Sir Joshua Reynolds was an English painter who specialised in portraits. Art critic John Russell called him one of the major European painters of the 18th century while Lucy Peltz says he was "the leading portrait artist of the 18th-century and arguably one of the greatest artists in the history of art." He promoted the "Grand Style" in painting, which depended on idealisation of the imperfect. He was a founder and first president of the Royal Academy of Arts and was knighted by George III in 1769.
Thomas Gainsborough was an English portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. Along with his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds, he is considered one of the most important British artists of the second half of the 18th century. He painted quickly, and the works of his maturity are characterised by a light palette and easy strokes. Despite being a prolific portrait painter, Gainsborough gained greater satisfaction from his landscapes. He is credited as the originator of the 18th-century British landscape school. Gainsborough was a founding member of the Royal Academy.
Augustus Edwin John was a Welsh painter, draughtsman, and etcher. For a time he was considered the most important artist at work in Britain: Virginia Woolf remarked that by 1908 the era of John Singer Sargent and Charles Wellington Furse "... was over. The age of Augustus John was dawning." He was the younger brother of the painter Gwen John.
Maria Anna Angelika Kauffmann, usually known in English as Angelica Kauffman, was a Swiss Neoclassical painter who had a successful career in London and Rome. Remembered primarily as a history painter, Kauffman was a skilled portraitist, landscape and decoration painter. She was, along with Mary Moser, one of two female painters among the founding members of the Royal Academy in London in 1768.
The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the United Kingdom, it has no general admission charge; there are admission charges for most side-gallery temporary exhibitions, usually supplemented by many loaned works from other museums.
Gilbert Stuart was an American painter born in the Rhode Island Colony who is widely considered one of America's foremost portraitists. His best-known work is an unfinished portrait of George Washington, begun in 1796, which is usually referred to as the Athenaeum Portrait. Stuart retained the original and used it to paint scores of copies that were commissioned by patrons in America and abroad. The image of George Washington featured in the painting has appeared on the United States one-dollar bill for more than a century and on various postage stamps of the 19th century and early 20th century.
Benjamin West was a British-American artist who painted famous historical scenes such as The Death of Nelson, The Death of General Wolfe, the Treaty of Paris, and Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky.
Admiral Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel, PC was a British Royal Navy officer and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1755 to 1782. He saw action in command of various ships, including the fourth-rate Maidstone, during the War of the Austrian Succession. He went on to serve as Commodore on the North American Station and then Commander-in-Chief, Jamaica Station during the Seven Years' War. After that he served as Senior Naval Lord and then Commander-in-Chief of the Channel Fleet.
The art of the United Kingdom refers to all forms of visual art in or associated with the country since the formation of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707 and encompasses English art, Scottish art, Welsh art and Irish art, and forms part of Western art history. During the 18th century, Britain began to reclaim the leading place England had previously played in European art during the Middle Ages, being especially strong in portraiture and landscape art.
Major Sir William Newenham Montague Orpen, was an Irish artist who mainly worked in London. Orpen was a fine draughtsman and a popular, commercially successful painter of portraits for the well-to-do in Edwardian society, though many of his most striking paintings are self-portraits.
Catherine Maria Fischer, better known as Kitty Fisher, was an English courtesan. From her teenage years onward, Fisher developed a carefully molded public image, which was enhanced by acknowledgement from Sir Joshua Reynolds and other artists. By emphasizing Fisher's beauty, audacity, and charm, portraits of her, along with newspaper and magazine articles promoted her reputation, prompting spectators to view her with awe. She was one of the world's first celebrities who was not famous for being an actress, musician, or member of the royalty, but simply for being famous. Her life exemplifies the emergence of mass media publishing and fame in an era when capitalism, commercialism, global markets, and rising emphasis on public opinion were transforming England.
Mai, also known as Omai in Europe, was a young Ra'iatean man who became the first Pacific Islander to visit England, and the second to visit Europe, after Ahutoru who was brought to Paris by Bougainville in 1768.
Events from the year 1753 in art.
George Arnald was a British painter who specialised in landscapes, including topographical views to illustrated county histories. He is best known for his celebrated painting depicting the Battle of the Nile.
Richard Wright was an English marine painter. An entirely self-taught artist, he first appeared as an exhibitor in London in 1760, and between that date and 1773 exhibited twenty-five works with the Incorporated Society of Artists and one with the Free Society.
Portrait of Mai (Omai) (also known as Portrait of Omai, Omai of the Friendly Isles or simply Omai) is an oil-on-canvas portrait of Omai, a Polynesian visitor to England, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, completed about 1776.
Mary Fox, Baroness Holland, known as Lady Mary Fox from 1766–74, was an Anglo-Irish aristocrat from the Mac Giolla Phádraig dynasty and Fox family. She is best known for being the portrait subject of several notable 18th-century artists, including Thomas Gainsborough and Sir Joshua Reynolds.
The Piazza at Havana is a landscape painting by the French-born British artist Dominic Serres. It depicts the scene during the British occupation of Havana, Cuba following Britain's capture of the city from Spain during the Seven Years' War. British troops in redcoats are shown parading in the Plaza Vieja while British sailors are in the foreground. Serres painted a series of works focusing on the taking of Havana for the Keppel family, three of whom led the British campaign. The title uses the Italian loan word piazza, common in English during the era, rather than the Spanish plaza.
Portrait of Robert Fulton is an 1806 portrait painting by the Anglo-American artist Benjamin West depicting the American inventor Robert Fulton.
Portrait of Admiral Rodney or Admiral Rodney at the Battle of the Saintes is a 1783 portrait painting by the English artist Thomas Gainsborough featuring the British admiral George Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney. It depicts his April 1782 victory at the Battle of the Saintes in the Caribbean Sea during the American War of Independence. Rodney led the Royal Navy to a decisive victory over the French fleet commanded by the Comte de Grasse by "breaking the line". Rodney is shown on the deck of the de Grasse's captured flagship Ville de Paris with the ship's Fleur-de-lis ensign behind him, as smoke from the battle swirls in the background. In 1788 the artist's nephew Gainsborough Dupont produced a mezzotint based on the picture.
