 |
| Joseph Mallord William Turner The Goddess of Discord choosing the Apple of Contention in the Garden of the Hesperides ca. 1806 oil on canvas Tate Gallery |
"The Hesperides were the three daughters of Hesperus, the evening star. They tended a tree of golden apples on the slopes of Mount Atlas. Here, the goddess Discord picks one, setting in train the events of the Trojan War. The apple was subsequently awarded to the goddess Aphrodite by Paris, after she had promised him the most beautiful woman in the world: the Greek queen Helen, wife of Menelaus, whom Paris then abducted. It seems Turner may have been alluding to recent in-fighting at the Royal Academy in his choice of subject."
 |
| Joseph Mallord William Turner The Tenth Plague of Egypt ca. 1802 oil on canvas Tate Gallery |
"The painting illustrates a passage from the Bible describing one of the plagues inflicted on the Egyptians as divine punishment for enslaving the Jewish people: the killing of all the first-born sons of the Egyptians. It is uncomfortably crowded by threatening atmospheric effects, emphasising the power of forces beyond mankind's control. Turner exhibited the picture just a couple of months after being admitted as a full member of the Royal Academy, and clearly intended viewers to recognise his skills in the highest branch of painting – the historical 'grand style' – claiming for himself the mantle of earlier artists like Poussin."
 |
| Thomas Lawrence Mrs Siddons 1804 oil on canvas Tate Gallery |
"Sarah Siddons was the greatest tragic actress of her age. She was particularly famous for her interpretations of Shakespearian roles, in particular Lady Macbeth. Siddons retired from the stage in 1812; Lawrence painted her near the end of her career. She appears at one of her dramatic readings, with volumes of plays by Thomas Otway and Shakespeare beside her."
 |
| Jacques Laurent Agasse Lord Rivers's Groom leading a Chestnut Hunter towards a Coursing Party in Hampshire 1807 oil on canvas Tate Gallery |
"Agasse was influenced by his older contemporary George Stubbs, who was the greatest of horse-painters. This can be seen in Agasse's highly polished technique and carefully balanced compositions. Like Stubbs, he attempted a broad range of sporting and animal subjects, including portraits of exotic beasts and rural scenes on the periphery of a sporting event. Here, Agasse focuses on the unusual pose of the horse and groom, viewed from behind, rather than on the action of the hare-coursing party seen in the distance."
 |
| Henry Fuseli The Debutante 1807 watercolor Tate Gallery |
"This is one of numerous drawings in which Fuseli explored his fantasies about dominant women. In such drawings, Fuseli usually portrayed women as cruel sexual predators, dressed in elaborate costumes and head-dresses. The precise subject of this work is not known, but the woman are probably high class prostitutes or courtesans. The woman in the foreground, who is sewing, appears to be tethered by a lead round her neck. The large woman seated to the left might be the person in charge of the 'bagnio' or brothel."
 |
| Francis Towne Netley Abbey 1809 watercolor Tate Gallery |
"Netley Abbey, just outside Southampton, had ghostly associations that dated back to the seventeenth century. This meant it suited the current taste for the 'Gothic' particularly well."
 |
| John Constable Study of a Girl in a Cloak and Bonnet 1810 oil on panel Tate Gallery |
"Small figures in oil by Constable are rare, and this is the only known dated example. It was made in 1810 and illustrates his interest at that period in observing figures out of doors. Earlier that same year he had exhibited a painting at the Royal Academy of the Church Porch, East Bergholt, which includes a similar figure to this one, shown seated by a gravestone."
 |
| Thomas Weaver Foxgloves and Brambles, with a Hawk confronting an Adder 1814 oil on canvas Tate Gallery |
 |
| David Wilkie Newsmongers 1821 oil on panel Tate Gallery |
"Wilkie was a friend of Turner, and the most original of a group of artists who popularised narrative scenes of everyday life. This picture of a baker distracted from his hot roast and pie was shown at the Royal Academy in 1821."
 |
| Charles Lock Eastlake The Colosseum from the Esquiline 1822 oil on canvas Tate Gallery |
"Eastlake began his career as a painter but turned to arts administration, becoming Director of the National Gallery in 1851. The sale of an early picture for a thousand guineas financed some years in Rome from 1816, where he joined an international circle of artists including sculptors Antonio Canova and Bertel Thorvaldsen, the German Nazarenes, and students of the French Academy with whom he sketched outdoors from nature. His habit of painting even in bright sunshine won him the nickname of 'the Salamander'."
 |
| Charles Lock Eastlake The Colosseum from the Campo Vaccino 1822 oil on canvas Tate Gallery |
 |
| Samuel Palmer A Hilly Scene ca. 1826-28 watercolor and gum arabic on paper, mounted on panel Tate Gallery |
"The Darent Valley appeared to Palmer a perfect, neo-Platonic world and he called it the 'Valley of Vision'. In this picture he creates an ideal image of pastoral contentment, unaffected by the outside world. The unseasonal combination of flowering horse-chestnut and huge ripe heads of wheat symbolise fertility and the richness of the soil, and Palmer may have been inspired by Edmund Spenser's lines from the Faerie Queene, Book 3, Canto VI, beginning 'There is continuall spring, and harvest there'."
 |
| Charles Robert Leslie Scene from Tristram Shandy (chapter 24) Uncle Toby and the Widow Wadman 1829-31 oil on canvas Tate Gallery |
"This is an illustration from Laurence Sterne's novel The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1760-67). Tristram's Uncle Toby is a veteran of the siege of Namur, where he received a nasty groin injury. His hobby is re-enacting historic sieges in miniature in his garden, all of which he masterminds from his sentry box. Toby's neighbour, the widow Wadman, lays siege to his heart. She finally captures it by complaining that she has a speck of dust in her eye. Toby is forced to look, but sees nothing. However, this eye – 'full of gentle salutations and soft responses' – seduces him and he falls in love."
 |
| Joseph Severn Modello for The Infant of the Apocalypse saved from the Dragon ca. 1827-32 oil on canvas Tate Gallery |
"The story of Severn's altarpiece filled much of his first stay in Rome, from his arrival with John Keats in 1820 until he returned and took up residence in London in 1841. Severn had planned to give the half-size modello as a thank-offering to Cardinal Weld, but this was prevented by the Cardinal's death in 1837. The young W.E. Gladstone had admired the unfinished altarpiece or the modello in Severn's studio sometime during April 1832. In 1838 Gladstone was again in Rome and again saw the altarpiece in Severn's studio. In 1843 Severn, back in England, offered Gladstone 'the large study of the Roman altar-piece'. Gladstone sent Severn an advance of £50 and left him the choice of the work, provided that Cardinal Weld's heirs did not claim it, which they did not. By 22 June Gladstone had bought the picture for a total of £80."