(The 18th–19th Centuries)
Text A
The eighteenth century, the epoch of Enlightenment, was the golden age of British painting. It was in this period that British art attained a distinct national character.
In the seventeenth century art in Britain had been dominated largely by the Flemish artist, Anthony van Dyck. In the early eighteenth century, although influenced by French rococo, British art began to develop independently. It was the age of satire and mock-heroics in literature. In the arts generally, classical traditions were preferred. The men of this age worshipped the gods of Reason and Light. William Hogarth, born just before the turn of the century, was the first major artist who rejected foreign influence and established a kind of art whose themes were thoroughly British. His protest against social injustice and his attack on the vulgarities of society make him one of the most original and significant of British artists.
Hogarth was followed by a row of illustrious painters: Thomas Gainsborough, with his lyrical landscapes, “fancy pictures” and portraits; the intellectual Sir Joshua Reynolds, who painted charming society portraits and became the first president of the Royal Academy; and George Stubbs, who is only now being recognized as an artist of the greatest sensitivity. There are many others, including Wright of Derby, Wilson, Lawrence, Romney, Wheatley, the young Turner and others.
British art is marked by early development of the romantic trend (due to the peculiarities of the historical development of the country). Examples of early romanticism can be observed already in the end of the eighteenth century. An unprecedented interest in the scientific investigation of nature, in history and literature, the thorough investigation of the past and, at the same time, (it is properly a characteristic of British art) almost bewildering fascination with the present, concentration on the emotional life - all these features constitute a diverse trend of romanticism in Britain. Romanticism is represented in the works of such painters as Stubbs, Wright of Derby (early romanticism), William Blake, Joseph William Turner, John Constable and others.
One of the most important phenomena of British art in the second part of the nineteenth century was Pre-Raphaelite painting. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was the first organized revolt against the academic painting and may be looked on as anti-Victorian. Its main slogan may be formulated as following: “truth to nature” and return to the purity of art. The leaders of this movement were such painters as Gabriel Rossetti, William Hunt and John Millais.
NAMES:
Enlightenment [In'laItnmqnt] Просвещение
Flemish ['flFmIS] фламандский
Anthony van Dyck ['xnTqnI vxn'daIk] Энтони ван Дейк, фламандский художник, который работал в Англии (1632-1641г.)
rococo [rqu'kqukqu] стиль рококо
William Hogarth ['wIljqm 'hOgqT] Уильям Хогарт
Thomas Gainsborough ['TOmqs 'geInzbqrq] Томас Гейнсборо
Joshua Reynolds ['GOSwq 'reInqldz] Джошуа Рейнолдс
George Stubbs ['GLG 'stAbs] Джордж Стаббс
Wright of Derby ['raIt qv 'dRbI] Райт из Дерби
Lawrence ['lLrqns] Лоренс (Томас)
Romney ['rOmnI] Ромни (Джордж)
Wheatley ['wJtlI] Уитли
Turner ['tWnq] Тёрнер (Уильям)
romanticism [rq'mxntIsIzqm] романтизм
William Blake ['wIljqm 'bleIk] Уильям Блейк
John Constable ['GOn 'kOnstqbl] Джон Констебль
Pre-Raphaelite ['prJ 'rxfqlaIt] движение прерафаэлитов
Gabriel Rossetti ['geIbrIql rO'setI] Габриэль Россетти
Text В
William Hogarth (1697-1764) was unquestionably one of the greatest English artists. He was the first native-born English painter to become famous on the Continent. He was even to become a hero of the Enlightenment. It was his achievement to give a comprehensive view of social life within the framework of moralistic and dramatic narrative. He produced portraits, which brought a fresh vitality and truth into art. It was a great achievement of Hogarth to establish comedy as a category in art to be rated as highly as comedy in literature.
In 1724 Hogarth produced his first set of engravings entitled “The Talk of the Town”, a series which satirized both the society and the current tendency of fashionable London to appreciate and invite only foreign singers. The artist’s masterpiece on the life-size scale – “the portrait that I painted with most pleasure”, as Hogarth said - was that of Captain Coram (1740), who took a leading part in the foundation of the Foundling Hospital. Hogarth’s series of pictures “The Rake's Progress” were highly praised by Henry Fielding, the novelist, for their humour and moral force. Narrative pictures were nothing new, but Hogarth was the first artist to invent a story and illustrate it. The famous set of picture called “Marriage à la Mode” contains the most important of the artist's comedies. “The Marriage Contract” is the first of these series. The subject of the picture is a protest against marriage for money and vanity. The quality of Hogarth as an artist is seen to advantage in his famous sketch “Shrimp Girl”, which stands alone in his work, taking its place among the masterpieces of the world in its harmony of form and content.
The first great English artist, who used to be called “the Father of English Painting”, Hogarth attributed his success to hard labour. “I know of no such thing as genius”, he wrote, “Genius is nothing but labour and diligence”. The genius of Hogarth is such that he is often regarded as a solitary rebel against artificiality, and yet though he had no pupils, he had contemporaries who tended in the same direction.
NOTES:
“The Talk of the Town” «Модный вкус»
The Foundling Hospital приют для бездомных детей
“The Rake's Progress” «Карьера мота»
Henry Fielding ['fJldIN] Генри Филдинг, английский писатель, классик литературы Просвещения
“Marriage à la Mode” «Модный брак», серия картин (Франц)
“The Marriage Contract” «Брачный контракт»
“The Shrimp Girl” «Девушка с креветками»
*1 acre = 43,6 square feet = 0,4 hectare; 1 foot = 30,48 centimetres
* the rotation plane of polarized light – плоскость вращения поляризованного света
* the binomial theorem – теория бинома
* Inigo Jones – Иниго Джонс
* the Banqueting House ['bxNkwItIN] – Банкуэтинг-Хаус
* Greenwich ['grInIG] - Гринвич (район на Юго-востоке Лондона)