we are shown the nobleman with his child mistress, an other sad commentary of Hogarth on the morality of his time. In this painting we can also see what interior decorations and equipment this quack doctor used to impress his clients (fig. 118).

117

William Hogarth, Marriage à-la-mode: The Countess’s Morning Levee, oil on canvas, 1743–45, 68.5 × 89 cm (National Gallery, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated January 10, 2015, accessed January 12, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:William_Hogarth_042.jpg.


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118

Hogarth was a moralist who surely wanted to improve the world he lived in. It was not within his powers to improve the upper classes, even if he satirised them. He made an effort to lead young apprentices to an honest life in his cycle Industry and Idleness, in which the industrious apprentice becomes the Mayor of London later in his life, while the idle apprentice is executed. The crowds gathered for the execution witness how popular such events were at the time (fig. 119). Whether these public executions prevented crime is another matter.

118

William Hogarth, Marriage à-la-mode: Visit with the Quack Doctor, oil on canvas, 1743–45, 68.5 × 89 cm (National Gallery, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated January 10, 2015, accessed January 12, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:William_Hogarth_036.jpg.

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119

Probably the best-known of his morality tales are his Gin Lane (fig. 121) and its counterpart Beer Street (fig. 122) from 1751, used for the support of the Gin Act campaigning for the consumption of beer, which was considered safer than gin. Alcoholism must have been an awful problem indeed in Georgian times. While Beer Street shows an idealised picture of happy life, Gin Lane brings a nightmarish vision of the London slums – poverty, the decay of houses as well as their occupants, starvation, blindness, violence, the neglect of children, and desperation ending in suicide, all that caused by alcoholism. And unfortunately, all that must have been the reality as the ‘Gin Act’ of 1751 was really passed, trying to reduce the consumption of spirits by restricting sales of gin.120

William Hogarth, Industry and Idleness, Plate 11, The Idle ’Prentice Executed at Tyburn, Scanned from The genius of William Hogarth or Hogarth’s Graphical Works, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated July 17, 2012, accessed January 15, 2015, http://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Hogarth_-_Industry_and_Idleness,_Plate_11;_The_ Idle_%27Prentice_Executed_at_Tyburn.png. 120 John Cannon, ed., The Oxford Companion to British History, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), 416. 119

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121

122

William Hogarth, Gin Lane, 1751, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated December 26, 2013, accessed January 12, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GinLane.jpg. 122 William Hogarth, Beer Street, 1751, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated January 6, 2015, accessed January 12, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beer_Street_by_ William_Hogarth_Wellcome_L0004604.jpg. 121

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In fact, the destructive force of alcohol is omnipresent in Hogarth’s work (apart from works already mentioned, we can also see it in other works of art such as A Midnight Modern Conversation 123 from c. 1730, where drinking is the centre of attention of all the persons depicted, or An Election Entertainment 124 from 1755, and elsewhere), and in his time Hogarth was not the only one pointing to the fact that alcoholism leads to higher levels of criminality and decay. It is interesting to read Hogarth’s own comments on alcoholism in his remarks on his prints. “When these two prints were designed and engraved, the dreadful consequences of gin-drinking appeared in every street. In Gin Lane, every circumstance of its horrid effects is brought to view in terrorem. Idleness, poverty, misery, and distress, which drives even to madness and death, are the only objects that are to be seen; and not a house in tolerable condition but the pawnbroker’s and Gin-shop. Beer Street, its companion, was given as a contrast, where that invigorating liquor is recommended, in order to drive the other out of vogue. Here all is joyous and thriving. Industry and jollity go hand in hand.”125 From today’s perspective we might add that little did he know about the devastating effects of beer drinking. Hogarth’s pictures surely helped the ‘Gin Act’ of 1751 to be passed, which eventually led to the lowering of the annual consumption of gin in England from 8 million gallons to about 2 million.126 There are many more of his paintings and prints that can be seen when we want to learn about how people lived in Georgian England. And for the first time in English art we have an artist depicting the real life of people, not just making portraits of aristocrats and other people who could afford it. Moreover, he wanted to address as many people as possible with his morality scenes.

123

see http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_Midnight_Modern_Conversation.jpg. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Hogarth_028.jpg. 125 Hogarth, Anecdotes of William Hogarth: Written by Himself , 64. 126 Inwood, Historie Londýna, 264. 124 see

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Some Historical Events Depicted in the Work of Joseph Mallord William Turner When considering works of art, we do not usually think much about wars or troubles that were happening at the time, especially if their impact is not visible in the artist’s work. But even if wars took place far away from where the artists lived and did not affect them directly, they were still present in the climate of the time, which is something hardly imaginable for us now when looking at paintings in museums and galleries. In the case of Turner (1775–1851), the anxiety caused by the wars with France does not show directly in his paintings, and yet the war caused a big problem for him as he could not travel abroad, only in his own country. And trav elling as a search for inspiration was vital for a landscape painter. In many sources about him we can read that he started travelling abroad (France and Switzerland) only in 1802,127 which corresponds with the Treaty of Amiens being signed between Britain and France and ending the first part of the wars. It is immediately reflected in the topics of his pictures. Once in France he could visit the Louvre Museum with its immense collections and gain inspiration as well as reassurance, because in France at that time landscape painting as a genre was already an accepted part of high art, while in Britain mythological scenes and heroic historical topics were still on a pedestal, and the landscape served only as a background for such scenes and it was usually invented or idealised. There were realistic landscape painters, but it was a lower genre of painting performed by artists who did not aspire to the “Grand Style” as defined by Joshua Reynolds, the founder and first president of the Royal Academy. Turner was an exception who became a respected member of the Royal Academy, although he started as a praised landscape painter.128 In his time he was admired as an artist and was much sought after. At a very young age he started exhibiting his watercolours and oil paintings at the Royal Academy, he was well accepted by critics, and he also had more than enough commissions. He was revered for his technical mastery and accurate perspective; he accomplished with ease every landscape style he wanted to, and very soon started ‘smuggling in’ more and more landscape to the required mythological and historical scenes, using natural forces such as storms to help express the drama “J.M.W. Turner,”in Encyclopaedia Britannica, last updated March 8, 2014, accessed January 20, 2015, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/610274/JMW-Turner. 128 Michael Bockenmühl, J.M.W.Turner, 1775–1851, trans. Jitka Hanušová (Praha: Slovart/ Taschen, 2008), 9–12. 127

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of the events that were depicted, as in his famous painting Snowstorm: Hannibal Crossing the Alps (1812).129 And again it was the possibility of travelling after peace finally came in 1815 that changed his approach to painting. His stay in Italy can be seen as a breakthrough and his dreamlike visions of Venice are breathtaking (fig. 130).

130

In later years he transferred the watercolour technique to oil paintings, giving them the transparency of watercolours and luminosity (fig. 132). He inspired many generations of later artists, especially the French Impressionists, who studied his technique of painting. 131

129 “J.M.W. Turner,”in Encyclopaedia Britannica, last updated March 8, 2014, accessed Janu-

ary 20, 2015, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/610274/JMW-Turner. Mallord William Turner, San Giorgio Maggiore from the Dogana, watercolour, 1819, 22.4 x 28.7 cm, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated October 8, 2013, accessed January 12, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Turner_San_Giorgio_Maggiore_at_Dawn.jpg. 131 “Joseph Mallord William Turner Biography,” in Joseph Mallord William Turner. The Complete Works, last updated 2015, accessed January 26, 2015, http://www.william-turner. org/biography.html. 130 Joseph

Some Historical Events Depicted in the Work of Joseph Mallord William Turner

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132

In his later paintings, when he was already rich, famous, and not so dependent on his clients’ wishes, he developed this technique even more, and it is obvious from his paintings that his aim was not just depicting a certain event, landscape, or natural phenomenon, but rather capturing the impression of the moment through colour, leading the viewer through an emotional experience. His paintings were becoming studies of light and shade. It is this stage of his art, which today is admired the most, that caused dissatisfaction among many viewers, who were not sure if they were looking at a sketch or a finished paint ing.133 And even if his talent as a reporter of events and landscapes was overshad owed by his qualities as an imaginative artist, many of his admired works of almost lyrical abstraction depict important events of his time. One such painting is surely The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons, 16th October, 1834. (fig. 134).

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Going to the Ball (San Martino), oil on canvas, 1846, 61.6 × 92.4 cm (Tate Gallery, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated May 11, 2012, accessed January 12, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Turner,_Going_to_the_Ball_(San_Martino).jpg. 133 Michael Bockenmühl, J.M.W. Turner, 1775–1851, 68–69. 132

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134

Although Turner was an accomplished master of perspective and was known for his very realistic, detailed depiction of vivid and true-to-life scenery, in this painting he does not want to present a mere document. He plays with the perspective of the bridge, which is seen as if from two angles. He is more interested in the overall impression on the viewer; he wants us to be among the spectators at the bottom of the picture, who are watching the flames burning fiercely in the sky from the safety of the opposite bank. He places the fire on the left and so we shift our attention to it only after looking at the spectators and then, as if through their eyes, moving our eyes to the scene of the drama. We are drawn to the blaze and, like them, watch with fascination the colourful and beautiful spectacle of the horrible destruction of the old Palace of Westminster. The river reflects the flames, and yet the bottom part, together with the nearer part of the bridge is unaffected; it remains cold, just like the colours used in the picture.

134 Joseph Mallord William Turner, The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons, 16th

October, 1834, oil on canvas, cca 1834–1835, 92.1 cm x 123. 2 cm (Philadelphia Museum of Art), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated October 28, 2014, accessed January 26, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joseph_Mallord_William_Turner,_English_-_The_Burning_of_the_Houses_of_Lords_and_Commons,_October_16,_1834_-_ Google_Art_Project.jpg.


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Turner is known to have rented a boat on the Thames and made several col our studies, and the next spring sent a picture to the Royal Academy.135 Although numerous artists captured the event, Turner’s painting is unsurpassed. The destruction of the Palace of Westminster was total. Only the medieval Westminster Hall with its magnificent, incredibly wide hammer-beam roof from the 14th century survived (fig. 134).

136 135

David Blayney Brown, “Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851,” artist biography, December 2012, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, December 2012, accessed 26 January 2015, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/ research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-1775-1851-r1141041. 136 Westminster Hall, London, pictures taken by the author, 2014.

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It was not the only huge fire to take place in the 19th century. Although the London fire brigades united into one in 1832 to work more efficiently, they did not multiply their staff and technical equipment, unfortunately. And so the fires destroyed not only the Palace of Westminster, but also the Royal Exchange several years later, a part of the Tower of London, and many more important buildings. The Royal Opera House burnt down twice in that century. In 1861 twelve river docks in Tooley Street burnt down in a huge blaze. All this led to the growth of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, but also, maybe not so surprisingly, to changes in insurance policies; the cost of the insurance of docks was quadrupled, and two new insurance companies were established.137 Why did the Palace of Westminster, which housed the Houses of Parliament, burn down? And what did it look like before the fire? Interestingly, it was nothing like the edifice we know today. In a print from 1804 we can see the old building, or rather buildings (fig. 138).

138

137

Inwood, Historie Londýna, 448–449.

138 Richard Phillips, Westminster from Lambeth, 1804 (British Library, London), in Wikimedia

Commons, last updated June 26, 2014, accessed January 26, 2015, http://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phillips(1804)_p284_-_Westminster_from_Lambeth.jpg.


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It is difficult to locate the Parliament as its seat was not in one huge edifice like now but in many buildings, in different stages of decay. And it was considered “insultingly inadequate as the home of Parliament.”139 There had been plans for major reconstruction, but surely not that big in scale. The new Palace of Westminster as we know it today was designed by Sir Charles Barry, in collaboration with Augustus Pugin (mainly the interior decoration) in the Gothic Revival style (fig. 140).

140

And why did the Palace of Westminster burn down? Because of bad judgment and maybe negligence and rushed work. An obsolete accounting system that had been using wooden tally sticks left the Chancellor of the Exchequer with a huge number of these wooden sticks. He was asked to burn them and did not want to do it in the courtyard of the palace, so decided instead to employ two people to burn them in two underfloor stoves in the basement of the House of Lords. The two workmen probably did it too quickly and the fire burnt all the premises on October 16, 1834.141 The amount of destruction was disastrous; even if the Parliament was in need of a better edifice for its meetings, it was a terrible loss for the country. Many historical buildings and their furnishings were lost, together with precious documents and proceedings stored in them. Luckily, many historic records were stored

Farrell, “The Old Palace of Westminster,” in The History of Parliament, last updated 2014, accessed January 26, 2015, http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/ old-palace-westminster. 140 The Palace of Westminster, photo Alvesgaspar, 2007, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated December 11, 2014, accessed January 26, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:London_Parliament_2007-1.jpg. 141 “The Great Fire of 1834,” in www.parliament.uk, accessed January 27, 2015, http://www. parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/palace/architecture/palacestructure/ great-fire/. 139 Stephen

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in the Jewel Tower, which was miraculously preserved as the wind was blowing away from it. 142 Another moment of British history that nicely combined history with what was present in Turner’s time is The Fighting Téméraire tugged to her last Berth to be broken up. It is an exquisite painting, so dear to Turner himself that he kept it in his house till his death (fig. 143).

