This display focuses on artists’ use of subjects from British literature and history from 1770 to around 1900, and the role played by such images in popular perceptions of national identity.

By the eighteenth century, European academies of art had established that the most elevated form of art was history painting: paintings of heroic subjects taken from the Bible, classical literature and history. But British patrons rarely commissioned such art. Instead, artists such as William Hogarth argued that British art should be founded on national literature and theatre. British writers such as Chaucer, Milton and Shakespeare were elevated as worthy sources for history painting, paralleled by the rise in respectability of the acting profession. Many artists used the celebrity status of actors to promote their art to a broader public.

Artists also pioneered a new type of history painting which broke with the tradition of presenting great events from the Bible or ancient history. Instead they chose dramatic moments from contemporary British history, particularly recent military victories. Acts of heroism and the end of the eighteenth century, the dramatic struggles sacrifice were favoured as a focus for national pride. By of the Napoleonic Wars gave even greater scope for the artist, and the leading figures of the conflict such as Nelson, Wellington, and even Napoleon, were often represented in art long after the wars themselves had ended.

In keeping with growing popular interest in the nation’s past, the nineteenth century also saw the rise of paintings of historical anecdotes. This was fuelled by the immense success of historical novels by Walter Scott, and history books such as Thomas Macaulay’s History of England 1849–61. Macaulay’s writings portrayed the nation’s history as a triumphant progression towards political and religious stability and world domination, with the English Civil War (1642–9) and the ‘Glorious Revolution’ (1688) as defining moments.

This display has been devised by curator Christine Riding

BP British Art Displays 1500-2005