THE FOREIGN INVENTION OF BRITISH ART

The international heritage of British art.

In his book debut, British art historian and lecturer Primo examines the influence of foreign artists in England from the mid-15th to early-19th century, arguing persuasively that the “new artistic sensibility” that eventually became known as the British school of art could not have developed without the influx of artists from abroad. Some, such as Hans Holbein the Younger and Paul Rubens, are well known; others, such as the Belgian Daniel Mytens and the Czech Wenceslaus Hollar, less so, although both were prolific. Some spent extensive time in England, where they established studios and found patronage; others made brief visits. Holbein the Younger traveled from his home in Basel to England in 1526, carrying letters of praise from Erasmus to Thomas More. He soon became a sought-after portrait painter, whose sitters included Henry VIII and his court. From the Netherlands, Marcus Gheeraerts came to England with his father as a child, in 1568, escaping from religious persecution. Taught by his father, Gheeraerts was heir to the Netherlandish techniques and practices that, by the 16th century, came to dominate European artistic taste and were assimilated into British art. Gheeraerts’ portraits placed his subjects in landscaped surroundings, an innovation copied by others; his full-length portrait of Elizabeth I has been considered “the embodiment of the Elizabethan Age.” While some artists were lauded, others encountered prejudice and misogyny. Swiss-born Angelica Kauffman, for example, who arrived in England in 1766 after studying art in Italy, confronted patriarchal attitudes that trivialized the value of her work. Born in Britain as a person of color with Caribbean heritage, Primo informs his study with a deep sensitivity to the xenophobia and discrimination that incomers still experience in British society. Profusely illustrated.

A timely celebration of multiculturalism.