143

This painting is so ravishing that it has an emotional effect on the viewer even without any historical information being supplied. Turner was deeply devoted to studying the effect of colours. In his later period he moved from trying to create a realistic depiction of the world to creating an impression by his usage of colours, by Fire, 1834,” in www.parliament.uk, accessed January 27, 2015, http:// www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/palace/estatehistory/reformation-1834/destruction-by-fire/. 143 Joseph Mallord William Turner, The Fighting Téméraire tugged to her last Berth to be broken up, oil on canvas, 1839, 90.7 x121.6 cm (The National Gallery, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated July 23, 2009, accessed January 28, 2015, http://upload. wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/archive/9/94/20111116175005%21Turner%2C_J._M. _W._-_The_Fighting_T%C3%A9m%C3%A9raire_tugged_to_her_last_Berth_to_be_broken.jpg. 142 “Destruction


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light, and shade.144 This picture can also be seen as his study of the primary colours, yellow, red, and blue. The emotional impact is even greater when we know what is depicted here because for Turner the painting had a highly symbolic and probably also personal value. When looking at pictures we usually set our gaze upon the bottom-right part first, which is often used by painters as a place to put things they want to draw our attention to, following the golden section rule. Turner plays with that convention and focuses our attention on the sunset glowing gold and red in the sky with its reflection in the water. And then we fasten our eyes on the majestic tall-masted warship on the left, glittering in white and gold, with the sky still blue above her. Yet the reflection of the moon in water in the bottom left-hand corner signals it is not the heyday of the vessel. In front of her is a rather ugly-looking small steamer, partially obstructing the view of her elegant hull. The flag on the ship is white, as if she had already surrendered in this race. A race it is not, as we can read in the title of the picture. The boat is being towed by that small steamer, which is pulling her like Charon to the underworld. There will be none of the glory the ship deserves in the world of the dead, though. The Téméraire was the warship that helped the British win the battle of Trafalgar in 1805 against Napoleon’s forces when she came to the rescue of Admiral Nelson’s flagship and captured two French ships. The Téméraire then served as a supply ship after her fighting days were over, because nobody then thought of making a museum of her for future generations of schoolchildren. She was then stripped of all usable parts, including the tall masts, and sold by the Navy as timber. The white flag, then, means that the ship was in commercial hands.145 Turner’s national feelings were probably hurt and he clearly did not want to accept that reality and wanted to present the heroic ship as in the days of her glory, proud and elegant, aware of her own value. This picture can also be seen as a symbolic farewell to the majesty of the old days and the acceptance of the necessity of the modern present. Nelson died in the Battle of Trafalgar and yet Britain became the Empress of the seas then. Turner was probably reflecting on that when he made the ship look too glorious to be destroyed. Seeing her as she used to be makes us feel ashamed of the ungratefulness of this act. A heroic funeral, yet still a funeral. Although it may seem as if Turner had problems accepting the inevitable technical progress, it was not really so. Bockenmühl, J.M.W. Turner, 1775–1851, 83–85. about the ship taken from “The Fighting Temeraire” in The National Gallery, accessed January 28, 2015, http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/joseph-mallordwilliam-turner-the-fighting-temeraire.

144 Michael 145 Facts

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An anecdote documenting this is mentioned by Paxman when he writes about the development of railways, which went hand in hand with industrialisation. Even the royal couple tried this new means of transport in 1842 and Prince Albert’s words of assessment were “Not so fast next time, Mr Conductor, if you please.” On the other hand Turner was seen “excitedly dancing about, jumping out to stick his head out of the window and gabbling on about the extraordinary light.”146 His experience may have been at the base of his picture Rain, Steam and Speed – The Great Western Railway from 1844 (fig. 147). It must have been quite a shock when he exhibited this almost abstract paint ing for the first time in the Royal Academy in 1844. His technique had developed to expressing emotions, not depicting the reality painstakingly. The painting is literally very atmospheric; the rain is blown by the wind to the left, thus drawing our attention to the train, which can be only guessed at from the dark blobs on the bridge. Only the steam engine is darker and more distinct; the rest is blurred by the rain and the speed of the train. The effect is so powerful that we can almost feel the speed of the train coming towards us and the soaking rain.

147

Paxman, The Victorians (London: BBC Books, 2010), 171–172. Joseph Mallord William Turner, Rain, Steam and Speed – The Great Western Railway, oil on canvas, 1844, 91x121.8 cm (The National Gallery, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated February 23, 2014, accessed January 28, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia. org/wiki/File:Turner-rain-steam-and-speed.jpg.

146 Jeremy 147


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In reality, however, the train was rather slow when compared to what it is today; nevertheless, in Turner’s time it was the quickest means of transport and he sees it as such, as we can judge from his emotions expressed in the painting. The lithograph underneath might have been a better representation of the actual speed and appearance of the trains then, and yet it did not become a beloved work of art (fig. 148).

148

No wonder Turner chose the train as a topic of one of his paintings. At that time railways criss-crossed the British landscape and with all the bridges and viaducts, but also the thundering roar of trains, they changed the countryside dramatically. Railways went hand in hand with industrialisation as they served to transport raw materials, as well as goods. They were also used for transporting people, which changed the society and people’s habits. People started travelling more, reading more; hence the popularity of magazines and books, and a new code of behaviour on the train was developed. In previous times people would walk, go on a horse, or travel in horse-drawn carriages. Trains were really the first mechanical means of transport, making it possible for people to travel long distances more comfortably, that is, if they had enough money for a closed carriage, because most of the carriages were open at the time. Actually, this train in Turner’s painting has only open carriages, as can be J. Hodson, Metropolitan Railway, Bellmouth Praed Street, chromolithograph, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated July 28, 2014, accessed January 29, 2015, http:// commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Metropolitan_Railway,_Praed_Street_Junction. jpg?uselang=cs.

148 Samuel

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seen in the detailed cut-out (fig. 149). In the bottom right-hand corner we can also spot a rabbit or hare, running at top speed to escape the train. It is either Turner’s little joke or his wish to show us how very quickly the train goes.

149

To the left, under the bridge, in the river a fisherman has opened his umbrella and raised it to protect himself against the wind and rain, but the people on the bank do not mind and are waving zestfully, greeting the train and its passengers, probably amazed by the speed of the train (fig. 150).

149 Joseph

detail.

Mallord William Turner, Rain, Steam and Speed – The Great Western Railway,

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150

On the other side of the bridge a farmer works in his field undisturbed, so there are still the good old times, yet with the novelty of the train nothing is quite the same as before. In the detailed cut-out below (fig. 151) we can also closely admire Turner’s rich impasto that creates the colour effect.

151

Mallord William Turner, Rain, Steam and Speed – The Great Western Railway, detail. 151 Joseph Mallord William Turner, Rain, Steam and Speed – The Great Western Railway, detail. 150 Joseph

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With the introduction of trains as public transport, the society started changing too. Trains transported people of all social classes and backgrounds, even if not necessarily in the same train. The class structure was clearly manifested in the division of trains into first, second, and third, with different types of carriages. And within the carriages there was the possibility of new encounters, within your social class of course. This social stratification on the trains can be nicely seen in the engravings located online in the British National Archives, where the artist helps justify this division of train classes by the bad behaviour of the passengers from the lower classes.152 Travelling in carriages of different classes is also nicely illustrated in a colour print from 1831 (fig. 153).

153

Epsom races, 1847, from the Illustrated London News, 22 May 1847. The engravings illustrate all three train classes, 1st-class train passengers http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/victorianbritain/happy/images/source1a.gif, 2nd-class train passengers http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/victorianbritain/happy/images/source1b.gif, 3rd-class train passengers http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/victorianbritain/happy/images/source1c.gif. 153 M.B. Cotsworth, Travelling on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway 1831, colour print, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated March 12, 2014, accessed January 30, 2015, http:// commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Liverpool_and_Manchester_Railway_1831_-_3.jpg. 152


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If people of different classes did not mix on the trains, they might have done so in the railway stations, and yet even there it was not very common, as we can see in the picture below, where working-class people are surely not among the passengers, only among the luggage porters (fig. 154).

154

In that respect, a town omnibus became a place where there was an even greater social mixture later on in the century, because people of different classes sat close to each other.155 All these pictures not only show the context of Turner’s famous painting but they also make us understand how very different Turner was and what a unique artist he was in his time.

Turner and the Slave Trade The last picture by Turner to be discussed here will be his painting showing us one of the things that made the Industrial Revolution possible, the slave trade, which was so profitable that it helped finance growing businesses. In Turner’s time the British slave trade was already over; it was abolished in 1807 and slavery in the British Empire was outlawed in 1833. Yet slavery existed elsewhere in the world and so the Anti-Slavery Society conference was held in London in 1840 and Turner’s painting Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, 154 William Powell Frith, The Railway Station, oil on canvas, 1862, in Wikimedia Commons,

last updated August 6, 2014, accessed January 30, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia. org/wiki/File:William_Powell_Frith_The_Railway_Station.jpg. 155 See the painting The Bayswater Omnibus by George William Joy, 1895, http://www.bbc. co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/the-bayswater-omnibus-50504.

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Typhoon Coming On) was exhibited at the Royal Academy at the same time (fig. 158). He accompanied the painting with verses from his own poem from 1812 that expresses his outrage. “Aloft all hands, strike the top-masts and belay; Yon angry setting sun and fierce-edged clouds Declare the Typhon’s coming. Before it sweeps your decks, throw overboard The dead and dying – ne’er heed their chains Hope, Hope, fallacious Hope! Where is thy market now?” 156 Turner’s painting and poem were inspired by the case in 1781 of the slave ship Zong, whose captain ordered 133 sick slaves to be thrown overboard alive under the pretext of protecting the safety of the ship. The reality behind that was that if the slaves died on the ship, there would be no compensation for the ship’s owners from the insurance company. As there was no real danger to the crew’s safety, the case raised public outrage that later helped abolish the British slave trade.157

156 “Slave

Ship (Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On),” in Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, last updated 2015, accessed January 30, 2015, http:// www.mfa.org/collections/object/slave-ship-slavers-throwing-overboard-the-dead-anddying-typhoon-coming-on-31102. 157 “Abolition of the Slave Trade,” in The National Archives, accessed January 30, 2015, http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/blackhistory/rights/abolition.htm.


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158

When seeing this picture for the first time the viewer is first absorbed in the rich impasto of the red and orange sunset over the sea and the sun blazing on the horizon; only the rising white foam of the sea on the left and purple clouds coloured by the sunset announce the coming storm. A ship in the distance struggles in huge waves, sails down, awaiting the storm. Some people interpret the storm as God’s or Nature’s revenge on the ship’s crew for what they had done, because what we see in the bottom right-hand corner is in sharp contrast with the beautiful sunset. The chained limbs of the drowning or drowned slaves are being attacked by dozens of fish, and gulls hungrily await their turn at the feast. A scene of real horror. And the viewer must reflect on that sharp contrast between the beauty of nature and the awful deeds of people. Considering the length of time between Turner’s poem and his painting of the same event, it is clear that his mind was preoccupied with the issue of slavery for a long time and that he put all his heart into the painting. After all, slavery and similar horrific stories must have been around all Turner’s life, and the change was very slow. First the slave trade was abolished, and yet slavery existed in the British Empire for the next long 26 years. And slavery still existed in America and elsewhere. Turner did not live to see this inhuman practice outlawed. In America slavery was abolished during the Civil War, several years after Turner’s death. Turner, Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On), oil on canvas, 1840, 92.8 x 122.6 cm (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated January 10, 2015, accessed January 30, 2015, http:// commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Slave-ship.jpg.

158 William

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The painting was bought from Turner by John Ruskin, an influential English art critic and admirer of Turner, and then it was sold in America; so the painting eventually ended up in the land Turner wanted to address most, but when it got there, slavery had already been abolished. It is now part of the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Another great English painter who must be mentioned in this context is William Blake (1757–1827). His poetic and artistic work, largely unrecognised in his lifetime and rediscovered by later generations, has mostly very symbolic and mystical qualities. But we can find there very realistic pictures of tortured slaves like those below (see figs. 159 and 160). These pictures, as well as his poetry, express his revulsion at slavery and inequality between human beings. He created the illustrations for the book by John Gabriel Stedman, Narrative, of a Five Years’ Expedition, against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam, and all his engravings realistically depict horrible atrocities against slaves and are able to arouse powerful emotions in the viewer.

159 159

William Blake, A Negro hung alive by the Ribs to a Gallows, 1796, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated January 8, 2014, accessed February 1, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:Blake_after_John_Gabriel_Stedman_Narrative_of_a_Five_Years_copy_2_object_2detail.jpg. Detail from William Blake’s illustration John Gabriel Stedman, Narrative, of a Five Years’ Expedition, against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam, copy 2, object 2 (Bentley 499.2).


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160

What a contrast to the common opinion of the time. To own a slave was considered a matter of wealth and high status (see Hogarth’s Taste in High Life from 1742, discussed earlier (fig. 87), where a little black boy is presented as one of the attributes of the family’s wealth), and other examples can be seen in the portrait of Queen Charlotte (fig. 161) and a family portrait, John Orde, His Wife Anne, and His Eldest Son William (fig. 162), where the black boy is clearly the family’s servant or rather slave, here again shown as a marker of their good fortune and refinement. It was quite common then among the British aristocracy and royals to have black slaves as domestic servants, as can be seen in many more family portraits of the time.

Blake, Flagellation of a Female Samboe Slave, 1796, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated January 15, 2015, accessed February 1, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia. org/wiki/File:BLAKE11.JPG.

160 William

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161

People in the 18th century and at the beginning of the 19th century were mostly quite ignorant of slaves’ suffering, or the society simply turned a blind eye to it. So many rich families got their wealth at least partially from the slave trade or from owning plantations with slaves that it must have been rather impolite to touch on this issue openly. It is possible that if more great artists had shown they were not indifferent to the suffering of slaves, the road to the abolition of slavery would have been smoother.

161

Johann Georg Ziesenis, Portrait of Queen Charlotte when Princess Sophie Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, oil, 1761 (Royal Collection), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated August 27, 2014, accessed February 4, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Queen_charlotte_when_princess.jpg.


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162

Devis, John Orde, His Wife Anne, and His Eldest Son William, oil on canvas, between 1754 and 1756, 94 x 96.2 cm (Yale Center for British Art), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated January 16, 2014, accessed February 2, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia. org/wiki/File:Arthur_Devis_-_John_Orde,_His_Wife_Anne,_and_His_Eldest_Son_William_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg.

162 Arthur

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The Crystal Palace and the Victorians A Victorian house, especially in the USA, is commonly associated with a tidy- -looking brightly-coloured neat little house embellished with elaborate ornamentation. Yet the term ‘Victorian architecture’ means much more than that; it comprises all the styles of the period between 1837 and 1901, when Queen Victoria ruled. It was a period of revival styles, mainly the Gothic Revival, Italianate Revival, Roman esque Revival, Greek Revival, and even Tudor Revival with its half-timbered houses. In fact, this long period used all the historical styles that architects could think of, very often mixing them all together. Eclecticism was the norm and architects freely added details of French, Italian, or Tudor architecture to houses built mainly in the Gothic style. As long as the result looked pleasing to the history-loving Victorians. All high-style architecture was built in one of the Revival styles to look grand, including the new Houses of Parliament and the Royal Albert Hall, as well as museums such as the Natural History Museum (fig. 163) and Victoria and Albert Museum (fig. 164).

163 163 Natural

History Museum, entrance, photo Christine Matthews, 2008, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated November 7, 2014, accessed January 21, 2015, http://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Entrance_to_Natural_History_Museum,_Cromwell_Road,_London_SW7_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1034304.jpg.

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The Crystal Palace and the Victorians

164

There was even the ‘Battle of the Styles’, a conflict between proponents of the Gothic Revival and Classical Style about the ‘right’ style for public buildings, so the Houses of Parliament were built in the Gothic Revival Style, and yet some town halls were built in the Classical Style (e.g. in Leeds). The domestic architecture of the upper-middle classes also strove to reflect the status of house owners and look grand and gorgeous, and therefore more attention was paid to a pompous appearance than the comfort of the inhabitants. Since most property was rented then, the occupants would furnish and decorate it to their own taste to impress their guests. Especially drawing rooms, where guests were entertained, were considered indicators of status and wealth, as well as the taste of their hosts, and therefore special attention was given to every detail of the decoration, and the precious possessions of the household were displayed there165 (see figs. 166 and 167).

