The Art of the United Kingdom refers to all forms of visual art in or associated with the United Kingdom since its formation in 1707. For earlier periods, and some more detailed information on the post-1707 period, see English art, Scottish art, Welsh art and Irish art. It is part of Western art history, and during the 18th century began once again to take the leading place it had had in European art during the Middle Ages, being especially strong in portraiture and landscape art. Increasing British prosperity led to a greatly increased production of both fine art and the decorative arts, the latter often being exported. The Romantic period produced the very diverse talents of William Blake, J. M. W. Turner, John Constable and Samuel Palmer. The Victorian period saw a great diversity of art, and a far larger quantity created than before. Much Victorian art is now out of critical favour, with interest concentrated on the Pre-Raphaelites and the innovative movements at the end of the 18th century.
The training of artists, which had long been weak, began to be improved by private and government initiatives in the 18th century, and greatly expanded in the 19th, and public exhibitions and later the opening of museums brought art to a wider public, especially in London. In the 19th century publicly displayed religious art once again became popular, after a virtual absence since the Reformation, and, as in other countries, movements such as the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the Glasgow School contended with established Academic art. The British contribution to early Modernist art was relatively small, but since World War II British artists have made a considerable impact on Contemporary art, especially with figurative work, and Britain remains a key centre of an increasingly globalized art world.
Read more about Art Of The United Kingdom: Background, Early 18th Century, Late 18th Century, 19th Century and The Romantics, Victorian Art, 20th Century, Contemporary Art
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“The art of government is the organization of idolatry. The bureaucracy consists of functionaries; the aristocracy, of idols; the democracy, of idolaters. The populace cannot understand the bureaucracy: it can only worship the national idols.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“If I were of the trade, I should naturalize art as much as they “artialize” nature.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
“The House of Lords, architecturally, is a magnificent room, and the dignity, quiet, and repose of the scene made me unwillingly acknowledge that the Senate of the United States might possibly improve its manners. Perhaps in our desire for simplicity, absence of title, or badge of office we may have thrown over too much.”
—M. E. W. Sherwood (1826–1903)
“This is the Key of the Kingdom:
In that Kingdom is a city;”
—Unknown. This Is the Key (l. 1–2)