The History of English Art

(Part 1)

The oldest art in England can be dated to the Neolithic period, including the large ritual landscapes such as Stonehenge from c. 2600 BC. From around 2150 BC, the Beaker peole learned how to make bronze, and use both tin and gold. They became skilled in metal refining and works of art placed in graves have survived. In the Iron Age, a new art style arrived as Celtic culture spread across the British isles. Though metalwork, especially gold ornaments, was still important, stone and most likely wood was also used. This style continued into the Roman period, beginning in the 1st century BC, and would find a renaissance in the Medieval period. The arrival of the Romans brought the Classical style of which many monuments have survived, especially funerary monuments, statues and busts. They also brought glasswork and mosaics. In the 4th century, a new element was introduced as the first Christian art was made in Britain. Several mosaics with Christian symbols and pictures have been preserved.

After Roman rule, the Anglo-Saxons brought Germanic traditions, seen in the metalwork of Sutton Hoo. Anglo-Saxon sculpture was outstanding for its time, at least in the small works in ivory or bone that are almost all that have survived. Anglo-Saxon art developed a very sophisticated variety of contemporary Continental styles. By the first half of the 11th century, English art was being lavishly patronized by the wealthy Anglo-Saxon elite, who valued above all works in precious metals, but the Norman Conquest in 1066 brought a sudden halt to this art boom, and instead works were melted down or removed to Normandy. After a pause of some decades, painting in England soon became again the equal of any in Europe. Some of the extremely rare survivals of English medieval panel paintings, like the Westminster Retable and Wilton Diptych are of the highest quality. Another art form introduced through the church was stained glass, which was also adopted for secular uses. There was a considerable industry producing Nottingham alabaster reliefs for mid-market altarpieces and small statues, which were exported across Northern Europe.

The artists of the Tudor court in the Renaissance and their successors until the early 18th century were mostly imported talents, often from Flanders. These included Hans Holbein the Younger, Van Dyck, Rubens, Orazio Gentileschi and others. An exception must be made for the portrait miniature, where a strong English tradition began with the Elizabethan Nicholas Hilliard, who had learnt from Continental artists, and continued with Isaac Oliver and many other artists. By the following century a number of significant English painters of full-size portraits began to emerge, and towards the end of the century the other great English specialism, of landscape painting, also began to be practiced by natives. Both were heavily influenced by Anthony Van Dyck in particular, although he does not seem to have trained any English painters himself, he was a powerful influence in promoting the baroque style.

Words:

· metal refining – очистка металла

· metalwork – художественная работа по металлу

· bust [bʌst] – скульптурное поясное изображение, бюст

· ivory ['aɪv(ə)rɪ] – слоновая кость

· lavishly ['lævɪʃlɪ] – обильно, чрезмерно; щедро

· melted down – расплавлять

· panel painting – живописное панно

· stained glass – витраж

· secular ['sekjʋlə] – светский, мирской, нецерковный

· alabaster ['æləbɑ:stə] – алебастр, гипс

· altarpiece ['ɔ:ltəpi:s] – алтарь

· successor [sək'sesə] – приемник, наследник

· landscape – пейзаж

Text 5