164 Victoria

and Albert Museum in London, the Southern Entrance, photo Diliff, 2014, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated December 27, 2014, accessed January 21, 2015, http:// commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Victoria_%26_Albert_Museum_Entrance,_London,_ UK_-_Diliff.jpg. 165 Michael Snodin and John Styles, Design & the Decorative Arts. Victorian Britain 1837– 1901 (London: V&A Publications, 2004), 102.

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166

167

In the case of the lower classes, their houses or apartments in tenement houses may not have been that impressive, and yet the façade always promised more than could be found inside. A large number of these tenement houses can still be found in Glasgow (fig. 168). 166 Mary Ellen Best, Our Drawing Room at York, about 1838–40, in Wikigallery, last updated

January 21, 2015, accessed January 22, 2015, http://www.wikigallery.org/wiki/painting_68931/Mary-Ellen-Best/Our-Drawing-Room-at-York. 167 Julia Mackworth, Drawing Room at Bryn Glas, Monmouthshire, 1871, in Wikigallery, last updated January 21, 2015, accessed January 22, 2015, http://www.wikigallery.org/wiki/ painting_255448/Julia-Mackworth/Drawing-Room-at-Bryn-Glas-Monmouthshire-1871.


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168

Inside, tenement houses looked much simpler. Here are photos of The Tenement House in Glasgow, which serves as a museum displaying an original tenement flat with all its furniture and equipment (see figs. 169–171).

168 High Street tenements, Glasgow, photo Kim Traynor, 2012, in Wikimedia Commons, last

updated September 29, 2012, accessed January 22, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia. org/wiki/File:High_Street_tenements,_Glasgow.JPG?uselang=cs.

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169

170

171

But what never found their way into early High Victorian architecture, so fond of over-decoration, were the latest achievements of modern technology using iron and glass, with the exception of J.B. Bunning’s Coal Exchange from 1846–9, 169 The Tenement House, Glasgow, photo Twid, 2005, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated

December 11, 2014, accessed January 22, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Tenementhouse.jpg?uselang=cs. 170 The Tenement House, Glasgow, the bedroom, photo Pat (Cletch) Williams, 2013, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated April 7, 2014, accessed January 22, 2015, http://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GlasgowTenementHouse-bedroom.jpg?uselang=cs. 171 The Tenement House, Glasgow, the stove, photo Pat (Cletch) Williams, 2013, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated April 7, 2014, accessed January 22, 2015, http://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GlasgowTenementHouse-stove.jpg?uselang=cs, photo courtesy of Pat (Cletch) Williams.

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where “iron and glass first appeared with architectural ambitions.”172 Later this technology was used for the dome of the Royal Albert Hall in London, opened in 1871 (see figs. 173 and 174).

173

174

The building of the Royal Albert Hall followed only after, and was inspired by, the Crystal Palace built for the Great Exhibition of 1851. John Fleming, Hugh Honour, Nikolaus Pevsner, Dictionary of Architecture, 146. Royal Albert Hall opening in 1871, this illustration appeared shortly after the opening in The Graphic, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated July 9, 2014, accessed January 22, 2015, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:RAH_Opening_1871_ILN.jpg. 174 Royal Albert Hall Rear, photo David Iliff, licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0., 2013, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated October 11, 2014, accessed January 21, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Albert_Hall_Rear,_London,_England_-_Diliff.jpg. 172

173

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Despite the taste for classical style and art, the Victorian era brought modernity in many spheres and the ruling classes wanted to show that. It was Prince Albert, among others, who stood behind the idea of organising the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations in London. This exhibition was the first truly international exhibition, a predecessor of the modern ‘Expo’, showing to the world, as well as six million proud visitors, the economic power and technological advances of Britain. What attracted them to London was not only the exhibits, but also the edifice they were displayed in, the Crystal Palace (fig. 175).

175

Although the Crystal Palace surely contributed to the success of the Great Exhibition, and its designer, Joseph Paxton, was knighted after the Exhibition closed its doors after six months, the palace was not allowed to remain in Hyde Park and was taken down and rebuilt at Sydenham Hill in South-east London, where it served as a centre for the enlightenment of the people, housing collections of architecture, art, and manufacturing. Unfortunately, the Palace has not survived to our time as it was destroyed by fire in 1936.176 The Crystal Palace was 562 m long and 124 m wide; it was more than three times the length of St Paul’s Cathedral and “the astronomer-royal declared that it Crystal Palace from the northeast from Dickinson’s Comprehensive Pictures of the Great Exhibition of 1851, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated December 24, 2014, accessed January 21, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Crystal_Palace_from_the_ northeast_from_Dickinson%27s_Comprehensive_Pictures_of_the_Great_Exhibition_ of_1851._1854.jpg. 176 “A Brief History of the Crystal Palace,” in The Crystal Palace Museum, accessed January 22, 2015, http://www.crystalpalacemuseum.org.uk/history/. 175


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could not stand.”177 It used 300,000 sheets of glass in the largest size ever made till then (1.3 m x 25.3 cm) and the skeleton of cast-iron columns and metal bar frames was based on a module of standard parts that were prefabricated in Birmingham, so the whole construction from the design to the opening took less than nine months.178 It sounds simple and very modern; this is how similar constructions are built today, from prefabricated parts. But the whole process of designing the exhibition hall was not as easy as it seems from most sources, which only give us technical details of the Palace, not the drama behind it. Bill Bryson gathered the facts behind the scenes and calls it a miracle that an exhibition hall was built at all. An open competition produced 245 designs for the exhibition hall, yet all were rejected by the Building Committee. The Committee then produced an unrealistic design of their own that would have required 30 million bricks, which would have been too costly and hard to acquire, and, moreover, it would have been too vast, low, and dark. There was also a suggestion of a massive iron dome over the building, which was probably unbuildable within the time limit given. And it would have had to be completed in ten months, which was simply impossible, considering the type of building they proposed. At this moment of crisis came the design of Joseph Paxton (1803–1865). It came late and broke all the competition rules, but nevertheless it saved the day. Since Paxton was a head gardener, it occurred to him that the technology he was using for building his greenhouses could be used on a large scale for the exhibition hall. His opponents were rightly worried about his lack of training for such a job and about the possibility of glazing bars expanding in the summer heat and huge glass panes falling out and crashing on to the crowds of people. The whole edifice seemed too frail to withstand storms. After several days of considering all the possible problems and dangers, the Committee approved his plan and the edifice survived one storm during its construction and was finished in time for the grand opening.179 And a grand opening there was, with the Royal Family and important guests, as can be seen in the painting by Henry Courtney Selous, The Opening of the Great Exhibition by Queen Victoria on 1st May 1851,180 or in a lithograph by Louis Haghe, The State Opening of The Great Exhibition in 1851 (fig. 181).

John Cannon, ed., The Oxford Companion to British History, 267. “The Crystal Palace,” in Victoria and Albert Museum, last updated 2015, accessed January 22, 2015, http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/t/the-crystal-palace/. 179 Bill Bryson, At Home. A Short History of Private Life (London: Random House, 2010), 25–33. 180 The painting The Opening of the Great Exhibition by Queen Victoria on 1st May 1851 can be found on the Internet as part of the V&A collections, e.g. http://collections.vam. ac.uk/item/O8820/the-opening-of-the-great-oil-painting-selous-henry-courtney/ 177

178

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181

There also exist photographs that confirm the hall was so enormous that tall trees could grow there (fig. 182).

182

Louis Haghe, Crystal Palace – Queen Victoria opens the Great Exhibition, colour lithograph, 1851, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated November 5, 2014, accessed January 23, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Crystal_Palace_-_Queen_Victoria_ opens_the_Great_Exhibition.jpg. 182 Crystal Palace Great Exhibition Tree, 1851, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated October 25, 2014, accessed January 23, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Crystal_ Palace_Great_Exhibition_tree_1851.png. 181


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To get an idea about the exhibition itself, we can study the picture below, which shows some of the 100,000 objects, big and small, that were exhibited by 14,000 exhibitors from all over the world, as was claimed; half from Britain and the Empire, half from other countries.183 However, the design of the objects of British provenance that were displayed was rather poor; in fact critics considered it “vulgar and tasteless” and the exhibition started a period of design reform,184 which will be discussed in the next chapter. In the painting it is mainly works of art that draw our attention, but there was a lot of modern machinery exhibited, British inventions that made the Industrial Revolution possible and that Britain was rightly proud of. The painter J. McNeven captured the main hall full of people admiring the exhibits (fig. 186), but he mainly painted the well-off people, as can be deduced from their attire. Yet it is known that there were people of all classes among the six million visitors during those six months of the exhibition, ranging from the nobility to skilled workers. In fact, more than four million visitors paid the minimum one-shilling entrance fee,185 which means they visited the exhibition on ‘cheap days’ and joined the crowds.

186 183 “The Crystal Palace,” in Victoria and Albert Museum, last updated 2015, accessed January

22, 2015, http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/t/the-crystal-palace/. Snodin and John Styles, Design & the Decorative Arts. Victorian Britain 1837– 1901 (London: V&A Publications, 2004), 75. 185 Michael Snodin and John Styles, Design & the Decorative Arts. Victorian Britain 1837– 1901, 74. 186 J. McNeven, Crystal Palace, coloured lithograph, 1851, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated November 1, 2013, accessed January 23, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:Crystal_Palace_-_interior.jpg. 184 Michael

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Apart from the exhibits, there was a very modern facility that was available for the first time – the flushing toilet. More than eight hundred thousand visitors wanted to ‘spend a penny’ to use this modern invention.187 Following this example, more public toilets were installed in London.188 Although the general public loved the Palace and everybody approaching it through the park was amazed by its huge and miraculously sparkling structure, there were opponents, especially among architects and art critics, who were not fond of it. John Ruskin considered the Crystal Palace to be just technology, not architecture. He complained that magnifying a conservatory is not a new architectural style.189 Unfortunately, a sharp division was felt between engineering and architecture in the nineteenth century, so although the Crystal Palace was indeed a triumph of the expression of the technological advances of the time, it was not considered high architecture and so iron and glass remained confined to technical edifices such as railway stations or other exhibition halls. In railway stations, such as St Pancras (see figs. 190 and 191) or Paddington, the parts where the actual trains are to be found are in sharp contrast with the public part of the station with its impressive entrance, halls, and hotel for travellers.

190

“Spending a Penny,” in The Victorianist, February 2, 2011, accessed January 23, 2015, http://thevictorianist.blogspot.cz/2011/02/spending-penny-or-first-public-flushing.html. 188 Lee Jackson, The Dictionary of Victorian London, last updated 2001, accessed January 23, 2015, http://www.victorianlondon.org/index-2012.htm. 189 Michael Snodin and John Styles, Design & the Decorative Arts. Victorian Britain 1837– 1901, 11. 190 St Pancras Railway Station, photo Colin, 2012, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated November 14, 2014, accessed January 23, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:St_Pancras_Railway_Station_2012-06-23.jpg. 187


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191

Even if advanced technology was present in a building, such as steel frame construction, an integral system of heating, or artificial ventilation, the façade of the building did not disclose that. A good example of that is the building called Mentmore Towers (fig. 193), designed by Joseph Paxton and his son-in-law George Henry Stokes.192

191

St Pancras International, photo Przemysław Sakrajda, 2010, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated November 14, 2014, accessed January 23, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia. org/wiki/File:StPancrasInternational-PS02.JPG. 192 David Watkin, English Architecture. A concise history (London: Thames and Hudson, 1979), 154.

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193

It was only later generations of architects, especially Modernists, such as Le Corbusier, who considered the Crystal Palace an architectural masterpiece.194

193 Mentmore Towers, Buckinghamshire, England, photo Swanker, 2006, in Wikimedia Com-

mons, last updated December 30, 2014, accessed January 23, 2015, http://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mentmore_Towers_from_angle.jpg. 194 “The Crystal Palace,” in Architecture.com, accessed January 25, 2015, http://www.architecture.com/Explore/Buildings/CrystalPalace.aspx.

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Arts and crafts as a response to the Industrial Revolution As we read earlier, the British design of manufactured goods was considered rather poor, even tasteless by some, to the level that the Victorian government, backed by Prince Albert, started becoming involved in the whole issue of improving the standards of design of manufactured goods and elevating public taste. It is even believed that this was the driving force behind the organisation of the Great Exhibition.195 Yet that was just the beginning. The exhibition earned a handsome sum of money, which made it possible for new museums to be founded, including the South Kensington Museum (opened in 1857). It was hoped that a broader public would be educated and elevated in matters of taste and the best examples of historical as well as contemporary decorative art and manufactured goods were on display there. The aim was to address not only manufacturers, artists, and the artisan classes, but also the middle-class public, and, surprisingly, also working-class families.196 That was surely a breakthrough in Britain, because hardly anybody had ever cared about the cultural elevation of the working classes, except for social reformers and idealists such as Robert Owen, who believed in creating better and happier workers through education and the influence of art, especially music and dancing, and made his dream come true in New Lanark in the first decades of the 19th century.197 Apart from the South Kensington Museum, the Government School of Design, whose task was to prepare better designers for British manufacture, was also established. As the Victorian government surely wanted to see the country prosper, improving standards of design and manufacture in Britain was an important step in safeguarding domestic industry against foreign competition. The Industrial Revolution changed practically everything in Britain, not just industry. The Industrial Revolution was made possible by many factors coinciding, such as the large amounts of wealth coming from the colonies, the slave, tobacco and other trades, by the Agricultural Revolution preceding it, which made sure that the huge force of factory workers could be fed, by the relative Snodin and John Styles, Design & the Decorative Arts. Victorian Britain 1837– 1901, 74. 196 Michael Snodin and John Styles, Design & the Decorative Arts. Victorian Britain 1837– 1901, 80. 197 A picture depicting such a dancing class of working-class children in New Lanark can be found at http://www.newlanark.org/uploads/image/Dancing.jpg. 195 Michael

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stability and peace in Britain, by many scientists and inventors coming up with new ideas, and by the cheap workforce of impoverished landless people driven to the towns from the country. By the mid-nineteenth century the industrial production of the country had guaranteed the growth of the nation’s wealth and the prosperity of a much larger section of the population than just factory owners. Even middle-class people were affected by this material abundance. The ever-increasing production needed more consumers buying new goods, so design started playing an important role in the battle of competing products. Design became so important that many laws were introduced at that time to guarantee that even designs could be registered and therefore protected. Manufacturers started using the names of well-known designers as trend-setters, supported by the new art magazines and art critics.198 This combined effort made the wheels of consumerism go round. For the first time the changing fashions of dressing and house decoration affected not only the aristocracy, but also the ever-larger and more and more prosperous middle class. And where there is wealth, it longs to be seen. People started spending money on redecorating their houses in modern styles and buying new clothes that were dyed with the newly produced chemical colours. This innovative atmosphere in design gave rise to a movement that changed domestic architecture in all Europe. And strangely enough, this movement had its roots in opposition to the commercial and materialist society of the industrial Victorian era. It all started with Augustus W.N. Pugin (1812–1852), a highly-respected architect, designer, and thinker of the early Victorian period. He was the one who dismissed the dominant style of the Empire, Neo-Classicism, and did all he could to promote the wide acceptance of the Gothic style for public buildings. (He was one of the architects of the new Houses of Parliament in Neo-Gothic style.) In fact, this glorification of the Gothic style was caused by his idealisation of the Middle Ages as the period when everything was pure and truthful. And in this respect he was followed by John Ruskin (1819–1900), who also disliked modern civilisation and believed in the unity of art and nature. Since he was widely educated in many spheres of human knowledge, and he was a great orator, he became the dominant cultural critic of the time. His influence on the establishment of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood is undeniable; later on he supported them both artistically and financially. The reason for mentioning the Pre-Raphaelites in this context is that this group of artists was completely antagonistic to modern times in both form and their themes, which were mostly taken from old history, mythology, or the Bible, meticulously depicting nature in every detail. (The very opposite of what Turner started experimenting with.) And yet, thanks to Ruskin’s support they eventually became accepted. One of the best Snodin and John Styles, Design & the Decorative Arts. Victorian Britain 1837– 1901, 85–88.

