A Golden Age of British Portraiture? The eighteenth century

In 1712, a correspondent in the Spectator wrote that ‘Face-Painting is no where so well performed as in England.’  This statement indicates the dominance of portraiture in British art of the time.  And this dominance, coinciding with a period of rapid economic expansion, led to a flourishing marketplace for portrait painters and to a rich variety of paintings.

This course will explore British portraiture across the eighteenth century, during which it remained the most persistently popular genre of art.  But why and how did it thrive?  And what forms did it take?

Over five weeks, we will look at a wide range of portraits – by figures such as William Hogarth, Johan Zoffany, Allan Ramsay, Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough – within their broader social and historical contexts.  We will consider how artists sought to establish themselves in a competitive field, how the genre evolved over the period, and how some different groups of sitters were portrayed.

1. Practicalities: The business of portraiture and displaying and disseminating portraits
2. The Conversation Piece: The rise and fall……and rise and fall of the conversation piece
3. Styles: Reynolds and historical portraiture and Gainsborough and sensibility
4. Fame: Theatrical portraits and royal portraits
5. Family: Families and children

A recording of each session will be made available to participants for one week after the event.