The Patrons of British Art were formed in 1986 to support Tate's role as the national collection of British art. Membership subscriptions are used to acquire British art from the sixteenth century to the present. Among works presented by the Patrons of British Art since 1986 are paintings by William Blake, Spencer Gore, Sir Thomas Lawrence and C R W Nevinson, and sculptures by Thomas Woolner and Paule Vézelay.