198 Michael

Arts and crafts as a response to the Industrial Revolution

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and best-known paintings is Ophelia by John Everett Millais (fig. 199). The only thing that reflects contemporary Victorian society is the elaborate symbolism of the choice of flowers held by Ophelia.

199

There is at least one interesting exception among their pictures in terms of its theme, and that is William Holman Hunt’s The Awakening Conscience (fig. 200), where a fallen woman suddenly contemplates her situation; so in fact, here again we have the Biblical theme of the Ten Commandments, but in a modern context. Hunt’s painting is very subtle, expressing its real theme only in allusions and little symbolic details such as the absence of a wedding ring, the symbolic use of flow ers, the cat playing with the bird, and many more. Prostitution was very common in Victorian times, despite but also because of the ostentatious, yet hypocritical morality of the time. Where there is demand, there will be supply. And demand there was, as well as a constant supply of so many poor girls and women who needed to do anything to earn some money.

Everett Millais, Ophelia, oil on canvas, c. 1851, 76.2 x 111.8 cm (Tate Britain, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated January 10, 2015, accessed February 4, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Everett_Millais_-_Ophelia_-_Google_ Art_Project.jpg.

199 John

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200

Another artist who was closely connected with both the Pre-Raphaelite Broth erhood and Ruskin was William Morris (1834–1896). And it was this artist, textile designer, writer, and thinker who became the prominent figure in design in the Victorian age. Holman Hunt, The Awakening Conscience, oil on canvas, 1853, 76.2 x 55.9 cm (Tate Britain, London) in Wikimedia Commons, last updated January 10, 2015, accessed February 4, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Holman_Hunt_-_ The_Awakening_Conscience_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg.

200 William


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Morris was an artist who surely did not want to live in a conventional house. When he got married in 1859, he asked his friend, the architect Philip Webb, to design a home for them that would be both modern and ‘very medieval in spir it’.201 And it is exactly what he got (fig. 203). The red-brick house was designed in simplified Tudor Gothic style, because Morris was influenced by Ruskin’s teachings about the Gothic as “a time of perfection in the craft and building trades, as well as a period of great faith and belief in human dignity.”202 Yet the house was something completely different from what had been built before; not a pompous house trying to impress with historical features that were to express the family’s status, but a home with a fireplace in the hall as its natural centre, built with regard to the family’s needs; built as if from within, with the exterior nicely reflecting the interior arrangement. It evoked domesticity and happiness. This house became the prototype for other modern houses of the period and later.

203

Yet the house had another quality; it was the home of an artist and every single detail of its interior reflected that. Ruskin and his followers believed that of William Morris,” in Victoria and Albert Museum, last updated 2015, accessed February 5, 2015, http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/b/biography-of-williammorris/. 202 Kristen M. Harkness, William Morris and Philip Webb, Red House, Khan Academy, last updated May 8, 2014, accessed February 5, 2015, https://www.khanacademy.org/ humanities/becoming-modern/Victorian-art-architecture/pre-raphaelites/a/williammorris-and-philip-webb-red-house. 203 Philip Webb’s Red House in Upton, photo Ethan Doyle White, 2014, in Wikipedia, last updated June, 21, 2014, accessed February 5, 2015, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ File:Philip_Webb%27s_Red_House_in_Upton.jpg. 201 “Biography

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the Industrial Revolution had an awful impact not only on the environment and society, but also on the human soul, because if people surrounded themselves with mass-produced objects without aesthetic qualities, it ruined their taste, and their homes lacked spirituality and refinement. They believed that every object should be handmade, just like in medieval guilds of artisans, made with love and care. And so Morris, his wife Jane, Philip Webb, and the painter Edward Burne-Jones created all the furnishings and decorations of the house themselves.204 Their house was a success and Morris was prompted by this achievement to start his own business in this sphere. He became one of the owners of a successful company that provided original domestic furnishings such as furniture, stained glass, tiles, and wallpaper with designs that are still admired. And he became a trend-setter of the late Victorian period. All the equipment was very simple, made from traditional materials that were processed with great care (see figs. 205–207). These ideas were adopted by the Arts and Crafts movement, which had a considerable effect on industrial design, as well as the system of art schools of the South Kensington system; new art magazines also promoted the public’s interest in the hand-made decorative arts, and so the influence of the Arts and Crafts movement was felt over subsequent generations of artists and designers, and not only in Britain. Its reflections can be seen in the Art Nouveau style, as will be discussed later.

205 204 Kristen

M. Harkness, William Morris and Philip Webb, Red House.

205 Red House’s hallway and Neo-Gothic staircase, photo Ethan Doyle White, 2014, in Wiki-

pedia, last updated July 15, 2014, accessed February 5, 2015, http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/File:Hallway_at_Red_House.jpg.

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206

207 206 Stained glass window of Love at Red House, photo Ethan Doyle White, 2014, in Wikipe-

dia, last updated August 15, 2014, accessed February 5, 2015, http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/File:Stained_glass_window_of_Love_at_Red_House.jpg. 207 Red House, the settle in the drawing room, with Burne-Jones murals to either side, photo Ethan Doyle White, 2014, in Wikipedia, last updated July 15, 2014, accessed February 5, 2015, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Drawing_Room_at_Red_House,_Lonson.jpg.

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Below are examples of wallpapers designed by William Morris, in whose elegant stylised elaborate flowery patterns we can already feel the advent of the Art Nouveau period (see figs. 208–210).

208

209

210 208 William

Morris, Jasmine block-printed wallpaper, 1872, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated September 25, 2012, accessed February 5, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia. org/wiki/File:Morris_Jasmine_Wallpaper_1872.png. 209 William Morris, Acanthus Wallpaper, 1875, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated March 12, 2014, accessed February 5, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Morris_ Acanthus_Wallpaper_1875.jpg. 210 William Morris, Granada, woven silk velvet wallpaper, 1884, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated December 26, 2013, accessed February 5, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia. org/wiki/File:Morris_Granada_velvet.jpg.

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Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Story of Wealth and Art in Glasgow Today, Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868–1928) is considered the most influential Scottish architect and designer, and some even claim he is the most important British architect of the last 150 years according to polls,211 yet in his time he gained greater recognition abroad than at home. The Glasgow group’s influence on English design was quite small at the end of the 19th century. Among the few that were inspired by them was the London department store Liberty & Co., which promoted some of their furniture design and incorporated features of their style, together with features of the Arts and Crafts style and the continental Art Nouveau, into their trademark style.212 The ‘Glasgow Four’, as they became known, was a group of architects, artists, and designers, including Charles Rennie Mackintosh, his wife Margaret and her sister Frances Macdonald, and his friend Herbert McNair, who came together in 1893 and gained a reputation not only for their original works of art but also for their eccentricity and bohemian way of life; they were nicknamed the ‘Spook School’ in Glasgow. In Britain, they were mostly ridiculed or ignored, and yet they were celebrated on the Continent, especially in Vienna. It seems they simply did not fit into the norms of Victorian society.213 Although the Glasgow Four were a unique group in Scotland, internationally they were part of a big movement that spread all over Europe and affected even the USA. The movement had different names in different countries all through Europe, and they often suggested modernity214 – Art Nouveau, Modern Style, Modernismo, Moderne Stille, Jugendstil, Secession, les Beaux Arts, etc. According to Hardy,215 the beginnings of this new style can be found in Victorian England, where the Arts and Crafts movement started as a reaction against Victorian eclectic revivalism in architecture, as well as the mass production caused by the Industrial Revolution. Colin Baxter and John McKean, Charles Rennie Mackintosh (Edinburgh: Lomond Books, 1999), 30. 212 Michael Snodin and John Styles, Design & the Decorative Arts. Victorian Britain 1837– 1901, 64. 213 Charlotte and Peter Fiell, Charles Rennie Mackintosh (Köln: Taschen, 1995), 18. 214 William Hardy, Secese, trans. Markéta Řapková (Praha: Svojtka a Vašut, 1997), 8. 215 Hardy, Secese. Art Nouveau, 14. 211

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Not only were the sources of inspiration of the new Art Nouveau movement similar all over Europe (Japanese art, traditional vernacular architecture, pre-historicism with functional layout of houses, and in Britain also the Celtic revival and Scottish baronial architecture), but the artists and architects also influenced one another. Mackintosh became an architect after taking evening classes in the architec tural section of the School of Art and practising as an architectural draughtsman. He was well read in the architectural writings of the time, but also found inspiration in Japanese art and architecture, and especially in the Scottish Baronial style, which he considered very modern in its functionalism combined with beauty.216 Another source of inspiration for him was the cultural heritage of Scotland and this great sense of patriotism and admiration for Scottish vernacular architecture remained with him throughout his life.217 This love for the vernacular and inspiration in nature were connecting features with the Arts and Crafts movement. He also found inspiration in Celtic ornaments, as seen in old Celtic jewellery and illuminated manuscripts.218 However, Mackintosh never imitated the past like the Victorians did, he only learnt from it. He differed from typical Victorians in other ways too, and not only in his art, which was rather non-conformist. To his employer’s displeasure he was building up his name as a modernist architect outside their architectural business, and moreover he broke off his engagement to his employer’s sister,219 which was hardly forgivable, especially in Victorian Britain with its strict moral values. When he eventually married Margaret Macdonald, his colleague in the Glasgow Four, their home was far from a conventional Victorian home; just like William Morris before them, they also designed every single piece of their furniture there; their house became the fruit of their love and artistic harmony. In fact, their mar riage was also a harmonious working partnership, with Margaret’s input probably being very high. This comment of Mackintosh about his wife is often quoted: “Margaret has genius, I have only talent.”220 Their original house was demolished in the 1960s, yet its complete interior was luckily preserved and reassembled in the Hunterian Art Gallery. Their house was an artistic and personal statement where every room was a jewel. The white bedroom with its sculptural furniture is more

Charles Rennie Mackintosh, 12. Fiell, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, 8. 218 Hardy, Secese. Art Nouveau, 22. 219 Baxter and McKean, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, 10. 220 Fiell, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, 22. 216 Fiell, 217

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Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Story of Wealth and Art in Glasgow

a work of art than an architectural interior. Unlike the dark and sombre Victorian houses, the spirit of their house is one of light and harmony.221 Everything in the house met their needs, yet the variety of furniture in the living room suggests it may also have served as a display for potential clients, because Mackintosh had no showroom. There is a cabinet that is a splendid example of that strategy; the outside is white, and when it is opened, the onlooker is impressed by the beautiful stylised ornaments (fig. 222).

222

Mackintosh’s greatest public achievement was the building of the new Glasgow School of Art. Before saying more about the school, we should have a look at Glasgow in the 19th century. Thanks to its location, Glasgow became an important port and trading centre in the 17th century. The city’s merchants grew rich from the tobacco trade; the first Scottish millionaires appeared. Later on Glasgow became the biggest importer of sugar and in the 19th century the city became the ‘Second City of the Empire’ with its ever-expanding shipbuilding, locomotive construction, and other heavy industry. At the same time other industries and manufacturing bases grew there, such as textiles, tobacco, sugar processing, soap-making, dis221

More about their house can be found at The Hunterian, accessed December 10, 2014, http://www.gla.ac.uk/hunterian/collections/permanentdisplays/themackintoshhouse/. 222 Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Cabinet, photo Tony Hisgett, 2012, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated December 4, 2013, accessed February 9, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia. org/wiki/File:Charles_Rennie_Mackintosh_Cabinet_(8030216621).jpg.

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tilling, and glass-making. Glasgow ranked as one of the finest and richest cities in Europe. The enormous wealth of the city and its merchants and industrialists was seen not only in the amount of grand public buildings, museums, galleries, and beautiful large parks, but also in its modern infrastructure, with water and gas supplies and even a telephone system.223 All these rich people wanted to live in grand houses where they could display their wealth. During the 19th-century boom middle-class people also prospered and invested their money into the decoration of their homes. They also wanted to meet in pleasant locations. For all that new designers and architects were wanted, which meant that the School of Art grew and a larger building was needed. Thanks to the modernist views of Francis H. Newbery, the School’s director, Mackintosh’s design was chosen. The school was built in two phases, because of a lack of money, between 1897 and 1899, and then between 1904 and 1909. Mackintosh’s approach was very modernist and was later developed further by the Functional ists. The whole design of the school was generated by its function, that is, from the interior to the exterior. Yet at the same time he paid careful attention to every detail. In his time there was a lot of controversy surrounding his design, while today this building is not only loved in Britain but recognised as one of the first and finest examples of Art Nouveau architecture in the world and Mackintosh’s masterpiece224 (see figs. 225–228).

Second City of the Empire – 19th Century,” in Welcome to Glasgow, last updated 2015, accessed February 9, 2015, https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=3475. 224 Fiell, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, 52–62. 223 “The

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225

226

227 225 School of Art, West façade, photo dalbera, 2009, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated

November 23, 2014, accessed February 9, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:La_fa%C3%A7ade_ouest_de_la_%22Glasgow_School_of_Art%22_(3803688596). jpg. 226 School of Art, decorative elements, photo dalbera, 2009, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated November 30, 2014, accessed February 9, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia. org/wiki/File:Les_d%C3%A9cors_symbolistes_de_la_%22Glasgow_School_of_Art%22_ (3803687862).jpg. 227 School of Art, North façade, photo Twid, 2005, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated December 11, 2014, accessed February 9, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Schoolofart1.jpg.

