Spanish Art in Britain and Ireland, 1750-1920

Book excerpt: From the Golden Age to Goya. This is the first study wholly devoted to reception of Spanish art in Britain and Ireland. Examining the extent and sources of knowledge of Spanish art in the British Isles during an age of increasing contact, particularly in theaftermath of the Peninsular War, it contains contributions by leading scholars, including reprints of three essays by Enriqueta Harris Frankfort, to whose memory this book is dedicated. Focusing on Spanish art from the Golden Age to Goya, these studies chart the growth in understanding and appreciation of the Spanish School, and its punctuation by controversies and continuing distrust of religious images in Protestant Britain, as well as by the successive `discoveries' of individual artists - Murillo, Velázquez, Ribera, Zurbarán, El Greco and Goya. The book publishes important new research on art importation, collecting and dealing, and discusses the increase in access to andscholarship on works of art, including their reproduction through both traditional prints and copies and the newly invented photographic methods. It also considers for the first time the role of women in reflecting taste for thearts of Spain. It is richly illustrated with 17 colour and 54 black and white illustrations. NIGEL GLENDINNING is Emeritus Professor of Spanish and Fellow of Queen Mary University of London. HILARY MACARTNEY isHonorary Research Fellow of the Institute for Art History, University of Glasgow. Contributors: NIGEL GLENDINNING, HILARY MACARTNEY, JEREMY ROE, SARAH SYMMONS, MARJORIE TRUSTED, ENRIQUETA HARRIS FRANKFORT