The age of empire
Joshua Reynolds | England 1723-1792 | Portrait of Aneas Mackay of Ravenhead House, late 1760s | Oil on canvas | 90 x 70cm | Purchased 1978 | Collection: Queensland Art Gallery
By the end of the seventeenth century, art patronage had largely passed from the Church to the monarchies of Europe, where major political, social and artistic developments saw a transformation in both the production and reception of art works. The royal courts of France and England patronised painters and artisans to produce portraits, furniture and decorative arts. While secular subjects were replacing religious themes in painting, the classical worlds of Greece and Rome persisted both as subject matter and as models for civilised society.
In the eighteenth century, England became one of Europe’s most powerful nations and London its largest city. The country’s economic and political power saw English society evolve in a commercial, rather than courtly, fashion. Print publishers, engravers, booksellers, art dealers, auction houses and large public exhibitions developed in the expanding art market and saw the broader public distribution of images.
In 1768, the Royal Academy of Arts was founded in London by King George III with painter Sir Joshua Reynolds as its President. Women were contributing more to English culture as novelists, musicians, actors and painters; Angelica Kauffman was one of two women members of the original Academy. The Academy’s artist training emphasised classical subjects, portraiture and history painting, and through its annual exhibitions conferred a status on art previously unseen in England. Decorative arts and finely crafted furniture were produced to satisfy a market based in the rapidly growing urban population. Such items were often decorated with motifs derived from neo-classical and French sources.
Eighteenth-century English culture was characterised by order, stability and decorum, and its commercial dynamism was the foundation for the Industrial Revolution, which would radically transform Britain in the century to follow.