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228

An even more famous Mackintosh-related location in Glasgow is the Willow Tea Rooms. Rich middle-class people wanted to meet somewhere more pleasant than local pubs, especially if couples or just ladies wanted to go out and enjoy a nice cup of tea or coffee, still a luxurious commodity then. And since it was expensive, it was associated with fine porcelain and elegant rooms. Coffee houses had existed in England since the 17th century and they very soon became very popular places for social gatherings of men. They were then transformed into what we would now call clubs, where men of one class and similar tastes could meet and have conversation, on serious or not-so-serious topics. 229 It was only in the second half of the 19th century that new coffee houses which were not so elitist opened for ordinary people. Yet women were still not allowed there. After the introduction in the 1880s of tea rooms, which offered a respectable environment, women could finally socialise outside their homes without male company.230 That was surely an improvement for them in prudish Victorian society. 228 School of Art, main entrance, photo dalbera, 2009, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated

November 30, 2014, accessed February 9, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Lentr%C3%A9e_de_la_%22Glasgow_School_of_Art%22_(3802873999).jpg. 229 Humphry Ward, “From London Coffee Houses to London Clubs,” in The Victorian Web, last updated April 20, 2005, accessed February 9, 2015, http://www.victorianweb.org/ history/clubs.html. 230 “A Social History of the Nation‘s Favourite Drink,” in UK Tea & Infusions Association, last updated 2015, accessed February 9, 2015, http://www.tea.co.uk/a-social-history.


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Miss Catherine Cranston was inspired by this new wave of tea rooms and started a chain of elegant art tea rooms in Glasgow. She commissioned Mackintosh to design the interior furnishings and decoration for all of them. He followed a holistic approach to the design, the idea of a Gesamtkunstwerk. He designed all the interior furniture and fittings, including the silverware and the uniforms of the waitresses. The Willow Tea Rooms in Sauchiehall Street (opened to the public in 1904) still exist. Sauchiehall means “willow grove” in Scots, hence the willow motifs. The Willow Tea Rooms originally had a Room de Luxe, the only one which still functions as intended, and a dining room, a smoking room, and a billiard room231 (see figs. 232–234).

232

231

Fiell, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, 112–118. de Luxe, Willow Tea Rooms, photo Dave souza, 2006, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated December 31, 2015, accessed February 9, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia. org/wiki/File:Room_de_Luxe.jpg?uselang=cs.

232 Room

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233

234 233 Willow

Tea Rooms sign, photo dalbera, 2009, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated November 30, 2014, accessed February 9, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Lenseigne_du_salon_de_th%C3%A9_%22the_Willow_Tearoom%22_(Glasgow)_ (3802872511).jpg?uselang=cs. 234 Waitresses in Willow Tea Rooms, cca 1903, in Wikimedia Commons, photo J.C. Annan, 2006, last updated November 11, 2013, accessed February 9, 2015, http://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Room_de_Luxe_waitresses.jpg?uselang=cs.


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Another change in the middle-class way of life was the approach to homes. Many rich people still wanted to impress others by their houses and lived in grand-looking mansions. However, there were exceptions inspired by the Arts and Crafts approach, which was more interested in how comfortable and suitable for family needs the house was. Mackintosh created houses of the latter type for his few enlightened clients. In this respect, his approach was similar to the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who also strove to provide “a functional well-ordered house that responded to the needs and wishes of the families.” Both architects first agreed on the plans with their clients, and only then was there any talk about the façade.235 Hill House in Helensburgh is the masterpiece of Mackintosh’s domestic architecture (see figs. 239–242). In it he combines the tradition of English country houses as set by the Arts and Crafts movement with his admiration for the Scottish baronial style and vernacular architecture, so the house is very Scottish in spirit. He radically followed the new approach to English country houses, starting with designing the interior first to the utmost detail and with respect to the future inhabitants’ needs and wishes, and working on the exterior elevations only later. It is clear to any visitor to the house that the interior was planned to suit particular people, not just an anonymous client. In fact, Mackintosh had spent some time with the clients to see what they really needed. When he handed over the house to the owners, the Blackie family, he famously said: “Here is the house. It is not an Italian villa, an English mansion house, a Swiss chalet, or a Scotch castle. It is a dwelling house.”236 And it was. The Blackie girls, daughters of the owner of Hill House, had fond memories of the house. When talking about their childhood in Hill House they said it was a very pleasant house to be in, they liked playing there and hiding in its special nooks. They recollected the lovely feeling of space and light.237 Although Mackintosh did not have any children of his own, he liked them very much and got on well with them,238 and he took their needs into consideration, which was not so common in Victorian times, when the widespread sentiment was nicely expressed in the saying ‘Children should be seen, not heard.’

235 Pamela Robertson, Common Cause: Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Frank Lloyd Wright,

lecture recorded June 20, 2013, accessed October 15, 2014, http://www.flwright.org/ researchexplore/robertsonvideo. 236 Alan Macmillan, dir., Dreams and Recollections (Scottish Television plc, 1987). 237 Dreams and Recollections. 238 Fiell, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, 22.

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239

240

239 The

Hill House, photo Remi Mathis, 2013, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated January 11, 2015, accessed February 9, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Helensburgh_-_Hill_House_11.JPG. 240 The Hill House, photo Remi Mathis, 2013, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated January 11, 2015, accessed February 9, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Helensburgh_-_Hill_House_01.JPG.

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241

242

241

The Hill House, interior, photo Remi Mathis, 2013, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated January 11, 2015, accessed February 9, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Helensburgh_-_Hill_House_-_interior_07.JPG. 242 The Hill House, interior, photo Remi Mathis, 2013, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated January 11, 2015, accessed February 9, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Helensburgh_-_Hill_House_-_interior_03.JPG.

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Britain at War There is nothing beautiful about wars, so why talk about war in connection with art? Yet even the first work of art mentioned in this book was connected with the Battle of Hastings, so we can see that art is omnipresent. Although the famous Latin saying Inter arma silent musae suggests that art is silenced during wartime, it has never been so. Picasso’s famous painting Guernica, which became a famous anti-war symbol, was created during the Spanish Civil War. There is a long history of battles and wars being depicted in British painting. In the Grand Style of the 18th- and 19th-century Royal Academy, heroic moments of national history are idealised and glorified. With the First World War, then known as the Great War because nothing worse than that was ever supposed to happen again, the situation changed. The British Government discovered as early as in 1914 that Germany had a Propaganda Agency and so a War Propaganda Bureau was also established in Britain. We usually imagine posters like these when we hear about war propaganda (see figs. 243–244).

243

243 Daddy, what did You do in the Great War? World War I poster, 1915, in Wikimedia Com-

mons, last updated February 4, 2015, accessed February 13, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Daddy,_what_did_You_do_in_the_Great_War%3F.jpg?uselang=cs.

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244

Yet this was different. Twenty-five British authors became involved. As for visual documentation, only two official photographers were allowed to take photographs of the Western Front, and no-one else was allowed to do that; the penalty for taking photographs without this licence was the firing squad.245 As for painters, the first official painter was Muirhead Bone (1876–1953), whose role was to present the war in pictures. In 1916 he made 150 drawings during the Battle of the Somme. He made more drawings and prints even after his first mission and he served his country similarly during the Second World War.246 His drawings depict the devastated land but also war casualties and individual soldiers (see figs. 247–250). 244 Remember Scarborough! Enlist Now! World War I poster, 1914, in Wikimedia Commons,

last updated January 30, 2012, accessed February 13, 2015, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ File:Rememberscarborough.jpg. 245 John Simkin, “War Propaganda Bureau,” in Spartacus Educational, last updated January 2015, accessed February 13, 2015, http://spartacus-educational.com/FWWwpb.htm. 246 John Simkin, “Muirhead Bone,” in Spartacus Educational, last updated August 2014, accessed February 13, 2015, http://spartacus-educational.com/ARTbone.htm.

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247

248

Bone, Beyond Maricourt – Shells Bursting, pencil, wash, 13.3 x 22.8 cm (Imperial War Museums, London) in Wikimedia Commons, last updated May 23, 2014, accessed February 13, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beyond_Maricourt_-_Shells_Bursting_Art.IWMART2079.jpg. 248 Muirhead Bone, View across open fields from a trench, lithograph, 1918, 50.5 x 37.8 cm (Imperial War Museums, London) in Wikimedia Commons, last updated January 27, 2014, accessed February 13, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:In_the_Santerre_(1918)_(Art.IWM_REPRO_000684_22).jpg. 247 Muirhead

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249

250

249 Muirhead Bone, The Cellar in Contalmaison Chateau, August 1916 – the death of a hero,

charcoal, 1916, 22.8 x 29.2cm (Imperial War Museums, London) in Wikimedia Commons, last updated April 10, 2014, accessed February 13, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:The_Cellar_in_Contalmaison_Chateau,_August_1916_-_the_death_of_a_hero_ Art.IWMART2045.jpg. 250 Muirhead Bone, Inside the Main Dressing Station. 1st Canadian Field Ambulance, chalk on paper, 1916, 25.4 x 35.3 cm (Canadian War Museum, London) in Wikimedia Commons, last updated September 25, 2013, accessed February 13, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:David_Muirhead_Bone_-_Inside_the_Main_Dressing_Station._1st_Canadian_Field_Ambulance.jpg.

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Even when he draws the landscape, his rendering has a melancholy that does not allow the viewer to forget this is a war scene. Besides general scenes from hospitals, he also drew individual portraits of injured soldiers. After his first mission in 1916 he was replaced in his role as the official war painter by Francis Dodd (1874–1949), his brother-in-law. Dodd’s task was slightly different, though. During his stay on the Western Front, he was asked to produce mainly portraits of senior military officers.251 So his mission was probably the immortalisation of important war heroes for the nation, but luckily for us, besides these portraits of admirals and generals he also vividly captured un known common soldiers, not in combat situations but in their daily routines (see figs. 252–256).

252

253

John Simkin, “Francis Dodd,” in Spartacus Educational, last updated August 2014, accessed February 13, 2015, http://spartacus-educational.com/ARTdodd.htm. 252 Francis Dodd, Admiral Sir Frederick Tower Hamilton KCBb CVO, watercolour, charcoal, 1917, 36.1 x 24.7 cm (Imperial War Museums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated March 5, 2014, accessed February 13, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia. org/wiki/File:Admiral_Sir_Frederick_Tower_Hamilton_Kcb_Cvo_Art.IWMART1746. jpg. 253 Francis Dodd, Lieut-General Sir Charles Louis Woollcombe, KCB, watercolour, charcoal, 1917, 36.1 x 27.3 cm (Imperial War Museums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated December 2, 2014, accessed February 13, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia. org/wiki/File:Lieut-general_Sir_Charles_Louis_Woollcombe,_Kcb_Art.IWMART1833. jpg. 251

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254

255

Dodd, Hydrophone Listener, HM Submarine, charcoal on paper, 1918, 35.5 x 24.1 cm (Imperial War Museums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated March 5, 2014, accessed February 13, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Hydrophone_Listener,_Hm_Submarine_Art.IWMART917.jpg. 255 Francis Dodd, Adjusting Torpedoes, HM Submarine, chalk on paper, 1918, 36.8 x 53.9 cm (Imperial War Museums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated December 25, 2014, accessed February 13, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Adjusting_ Torpedoes,_Hm_Submarine_Art.IWMART920.jpg. 254 Francis

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256

Another painter who offered his services to the country was William Rothenstein (1872–1945). However, he was rejected because of his German origin, and when he finally got to the front, he was arrested as a spy. Eventually, he managed to paint his pictures there while serving in a medical team. His paintings were exhibited in May 1918.257 In 1918 a new approach was taken. More artists were recruited and their task was not primarily propaganda, but simply to create a record.258 Some of them took it literally and when one of them, John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) was asked to paint a picture in which cooperation between the British and American forces would be symbolically expressed, he refused and created a real record of the war, an anti-propagandist picture based on his meeting soldiers blinded by gas on the front.259 His huge painting Gassed became one of the most powerful symbols of the Great War (fig. 261). It has a similar effect on the viewer as reading Wilfred Owen’s poem Dulce et Decorum Est,260 where the poet is also disillusioned with the glory of war after experiencing a gas attack and warns about the lies of war propaganda. 256 Francis Dodd, Cards in the Fo’c’s’le, HM Trawler Mackenzie, charcoal on paper, 1918, 36.1

x 51.4 cm (Imperial War Museums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated July 3, 2014, accessed February 13, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cards_ in_the_Fo%27c%27s%27le,_Hm_Trawler_Mackenzie_Art.IWMART931.jpg. 257 John Simkin, “War Propaganda Bureau.” Rothenstein’s paintings can be seen at http:// www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/artists/william-rothenstein 258 John Simkin, “War Propaganda Bureau.” 259 John Simkin, “John Singer Sargent,” in Spartacus Educational, last updated August 2014, accessed February 13, 2015, http://spartacus-educational.com/ARTsargent.htm. 260 To read or listen to the poem go to http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/owen1.html

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261

Another powerful picture expressing the gloomy atmosphere of the dragging trench war is Over the Top by John Nash (1893–1977). The emotional impact is made stronger by the limited choice of colours. The whole world, with its large colour spectrum of pleasures and emotions, shrinks to just falling and rising and marching, no other thought or hope, just eyes fixed on the enemy lines, forward, never looking back at those who are not any more. The desperate machine-like movement says it all (fig. 262).

262

John Singer Sargent , Gassed, oil on canvas, 1918, 231 x 611 cm (Imperial War Museums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated March 7, 2014, accessed February 13, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gassed.jpg. 262 John Nash, Over the Top, 1918 (Imperial War Museums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated May 27, 2014, accessed February 16, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia. org/wiki/File:%27over_the_Top%27._1st_Artists%27_Rifles_at_Marcoing,_30th_December_1917_Art.IWMART1656.jpg. 261

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Among the painters (altogether about ninety artists worked for the Government during the war263) was also Christopher R. W. Nevinson (1889–1946), who was influenced by Futurism and Cubism, and his famous early war pictures show signs of modernist styles, especially his Returning to the Trenches from 1914264 or French Troops Resting from 1916 (fig. 265).

