English Concept Art
1700 to 1900

Blake
English pre-Raphaelites and
Whistler

Concept art is a broad term used here to cover still life, common/political life, religious, mythological, and literary subjects.

18th Century

William Hogarth

born: London, England; 10 November 1697
died: London, England; 26 October 1764

A Rake's Progress [ one of eight pictures] about 1732 Oil on Canvas at least one of the eight is at Sir John Sloane's Museum London, England
Marriage a la mode — After the Marriage about 1743 Oil on canvas; 69 x 89 cm National Gallery London, England	A Scene from The Beggar's Opera 1731 Oil on Canvas; 57 x 76 cm The Tate Gallery London, England

George Stubbs

born: Liverpool, England; 25 August 1724
died: London, England; 10 July 1806

Horse Startled by a Lion

Mares and Foals
1760

Some Works;

Lion Devouring a Horse, 1763, Tate Gallery, London.
Mares and Foals in a River Landscape, about 1765, Tate Gallery, London.
Portrait of a Young Gentleman out Shooting, 1781, Tate Gallery, London

Joseph Wright
Wright of Derby

born: Derby, England; 3 September 1734
died: Derby, England; 29 August 1797

Italian Landscape about 1765	Fireworks at the Castel San Angelo in Rome [La Girandola] 1779 Oil on canvas Hermitage St Petersburg, Russia	An Italian Landscape with Mountains and a River 1790 Oil on canvas p rivate collection
The Alchemist in Search of the Philosopher's Stone 1771 Oil on canvas Private collection	Miravan Breaking Open the Tomb of his Ancestors 1772 Oil on canvas 127 x 102 cm Private collection	Virgil's Tomb 1782 Oil on canvas 102 x 127 cm Private collection
Experiment with a Sparrow and Air-Pump about 1768 Oil on canvas Tate Gallery, London, England		The Widow of an Indian Chief Watching the Arms of her Husband 1785 Oil on canvas; 102 x 127 cm Museum and Art Gallery Derby, England
Self about 1752 Oil on Canvas 76 x 63 cm Private Collection	Sir Brooke Boothby 1781 Oil on Canvas 149 x 208 cm Tate Gallery London, England	The Children of Hugh and Sarah Wood of Swanwick, Derbyshire 1789 Oil on canvas 168 x 135 cm Private collection

George Romney

born: Dalton-in-Furness, Lancashire, England; 15 December 1734
died: Kendal, Westmorland, England; 15 November 1802

Benjamin West

born: Springfield, Pennsylvania; 10 October 1738
died: London, England; 11 March 1820

Benjamin West specialized in historical scenes and portraits. He was a leading English artist in his time.

He was born in Springfield (now Swarthmore), Pennsylvania, and was largely self-taught. He painted portraits in Philadelphia from 1746 to 1759. On a trip to Italy in 1759 he acquired a classical style of painting by copying the works of Titian and Raphael.

In 1763, West moved to England and set up shop as a portrait painter. He became friends with Sir Joshua Reynolds. King George III commissioned him to do portraits of members of the royal family. Later he became historical painter to the court. West was a founding member of the Royal Academy. In 1792, he became the second president of the Academy.

He was a leader in the realistic movement. His painting The Death of Wolfe (1771, National Gallery, Ottawa) broke the usual tradition of depicting soldiers in contemporary battle scenes wearing Greco-Roman costumes.

West taught many painters including: Gilbert Charles Stuart and John Singleton Copley.

Death on the Pale Horse
1796

Eight more West pictures.

There are a couple of more West pictures in the American Colonial Period Gallery.

19th Century

William Blake

born: London, England, 28 November 1757
died: London, England, 12 August 1827

Ancient of Days
1794

Many more Blake images, prints, poems and a timeline biography

Ford Madox Brown

born: Calais, France (of English parents); 16 April 1821
died: London, England; 6 October 1893

The Finding of
Don Juan by Haidee
1878

Eight more Ford Madox Brown pictures.

William Holman Hunt

born: London, England, 2 April 1827
died: London, England, 7 September 1910

The Light of the World
1854
Keble College, Oxford, England

Persecution of the
Christians by the Druids

The Lady of Shallot

.

The Shadow of Death
1870

The Hireling Shepherd
1851
City Art Gallery,
Manchester, England

Other Works:

The Scapegoat, 1854, Lever's Gallery, Port Sunlight, England.

John Everett Millais

born: Southampton, England 8 June 1829
died: London, England; 13 August 1896

Lorenzo and Isabella

Seven more Millais pictures.

Dante Gabriel [Gabriel Charles Dante] Rossetti

born: London, England; 12 May 1828
died: Birchington-on-the-sea, Kent, England; 9 April 1882

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was created in 1848 by seven artists: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, William Holman Hunt, James Collinson, John Everett Millais, Frederic George Stephens, and Thomas Woolner. Raphael was the artist they considered having attained the highest degree of perfection. Students were encouraged to draw from his examples, rather than from nature itself. They named themselves the "Pre-Raphaelites" which probably should have been the Post-Raphaelites.

The group popularized a romantic style, marked by intricate realism, and a fondness for subjects drawn from Greek and Arthurian legend.

The movement itself did not survive the 1850's.

alt spelling: preraphaelite pre rafaelite prerafaelite rafealite prerafealite raphealite preraphealite rafaelist prerafaelist

Beata Beatrix
about 1872
Tate Gallery, London, England

Twelve more Rossetti Pictures.

Spenser Stanhope

born: Cannon Hall, Yorks; 20 January 1829
died: Bellosguardo (near Florence), Italy; 2 August 1908

Psyche and Charon

Edward Burne-Jones

born: Birmingham, England; 28 August 1833
died: London, England; 17 June 1898

Princess Sabra Led
to the Dragon

Eighteen more Burne-Jones pictures.

James Abbott McNeill Whistler

born: Lowell, MA, United States; 11 July 1834
died: London, England; 17 July 1903

Whistler was raised in the United States, went to West Point, worked as a cartographer for the US Navy, and then he went to Paris in 1855 (at 21 years old) to study painting. In 1859 he moved to London and settled there. He espoused the philosophy of art-for-arts-sake. His pictures of people are not portraits, not even the one of his mother; it is aimed at abstraction and called: Arrangement in Gray and Black. His pictures are Studies, Nocturnes, or Symphonies. In his day critics said he just threw paint at a canvas -- that what he did was not painting. Welcome to an early start to 20th Century art.