265

263 John

Simkin, “War Propaganda Bureau.” http://www.gallery.ca/en/see/collections/artwork.php?mkey=2272. 265 C. R. W. Nevinson, French Troops Resting, 1916, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated January 6, 2015, accessed February 13, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil e:NevinsonFrenchTroopsResting1916.jpg. Postcard taken from a painting of the same name. 264 see

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Quite a few of the artists were sent to the front not just as artistic documentarists but as soldiers, and were employed by the War Propaganda Bureau only after they were badly wounded and discharged. This was also the case of Eric Kennington (1888–1960). He was widely praised for his painting on glass The Kensingtons at Laventie, (fig. 267) a group portrait of infantrymen painted from his sketches and souvenirs during his convalescence.266

267

Simkin, “Eric Kennington,” in Spartacus Educational, last updated August 2014, accessed February 16, 2015, http://spartacus-educational.com/ARTkennington.htm. 267 Eric Kennington, The Kensingtons at Laventie, oil on canvas, 1915, 231 x 611 cm (Imperial War Museums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated March 7, 2014, accessed February 13, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Kensingtons_at_Laventie_(1915)_(Art.IWM_ART_15661).jpg. 266 John

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Another powerful painting by Kennington, Gassed and Wounded (fig. 268), draws us in with its raw, grim expressivity and choice of colours, as well as deep shades that force us to look closer to understand what is going on. Kennington remained one of the official artists during the Second World War.

268

268 Eric Kennington, Gassed and Wounded, oil on canvas, 1918, 71.1 x 91.4 cm (Imperial War

Museums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated December 7, 2013, accessed February 16, 2015, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kennington,_Eric_Henri_(RA)_-_ Gassed_and_Wounded_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg.

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Artists were sent not only to the Western Front but also to other theatres of war. One of them was Henry Lamb (1883–1960), who served not as a painter but as a qualified doctor in, among other locations, Palestine, where he witnessed a bombardment. After his return he was commissioned to paint a commemorative painting for the planned (but never built) Hall of Remembrance. The picture he painted was Irish Troops in the Judaean Hills Surprised By A Turkish Bombardment and it was based on his memories,269 and indeed, we view the picture from a bird’s eye perspective, as if flying above the whole scene in a dream, or rather a nightmare (fig. 270).

270

Simkin, “Henry Lamb,” in Spartacus Educational, last updated August 2014, accessed February 16, 2015, http://spartacus-educational.com/ARTlamb.htm. 270 Henry Lamb, Irish Troops in the Judaean Hills Surprised by a Turkish Bombardment, 1919 (Imperial War Museums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated February 2, 2015, accessed February 13, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Irish_Troops_ in_the_Judaean_Hills_Surprised_by_a_Turkish_Bombardment,_1919_Art.IWMART2746. jpg. 269 John

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Another front was, of course, at home and it was women who fought, replacing men in factories supplying soldiers with weaponry. And we should not be surprised that these women appeared mainly in paintings by female artists, such as Anna Airy (1882–1964), who depicted women working in a munitions factory (fig. 271).

271

As has already been mentioned, there were about ninety artists working for the Government, and writing about all of them would need much more space than one chapter in this book. Let us then focus our attention on probably the most famous and widely appreciated of them, whose exhibition in May 1918 was a big success. His name was William Orpen (1878–1931), an Irish-born artist. He worked for the Government for four years, a period during which his work nicely mirrors

271

Anna Airy, Shop for Machining 15-inch Shells – Singer Manufacturing Company, Clydebank, Glasgow, oil on canvas, 1918, 182.8 x 213.3 cm (Imperial War Museums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated April 3, 2014, accessed February 16, 2015, http:// commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shop_for_Machining_15-inch_Shells-_Singer_Manufacturing_Company,_Clydebank,_Glasgow,_1918_Art.IWMART2271.jpg.

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his attitude to war, from idealism to disillusionment, anguish, and despair.272 He is renowned for his portraits of important officers, and yet his most powerful pictures are deserted landscapes in subdued, almost romantic colours with trenches and posts captured in hard-won victories. There is so much nostalgia in them that it is as if the painter was saying so this is what so much blood was spilt for. Only the helmet in the lower part sets this strangely beautiful landscape in the right context (fig. 273).

273

Simkin, “William Orpen,” in Spartacus Educational, last updated August 2014, accessed February 16, 2015, http://spartacus-educational.com/ARTorpen.htm. 273 William Orpen, Thiepval Wood, oil on canvas, 1917, 63.5 x 76.2 cm (Imperial War Museums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated February 5, 2014, accessed February 16, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thiepval_Wood_Art.IWMART2998. jpg. 272 John

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His art of portraiture is seen not only in his official portraits of generals and other officers but even more so in his studies of common soldiers (see figs. 274–275).

274

275

Orpen, General Sir Henry Seymour Rawlinson, Bart, GCVO, KCB, KCMG. Painted at Headquarters, Fourth Army, 1918, oil on canvas, 1918, 91.4 x 76.2 cm (Imperial War Museums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated December 24, 2014, accessed February 16, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:General_Sir_ Henry_Seymour_Rawlinson,_Bart,_Gcvo,_Kcb,_Kcmg._Painted_at_Headquarters,_ Fourth_Army,_1918_Art.IWMART3047.jpg. 275 William Orpen, After a Fight, charcoal on paper, 1917, 49.5 x 45 cm (Imperial War Museums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated December 25, 2014, accessed February 16, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:After_a_Fight_Art. IWMART3026.jpg. 274 William

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A grimmer look at what war brought to people and earth was brought by Paul Nash (1889–1946), whose painting We Are Making a New World is a bitter commentary on the devastation the war brought. The pale sunrise brings only very slight hope (fig. 276).

276

276 Paul Nash, We Are Making a New World, oil on canvas, 1918, 71.1 x 91.4 cm (Imperial War

Museum, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated October 16, 2014, accessed February 16, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:We_are_making_a_new_ World_(1918)_(Art._IWM_ART_1146).jpg.

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And the scale of the devastation, not only of the land but mainly of peo ple’s lives, was symbolically expressed by the painting Youth Mourning by George Clausen (1852–1944). His was a look at the war from the other side, through the eyes of the personal tragedies any war brings to individual people (fig. 277).

277

277 George Clausen, Youth Mourning, oil on canvas, 1916, 91.4 x 91.4 cm (Imperial War Mu-

seums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated December 7, 2013, accessed February 16, 2015, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Clausen,_George_(Sir)_(RA)_-_ Youth_Mourning_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg.

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When the war was finally over, it was time for celebrating but also for building monuments that would remind people of the war heroes and keep their memories alive so as not to repeat the same mistake (fig. 278).

278

And yet, that was just the First World War. When the Second World War started, artists were needed again, because the camera cannot always convey events with all their inner meaning and emotion. Such as, for instance, Dunkirk, the famous huge rescue operation in which British soldiers were shipped home not only on military ships but also on the small boats of ordinary people (fig. 280). No photograph could capture this enormous achievement, which surely saved trained British troops and thus helped boost civilian morale. The memory of Dunkirk helped Britons to endure the hardships of war.279 278 Charles Sargeant Jagger, Royal Artillery Memorial, 1921–25 (Hyde Park Corner in London),

photo Iridescenti, 2007, in Wikimedia Commons, last updated March 10, 2014, accessed February 16, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Artillery_Memorial,_outside_Aspley_House,_London.JPG. 279 The painting by Norman Wilkinson, The Little Ships at Dunkirk: June 1940 can be viewed at http://www.iwm.org.uk/history/dunkirk#lightbox-object-38075

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280

This war was different. There was no need for propaganda; everybody understood that they were fighting for the survival of Britain, as well as democracy in the world. Yet posters painted by famous artists appeared everywhere. That was not propaganda but rather training British citizens for the new situation created by the war (see figs. 281–285).

Ernest Cundall, The Withdrawal from Dunkirk, June 1940, oil on canvas, 1940, 101.8 x 152.8 cm (Imperial War Museums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated January 16, 2014, accessed February 16, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:The_Withdrawal_from_Dunkirk,_June_1940_Art.IWMARTLD305.jpg.

280 Charles

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281

Of course, there were hundreds of other posters that were not so artistic, which well document the true needs of the time. We can see that women were once again wanted in factories but also in the army, typical English front gardens with flowers had to give way to vegetables, and in back gardens bomb shelters were built, and new voluntary jobs as Air Raid Wardens came into existence. Wilkinson, A Few Careless Words May End in this, lithograph, 76.1 x 50.5 cm (Imperial War Museums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated June 24, 2014, accessed February 16, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_Few_Careless_ Words_May_End_in_this_Art.IWMPST13957.jpg.

281 Norman

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282

282 Your

283

Own Vegetables All the Year Round – If You Dig For Victory Now, lithograph, 76 x 50.6 cm (Imperial War Museums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated March 16, 2014, accessed February 16, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Your_Own_Vegetables_All_the_Year_Round_-_If_You_Dig_For_Victory_Now_Art. IWMPST17009.jpg. 283 “Let ‘em All Come” – Home Defence Battalions, lithograph, 1939, 37.8 x 25.1 cm (Imperial War Museums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated February 5, 2014, accessed February 16, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%27let_%27em_ All_Come%27_-_Home_Defence_Battalions_Art.IWMPST6229.jpg.

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284

284 A.T.S.,

285

lithograph, 76 x 50.5 cm (Imperial War Museums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated February 15, 2014, accessed February 16, 2015, http://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A.t.s_Art.IWMPST8122.jpg. 285 Cecil Walter Bacon, Air Raid Wardens Wanted, lithograph, 1939, 76 x 50.8 cm (Imperial War Museums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated April 11, 2014, accessed February 16, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Air_Raid_Wardens_Wanted_Art.IWMPST13850.jpg.

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And new soldiers were needed, especially pilots and other occupations con nected with the Royal Air Force. Everybody knew that the Battle of Britain was fought in the air and that it was vital to support the Air Force by all means.

286

287

288 286 Target for Tonight, offset lithograph, 101.2 x 75.8 cm (Imperial War Museums, London), in

Wikimedia Commons, last updated December 5, 2014, accessed February 16, 2015, http:// commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%27target_for_Tonight%27_Art.IWMPST4015.jpg. 287 Back the Boys with War Savings, lithograph, 76.2 x 50.6 cm (Imperial War Museums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated December 5, 2014, accessed February 16, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Back_the_Boys_with_War_Savings_Art. IWMPST15539.jpg. 288 Frank Wootton, Back Them Up, lithograph and letterpress on paper, 1942, 76 x 50.6 cm (Imperial War Museums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated December 5, 2014, accessed February 16, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Back_Them_ Up_Art.IWMPST8562.jpg.

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Apart from these posters that appeared everywhere and in large quantities and variations, there existed real art, of course, supported by the Government again, this time by the War Artists’ Advisory Committee (WAAC) of the Ministry of Information. They depicted battles as well as home defence and the lives of soldiers as well as ordinary people. The beautiful watercolours of Thomas Barclay Hennell (1903–1945) would look quite peaceful were it not for the military machinery or facilities present there. He depicts the horrors of war through his melancholy visions of ruins after bombing. Horses were still widely used in the war, as can be seen in the picture, despite all the technology that existed (see figs. 289–291).

289

289 Thomas Barclay Hennell, Building a Nissen Hut at Wemeldinge, Holland, watercolour on

paper, 1944, 33.9 x 50.9 cm (Imperial War Museums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated January 17, 2015, accessed February 20, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia. org/wiki/File:Building_a_Nissen_Hut_at_Wemeldinge,_Holland_Art.IWMARTLD4911. jpg.

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290

291 290 Thomas Barclay Hennell, An AA Battery in Holland – January 1945, watercolour on paper,

1945, 31.6 x 50.7 cm (Imperial War Museums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated January 12, 2015, accessed February 20, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:An_Aa_Battery_in_Holland-_January_1945_Art.IWMARTLD4917.jpg. 291 Thomas Barclay Hennell, Calais – La Tour de Guet and the Ruins of the Museum, watercolour on paper, 1945, 48.4 x 62.9 cm (Imperial War Museums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated June 28, 2014, accessed February 20, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Calais-_La_Tour_de_Guet_and_the_Ruins_of_the_Museum_Art. IWMARTLD4744.jpg.

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Thomas Hennell was killed when stationed in Indonesia in November 1945. The war spares nobody. One of the other artists killed during WWII was Eric Ravilious (1903–1942). In the picture below it is only the searchlight seeking planes that gives away the fact that it is a war scene. The whole composition of the picture, with the clifftop in the foreground, leads our eyes to the boats leaving on their mission from the harbour (fig. 292).

292

Ravilious, Coastal Defences, watercolour on paper, 1940, 45.7 x 60.9 cm (Imperial War Museums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated September 8, 2014, accessed February 20, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coastal_Defences_(Art._IWM_ART_LD_5662).jpg.

292 Eric

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And again, it was a female artist, Evelyn Mary Dunbar (1906–1960), who took a completely different perspective. She looked at what ordinary women went through during the war to help the country. Even the colour palette makes it clear that this is war and no fancy time (see figs. 293–294).

293

294

Mary Dunbar, Milking Practice with Artificial Udders, oil on canvas, 1940, 61.7 x 76.6 cm (Imperial War Museums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated January 20, 2014, accessed February 16, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Milking_Practice_with_Artificial_Udders._(Art.IWM_ART_LD_766).jpg. 294 Evelyn Mary Dunbar, Land Army girls going to bed, oil on canvas, 1943, 50.8 x 76.2 cm (Imperial War Museums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated January 20, 2014, accessed February 16, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Land_Army_ Girls_going_to_Bed_(Art.IWM_ART_LD_3351).jpg. 293 Evelyn

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In the pictures of Ethel Gabain (1883–1950) we can see that women often did very heavy work demanding a lot of physical strength (fig. 295).

295

Artists depicted the wartime life of people in Britain, as well as how the country was affected by the war. As a result of the constant bombing all military equipment had to be well hidden in order not to be destroyed. There was camouflage everywhere, on weapons, as well as ships, to prevent them being bombed by German planes. In the picture by Barnett Freedman (1901–1958) we can see what the defence of the British coast looked like (fig. 296).

Leontine Gabain, Sorting and Flinging Logs Women’s Work in the War (Other than the Services), lithograph, 1940, 35.2 x 54.2 cm (Imperial War Museums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated April 7, 2014, accessed February 20, 2015, http:// commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%27Women_lumberjacks_at_Pityoulish_lumber_ camp._They_are_sorting_out_timber_and_flinging_each_tree-trunk_on_to_the_right_ heap._This_is,_indeed,_heavy_work_even_for_men,_and_it_may_will_be_a_matter_ of_pride_to_us_all_that_Art.IWMARTLD1539.jpg.

295 Ethel

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296

Another interesting aspect of British security measures was the evacuation of children from big cities to safer locations in the country. And again, not surprisingly, it was a female artist, Ethel Leontine Gabain (1883–1950), who depicted this in her series of lithographs Children in Wartime (see figs. 297–299).

297

296 Barnett Freedman, Coast Defence Battery: September 1940, oil on canvas, 1940, 109.8 x

245.1 cm (Imperial War Museums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated July 22, 2014, accessed February 20, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coast_ Defence_Battery_-_September_1940_Art.IWMARTLD838.jpg. 297 Ethel Leontine Gabain, The Evacuation of Children from Southend, Sunday 2nd June 1940, lithograph, 1940, 45.4 x 51.1 cm (Imperial War Museums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated April 7, 2014, accessed February 20, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia. org/wiki/File:The_Evacuation_of_Children_from_Southend,_Sunday_2nd_June_1940_ children_in_Wartime_-_Five_lithographs_by_Ethel_Gabain._Art.IWMARTLD264.jpg.

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298

299

Leontine Gabain, Boys from South-East London gathering Sticks in Cookham Wood, lithograph, 1940, 33 x 46.9 cm (Imperial War Museums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated April 7, 2014, accessed February 20, 2015, http://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%27These_London_boys_find_a_new_and_healthy_way_of_ life_in_the_country,_which_is_in_itself_an_education._Most_of_them_continue_to_ have_full-time_schooling_and,_being_boys,_the_country_is_not_dull_for_them._ Many_of_them,_i_Art.IWMARTLD308.jpg. 299 Ethel Leontine Gabain, Evacuees in a Cottage at Cookham, lithograph, 1940, 36.3 x 33.7 cm (Imperial War Museums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated November 13, 2014, accessed February 20, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Evacuees_in_a_Cottage_at_Cookham_children_in_Wartime_-_Five_lithographs_ by_Ethel_Gabain_Art.IWMARTLD426.jpg. 298 Ethel

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Not everybody was evacuated, though. In his powerful drawings, the sculptor Henry Moore (1898–1986) captured Londoners hiding in the underground during the bombing of London (fig. 300). It was during one such bombing that Moore’s own house was hit and he then moved out of London.

300

300 Henry Moore, Women and Children in the Tube, chalk on paper, 1940, 27.9 x 38.1 cm (Imperial

War Museums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated October 12, 2014, accessed February 21, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Women_and_Children_in_the_ Tube_(1940)_(Art.IWM_ART_LD_759).jpg.

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After the bombing whole parts of towns were on fire. The hard work of the firemen and other rescuers can be seen in an impressive picture, A House Collapsing on Two Firemen, Shoe Lane, London, EC4 (fig. 301), by Leonard Rosoman (1913–2012).

301

301 Leonard Rosoman, A House Collapsing on Two Firemen, Shoe Lane, London, EC4, oil on

canvas, 1940, 91.8 x 76.8 cm (Imperial War Museums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated October 12, 2014, accessed February 21, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia. org/wiki/File:Women_and_Children_in_the_Tube_(1940)_(Art.IWM_ART_LD_759).jpg.

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The British responded to the air attacks and many German bombers were destroyed during the Battle of Britain. Paul Nash’s (1889–1946) painting Totes Meer (Dead Sea) (fig. 302) presented a ‘graveyard’ of German war planes, a symbolic picture that surely wished to give hope to the suffering Britons.

302

Nash, Totes Meer (Dead Sea), oil on canvas, 1940–41, 101.6 x 152.4 cm (Tate Gallery, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated December 9, 2011, accessed February 21, 2015, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nash,_Totes_Meer.jpg.

302 Paul

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In another of his paintings Nash showed the battle itself. His Battle of Britain (fig. 303) is an almost abstract painting, in which he presented his vision of the Battle of Britain fought by so many brave British pilots, as well as foreign ones who came to help Britain fight against Hitler. In this allegorical picture the forces of evil end up in the sea with black smoke marking their fate, while the victorious white smoke of the British planes creates a beautiful flower-like emblem in the blue sky above the Thames Estuary.

303

Nash, Battle of Britain, oil on canvas, 1941, 122.6 x 183.5 cm (Imperial War Museums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated January 16, 2014, accessed February 21, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Battle_of_Britain_(1941)_(Art. IWM_ART_LD_1550).jpg.

303 Paul

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Nash then progressed to even greater abstraction in his later paintings. His Battle of Germany (fig. 304) shows the result of the air raids on German towns.

304

Although it is an amazing painting in its own right, it can be understood that at the time it was probably not exactly the right type of propaganda picture that the high authorities expected from official British war artists. It is proof that although quite a lot of pictures were started on demand as part of the country’s war documentation and propaganda campaign, great works of art were also created. This overview did not intend to look at all war artists, but rather contemplate what their art narrated about life in Britain in wartime.

304 Paul Nash, Battle of Germany, oil on canvas, 1944, 121.9 x 182.8 cm (Imperial War Muse-

ums, London), in Wikimedia Commons, last updated January 21, 2014, accessed February 21, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Battle_of_Germany_(1944)_(Art. IWM_ART_LD_4526).jpg.

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And when the war was over, people in Britain remembered all those who made the victory possible, in battles or on the home front, which can be nicely seen in many monuments all over the country. One of them is dedicated to those who fought in the Battle of Britain as pilots, whatever their nationality was (fig. 305). Czech pilots, who foolishly returned back to their own country after the war, suffered in Czech prisons instead of being glorified.

305

305 Paul Day, The Battle of Britain Monument, bronze, granite, 2005, 25 m in width (Victoria

Embankment, London), picture taken by the author, 2014.

154 /


Another recent monument is in Whitehall in central London, symbolically close to the Cenotaph (the monument dedicated to all the soldiers who died for Britain), and it commemorates the role of women during the Second World War (fig. 306).

306

The art journey through passages of British history is over, but there is much more a perceptive viewer can learn about history from art. Let this exploration of art never end. Mills, Monument to the Women of World War II, bronze sculpture, 2005 (Whitehall, London), picture taken by the author, 2014.

306 John

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mons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:An_Aa_Battery_in_Holland-_January_1945_Art. IWMARTLD4917.jpg. Hennell, Thomas Barclay. Building a Nissen Hut at Wemeldinge, Holland, watercolour on paper, 1944, 33.9 x 50.9 cm (Imperial War Museums, London). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated January 17, 2015. Accessed February 20, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Building_a_Nissen_Hut_at_Wemeldinge,_Holland_Art.IWMARTLD4911.jpg. Hennell, Thomas Barclay. Calais – La Tour de Guet and the Ruins of the Museum, watercolour on paper, 1945, 48.4 x 62.9 cm (Imperial War Museums, London). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated June 28, 2014. Accessed February 20, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Calais-_La_Tour_de_Guet_and_the_ Ruins_of_the_Museum_Art.IWMARTLD4744.jpg. High Street tenements, Glasgow. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated September 29, 2012. Accessed January 22, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:High_Street_tenements,_Glasgow.JPG?uselang=cs. The Hill House. Photo Remi Mathis. 2013. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated January 11, 2015. Accessed February 9, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:Helensburgh_-_Hill_House_11.JPG. The Hill House. Photo Remi Mathis. 2013. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated January 11, 2015. Accessed February 9, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:Helensburgh_-_Hill_House_01.JPG. The Hill House. Photo Remi Mathis. 2013. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated January 11, 2015. Accessed February 9, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:Helensburgh_-_Hill_House_-_interior_07.JPG. The Hill House. Photo Remi Mathis. 2013. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated January 11, 2015. Accessed February 9, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:Helensburgh_-_Hill_House_-_interior_03.JPG. Hilliard, Nicholas. Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, oil on wood panel, between 1573 and 1575, 78.7 × 61 cm, (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated December 22, 2014. Accessed February 11, 2015. http://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nicholas_Hilliard_(called)_-_Portrait_of_Queen_ Elizabeth_I_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg. Hodson, Samuel J. Metropolitan Railway, Bellmouth Praed Street, chromolithograph. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated July 28, 2014. Accessed January 29, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Metropolitan_Railway,_Praed_ Street_Junction.jpg?uselang=cs. Hoefnagel, Joris. A Marriage Feast at Bermondsey, oil on wooden panel, circa 1569, 73.8 × 99 cm, (private collection in the United Kingdom). Wikimedia Commons.

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Last updated August 8, 2014. Accessed February 12, 2015. http://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joris_Hoefnagel_Fete_at_Bermondsey_c_1569.png. Hogarth, William. A Harlot’s Progress. Plate 2. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated August 26, 2014. Accessed January 7, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:Hogarth-Harlot-2.png. Hogarth, William. A Harlot’s Progress. Plate 4. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated August 26, 2014. Accessed January 7, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:Hogarth-Harlot-4.png. Hogarth, William. A Harlot’s Progress. Plate 5. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated August 26, 2014. Accessed January 7, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:Hogarth-Harlot-5.png. Hogarth, William. Beer Street. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated January 6, 2015. Accessed January 12, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beer_ Street_by_William_Hogarth_Wellcome_L0004604.jpg. Hogarth, William. David Garrick as Richard III, oil on canvas, 1745, 190.5 x 250.8 cm, (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated August 26, 2014. Accessed January 7, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:William_Hogarth_-_David_Garrick_as_Richard_III_-_Google_Art_Project. jpg. Hogarth, William. The Distressed Poet, oil, 1733–1736, (Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated August 28, 2014. Accessed January 5, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Distressedpoet-oil.jpg. Hogarth, William. Gin Lane. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated December 26, 2013. Accessed January 12, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:GinLane.jpg. Hogarth, William. Industry and Idleness. Plate 11. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated July 17, 2012. Accessed January 15, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia. org/wiki/File:William_Hogarth_-_Industry_and_Idleness,_Plate_11;_The_ Idle_%27Prentice_Executed_at_Tyburn.png. Hogarth, William. Marriage à-la-mode: The Countess‘s Morning Levee, oil on canvas, 1743–45, 68.5 × 89 cm, (National Gallery, London). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated January 10, 2015. Accessed January 12, 2015. http://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Hogarth_042.jpg. Hogarth, William. Marriage à-la-mode: Visit with the Quack Doctor, oil on canvas, 1743–45, 68.5 × 89 cm, (National Gallery, London). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated January 10, 2015. Accessed January 12, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Hogarth_036.jpg.

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Hogarth, William. The Rake’s Progress. Scene 2, oil on canvas, 1732–35, 62.5 x 75 cm, (Sir John Soane’s Museum). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated September 26, 2013. Accessed January 10, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:William_Hogarth_022.jpg. Hogarth, William. The Rake’s Progress. Scene 3, oil on canvas, 1732–35, 62.5 x 75 cm, (Sir John Soane’s Museum). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated January 10, 2015. Accessed January 12, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:William_Hogarth_027.jpg. Hogarth, William. The Rake’s Progress. Scene 6, oil on canvas, 1732–35, 62.5 x 75 cm, (Sir John Soane’s Museum). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated October 13, 2014. Accessed January 12, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:William_Hogarth_024.jpg. Hogarth, William. The Rake’s Progress. Scene 8, oil on canvas, 1732–35, 62.5 x 75 cm, (Sir John Soane’s Museum). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated March 7, 2014. Accessed January 12, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:William_Hogarth_019.jpg. Hogarth, William. Taste in High Life. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated May 10, 2012. Accessed January 5, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Taste_ high_life.jpg. Hollar, Wenceslaus. Map of the burned area of the City after the Great Fire of London. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated September 14, 2006. Accessed January 16, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Map.London.gutted.1666.jpg. Hollar, Wenceslaus. Panoramic view of London, 1647. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated November 11, 2014. Accessed January 16, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1647_Long_view_of_London_From_Bankside_-_Wenceslaus_Hollar.jpg. Hunt, William Holman. The Awakening Conscience, oil on canvas, 1853, 76.2 x 55.9 cm (Tate Britain, London). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated January 10, 2015. Accessed February 4, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:William_Holman_Hunt_-_The_Awakening_Conscience_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg. Jagger, Charles Sargeant. Royal Artillery Memorial, 1921–25 (Hyde Park Corner in London). Photo Iridescenti. 2007. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated March 10, 2014. Accessed February 16, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Royal_Artillery_Memorial,_outside_Aspley_House,_London.JPG. Kennington, Eric. Gassed and Wounded, oil on canvas, 1918, 71.1 x 91.4 cm (Imperial War Museums, London). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated December 7, 2013.

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Accessed February 16, 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kennington,_ Eric_Henri_(RA)_-_Gassed_and_Wounded_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg. Kennington, Eric. The Kensingtons at Laventie, oil on canvas, 1915, 231 x 611 cm (Imperial War Museums, London). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated March 7, 2014. Accessed February 13, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:The_Kensingtons_at_Laventie_(1915)_(Art.IWM_ART_15661).jpg. Lamb, Henry. Irish Troops in the Judaean Hills Surprised by a Turkish Bombardment, 1919 (Imperial War Museums, London). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated February 2, 2015. Accessed February 13, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:Irish_Troops_in_the_Judaean_Hills_Surprised_by_a_Turkish_Bombardment,_1919_Art.IWMART2746.jpg. “Let ‘em All Come” – Home Defence Battalions, lithograph, 1939, 37.8 x 25.1 cm (Imperial War Museums, London). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated February 5, 2014. Accessed February 16, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:%27let_%27em_All_Come%27_-_Home_Defence_Battalions_Art. IWMPST6229.jpg. Mackintosh, Charles Rennie. Cabinet. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated December 4, 2013. Accessed February 9, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Charles_Rennie_Mackintosh_Cabinet_(8030216621).jpg. Mackworth, Julia. Drawing Room at Bryn Glas Monmouthshire, 1871. Wikigallery. Last updated January 21, 2015. Accessed January 22, 2015. http://www.wikigallery.org/wiki/painting_255448/Julia-Mackworth/Drawing-Room-at-Bryn-GlasMonmouthshire-1871. McNeven, J. Crystal Palace, coloured lithograph, 1851. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated November 1, 2013. Accessed January 23, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Crystal_Palace_-_interior.jpg. Map showing the burnt area. (Museum of London). Picture taken by the author. 2014. Mentmore Towers, Buckinghamshire, England. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated December 30, 2014. Accessed January 23, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia. org/wiki/File:Mentmore_Towers_from_angle.jpg. Millais, John Everett. Ophelia, oil on canvas, c. 1851, 76.2 x 111.8 cm (Tate Britain, London). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated January 10, 2015. Accessed February 4, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Everett_Millais_-_Ophelia_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg. Mills, John. Monument to the Women of World War II, bronze sculpture, 2005 (Whitehall, London). Picture taken by the author, 2014.

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Moore, Henry. Women and Children in the Tube, chalk on paper, 1940, 27.9 x 38.1 cm (Imperial War Museums, London). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated October 12, 2014. Accessed February 21, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:Women_and_Children_in_the_Tube_(1940)_(Art.IWM_ART_LD_759). jpg. Morris, William. Acanthus Wallpaper. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated March 12, 2014. Accessed February 5, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Morris_Acanthus_Wallpaper_1875.jpg. Morris, William. Granada. Woven silk velvet wallpaper. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated December 26, 2013. Accessed February 5, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Morris_Granada_velvet.jpg. Morris, William. Jasmine block-printed wallpaper. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated September 25, 2012. Accessed February 5, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Morris_Jasmine_Wallpaper_1872.png. Nash, John. Over the Top, 1918 (Imperial War Museums, London). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated May 27, 2014. Accessed February 16, 2015. http:// commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%27over_the_Top%27._1st_Artists%27_Rifles_at_Marcoing,_30th_December_1917_Art.IWMART1656.jpg. Nash, Paul. Battle of Britain, oil on canvas, 1941, 122.6 x 183.5 cm (Imperial War Museums, London). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated January 16, 2014. Accessed February 21, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Battle_of_ Britain_(1941)_(Art.IWM_ART_LD_1550).jpg. Nash, Paul. Battle of Germany, oil on canvas, 1944, 121.9 x 182.8 cm (Imperial War Museums, London). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated January 21, 2014. Accessed February 21, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Battle_of_ Germany_(1944)_(Art.IWM_ART_LD_4526).jpg. Nash, Paul. Totes Meer (Dead Sea), oil on canvas, 1940–41, 101.6 x 152.4 cm (Tate Gallery, London). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated December 9, 2011. Accessed February 21, 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nash,_Totes_Meer. jpg. Nash, Paul. We Are Making a New World, oil on canvas, 1918, 71.1 x 91.4 cm (Imperial War Museum, London). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated October 16, 2014. Accessed February 16, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:We_are_making_a_new_World_(1918)_(Art._IWM_ART_1146).jpg. Natural History Museum, entrance. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated November 7, 2014. Accessed January 21, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Entrance_to_Natural_History_Museum,_Cromwell_Road,_London_SW7_-_ geograph.org.uk_-_1034304.jpg.

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Nevinson, C. R. W. French Troops Resting. 1916. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated January 6, 2015. Accessed February 13, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:NevinsonFrenchTroopsResting1916.jpg. Oliver, Isaac or Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger. The Rainbow Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, oil on canvas, between 1600 and 1602, 127 × 99.1 cm, (in the collection of the Marquess of Salisbury, on display at Hatfield House, Hatfield, Hertfordshire). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated September 24, 2014. Accessed February 11, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elizabeth_I_Rainbow_Portrait.jpg. Orpen, William. After a Fight, charcoal on paper, 1917, 49.5 x 45 cm (Imperial War Museums, London). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated December 25, 2014. Accessed February 16, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:After_a_ Fight_Art.IWMART3026.jpg. Orpen, William. General Sir Henry Seymour Rawlinson, Bart, GCVO, KCB, KCMG. Painted at Headquarters, Fourth Army, 1918, oil on canvas, 1918, 91.4 x 76.2 cm (Imperial War Museums, London). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated December 24, 2014. Accessed February 16, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:General_Sir_Henry_Seymour_Rawlinson,_Bart,_Gcvo,_Kcb,_Kcmg._Painted_at_Headquarters,_Fourth_Army,_1918_Art.IWMART3047.jpg. Orpen, William. Thiepval Wood, oil on canvas, 1917, 63.5 x 76.2 cm (Imperial War Museums, London). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated February 5, 2014. Accessed February 16, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thiepval_ Wood_Art.IWMART2998.jpg. The Palace of Westminster. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated December 11, 2014. Accessed January 26, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:London_ Parliament_2007-1.jpg. Peake the Elder, Robert. Procession Portrait of Elizabeth, between 1600 and 1603, (Sherborne Castle). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated February 11, 2015. Accessed February 12, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Elizabeth_I,_Procession_Portrait..jpg. Philip Webb’s Red House in Upton. Wikipedia. Last updated June, 21, 2014. Accessed February 5, 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Philip_Webb%27s_ Red_House_in_Upton.jpg. Phillips, Richard. Westminster from Lambeth, 1804, (British Library, London). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated June 26, 2014. Accessed January 26, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phillips(1804)_p284_-_Westminster_from_Lambeth.jpg. Portrait of Elizabeth I of England, the Armada Portrait. Unknown English artist, oil on panel, circa 1588, 133 × 105 cm, (Woburn Abbey). Wikimedia Commons.

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Last updated November 27, 2014. Accessed February 10, 2015. http://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elizabeth_I_(Armada_Portrait).jpg. Ravilious, Eric. Coastal Defences, watercolour on paper, 1940, 45.7 x 60.9 cm (Imperial War Museums, London). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated September 8, 2014. Accessed February 20, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Coastal_Defences_(Art._IWM_ART_LD_5662).jpg. Red House. The settle in the drawing room, with Burne-Jones murals to either side. Wikipedia. Last updated July 15, 2014. Accessed February 5, 2015. http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Drawing_Room_at_Red_House,_Lonson.jpg. Red House’s hallway and Neo-Gothic staircase. Wikipedia. Last updated July 15, 2014. Accessed February 5, 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hallway_ at_Red_House.jpg. Remember Scarborough! Enlist Now! World War I poster. 1914.Wikimedia Commons. Last updated January 30, 2012. Accessed February 13, 2015. http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rememberscarborough.jpg. Room de Luxe, Willow Tea Rooms. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated December 31, 2015. Accessed February 9, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Room_de_Luxe.jpg?uselang=cs. Rosoman, Leonard. A House Collapsing on Two Firemen, Shoe Lane, London, EC4, oil on canvas, 1940, 91.8 x 76.8 cm (Imperial War Museums, London). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated October 12, 2014. Accessed February 21, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Women_and_Children_in_the_Tube_ (1940)_(Art.IWM_ART_LD_759).jpg. Royal Albert Hall opening in 1871. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated July 9, 2014. Accessed January 22, 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:RAH_Opening_1871_ILN.jpg. Royal Albert Hall Rear. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated October 11, 2014. Accessed January 21, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Albert_Hall_Rear,_London,_England_-_Diliff.jpg. Sargent, John Singer. Gassed, oil on canvas, 1918, 231 x 611 cm (Imperial War Museums, London). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated March 7, 2014. Accessed February 13, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gassed.jpg. School of Art, decorative elements. Photo dalbera. 2009. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated November 30, 2014. Accessed February 9, 2015. http://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Les_d%C3%A9cors_symbolistes_de_la_%22Glasgow_ School_of_Art%22_(3803687862).jpg. School of Art, main entrance. Photo dalbera. 2009. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated November 30, 2014. Accessed February 9, 2015. http://commons.wiki-

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media.org/wiki/File:Lentr%C3%A9e_de_la_%22Glasgow_School_of_Art%22_ (3802873999).jpg. School of Art, North façade. Photo Twid. 2005. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated December 11, 2014. Accessed February 9, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:Schoolofart1.jpg. School of Art, West façade. Photo dalbera. 2009. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated November 23, 2014. Accessed February 9, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia. org/wiki/File:La_fa%C3%A7ade_ouest_de_la_%22Glasgow_School_of_Art%22_ (3803688596).jpg. Scrots, William. Portrait of Elizabeth I as a Princess, oil on oak panel, circa 1546, 3’ 6 3/4” x 2’ 8 1/4”, (Royal Collection, Windsor Castle). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated March 3, 2014. Accessed February 10, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elizabeth_I_when_a_Princess.jpg. Shard and City of London skyline from Greenwich. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated December 13, 2014. Accessed January 15, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shard_and_City_of_London_skyline_from_Greenwich. jpg?uselang=cs. St Pancras International. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated November 14, 2014. Accessed January 23, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:StPancrasInternational-PS02.JPG. St Pancras Railway Station. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated November 14, 2014. Accessed January 23, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St_Pancras_Railway_Station_2012-06-23.jpg. St. Paul’s Cathedral. Picture taken by the author. 2014. St. Paul Cathedral after the Blitz. Photo Herbert Mason. 1940. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated March 17, 2014. Accessed January 15, 2015. http://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St_Paul_destroyed.jpg?uselang=cs. Stained glass window of Love at Red House. Wikipedia. Last updated August 15, 2014. Accessed February 5, 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Stained_ glass_window_of_Love_at_Red_House.jpg. Target for Tonight, offset lithograph, 101.2 x 75.8 cm (Imperial War Museums, London). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated December 5, 2014. Accessed February 16, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%27target_for_Tonight%27_ Art.IWMPST4015.jpg. The Tenement House, Glasgow. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated December 11, 2014. Accessed January 22, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Tenementhouse.jpg?uselang=cs.

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The Tenement House, Glasgow. The bedroom. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated April 7, 2014. Accessed January 22, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:GlasgowTenementHouse-bedroom.jpg?uselang=cs. The Tenement House, Glasgow. The stove. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated April 7, 2014. Accessed January 22, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:GlasgowTenementHouse-stove.jpg?uselang=cs. Turner, J.M.W. The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons, 16th October, 1834, oil on canvas, cca 1834–1835, 92.1 cm x 123.2 cm, (Philadelphia Museum of Art). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated October 28, 2014. Accessed January 26, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joseph_Mallord_William_ Turner,_English_-_The_Burning_of_the_Houses_of_Lords_and_Commons,_October_16,_1834_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg. Turner, J.M.W. The Fighting Téméraire tugged to her last Berth to be broken, oil on canvas, 1839, 90.7 x 121.6 cm, (The National Gallery, London). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated July 23, 2009. Accessed January 28, 2015. http://upload. wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/archive/9/94/20111116175005%21Turner% 2C_J._M._W._-_The_Fighting_T%C3%A9m%C3%A9raire_tugged_to_her_last_ Berth_to_be_broken.jpg. Turner, J.M.W. Going to the Ball (San Martino), oil on canvas, 1846, 61.6 × 92.4 cm, (Tate Gallery, London). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated May 11, 2012. Accessed January 12, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_ Turner,_Going_to_the_Ball_(San_Martino).jpg. Turner, J.M.W. Rain, Steam and Speed – The Great Western Railway, oil on canvas, 1844, 91 x 121.8 cm, (The National Gallery, London). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated February 23, 2014. Accessed January 28, 2015. http://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Turner-rain-steam-and-speed.jpg. Turner, J.M.W. San Giorgio Maggiore from the Dogana, watercolour, 1819, 22.4 x 28.7 cm. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated October 8, 2013. Accessed January 12, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Turner_San_Giorgio_Maggiore_at_Dawn.jpg. Turner, J.M.W. Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On), oil on canvas, 1840, 92.8 x 122.6 cm, (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated January 10, 2015. Accessed January 30, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Slave-ship.jpg. Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Southern Entrance. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated December 27, 2014. Accessed January 21, 2015. http:// commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Victoria_%26_Albert_Museum_Entrance,_ London,_UK_-_Diliff.jpg.

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Waitresses in Willow Tea Rooms. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated November 11, 2013. Accessed February 9, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Room_de_Luxe_waitresses.jpg?uselang=cs. Westminster Hall, London. Pictures taken by the author. 2014. Wilkinson, Norman. A Few Careless Words May End in this, lithograph, 76.1 x 50.5 cm (Imperial War Museums, London). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated June 24, 2014. Accessed February 16, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:A_Few_Careless_Words_May_End_in_this_Art.IWMPST13957.jpg. Willow Tea Rooms sign. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated November 30, 2014. Accessed February 9, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Lenseigne_du_salon_de_th%C3%A9_%22the_Willow_Tearoom%22_(Glasgow)_(3802872511).jpg?uselang=cs. Wootton, Frank. Back Them Up, lithograph and letterpress on paper, 1942, 76 x 50.6 cm (Imperial War Museums, London). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated December 5, 2014. Accessed February 16, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:Back_Them_Up_Art.IWMPST8562.jpg. Wren, Christopher. Sir Christopher Wren’s plan for reconstructing the city following the 1666 Great Fire of London. Wikimedia Commons. Last updated November 4, 2014. Accessed January 19, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ Category:Christopher_Wren%27s_plan_for_rebuilding_London_after_the_ Great_Fire. Your Own Vegetables All the Year Round – If You Dig For Victory Now, lithograph, 76 x 50.6 cm (Imperial War Museums, London). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated March 16, 2014. Accessed February 16, 2015. http://commons.wikimedia. org/wiki/File:Your_Own_Vegetables_All_the_Year_Round_-_If_You_Dig_For_ Victory_Now_Art.IWMPST17009.jpg. Ziesenis, Johann Georg. Portrait of Queen Charlotte when Princess Sophie Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, oil, 1761, (Royal Collection). Wikimedia Commons. Last updated August 27, 2014. Accessed February 4, 2015. http://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Queen_charlotte_when_princess.jpg.

Abstract: The aim of this book is to present some works of art and architecture in Great Britain in their historical perspective and show them in the context of the historical events they depict or because of which they were created. Key words: art; architecture; history; England

Obenausová, Světlana Art in history, history in art : chapters from British history seen through works of art / Světlana Obenausová. -- 1. vydání. -- Olomouc : Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci, 2015. -- 176 stran. -- (Monografie) Určeno pro odbornou veřejnost ISBN 978-80-244-4659-2 72/76:93/94 * 72/76 * 7.04 * 94(410) - umění a dějiny -- Velká Británie -- 11.-20. století - výtvarné umění -- Velká Británie -- 11.-20. století - umělecké náměty - Velká Británie -- dějiny -- 11.-20. století - monografie - art and history -- Great Britain -- 11th-20th centuries - art -- Great Britain -- 11th-20th centuries - artistic themes - Great Britain -- history -- 11th-20th centuries - monographs 72/76 - Výtvarné umění [21] 701-770 - Fine and decorative arts [21]

PhDr. Světlana Obenausová, M.Litt., Ph.D.

Art in History, History in Art Chapters from British History Seen Through Works of Art Výkonný redaktor Mgr. Agnes Hausknotzová Odpovědná redaktorka Mgr. Věra Krischková Grafická úprava a technická redakce Jiřina Vaclová Návrh a grafické zpracování obálky Jiří Jurečka Určeno pro odbornou veřejnost Publikace ve vydavatelství neprošla redakční jazykovou úpravou Vydala a vytiskla Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci Křížkovského 8, 771 47 Olomouc www.vydavatelstvi.upol.cz www.e-shop.upol.cz [email protected] 1. vydání Olomouc 2015 Ediční řada – Monografie All pictures were acquired through Wikimedia Commons. The images are in the public domain. ISBN 978-80-244-4659-2 Neprodejná publikace vup 2015/277