This week, we will be looking at how one country, Britain, sought artistic approaches that were not linked to Rococo, a style treated with suspicion as it came from France. This century saw the establishment of the Royal Academy and the confirmation of London as the premier location for art in the country due, in no small part, to its wealth.  

We will look at the figureheads for both the establishment of the Royal Academy and the intellectualising of portraiture, Sir Joshua Reynolds and William Hogarth, advocate for a uniquely British style of painting, moraliser and, despite his unflinching eye, an optimist of the human condition. 

After the break, we will explore the work of another British artist, George Stubbs, who revered his roots, and sought out other popular genres, mainly the painting of horses and animals. We will examine how Stubbs, ever the maverick, took a genre of painting that had been neglected and pushed it to the forefront of 18th-century British art.  

Artists and art lovers have always travelled to see works of art. However, in the 18th century, this process became codified and commercialised as young men, often in the company of a large entourage, began to travel across Europe as part of their education. 

Inevitably, their journeys took in Rome, Venice and Florence. This session will look at how the Grand Tour, as it came to be known, was vital in disseminating ideals based on classical architecture, writing and sculpture. We will look specifically at the ways in which portraits produced by the Italian artist, Pompeo Batoni, catered to this market. 

After the break, Dr Richard Stemp will deliver a talk entitled ‘Venice: Canaletto and Carriera’. Seen by many as the party capital of Europe in the 18th century, Venice was often the last important venue to be visited on the Grand Tour, and so the ideal place to get your last souvenirs. Nowadays they would be holiday snaps and selfies, but back then, Canaletto and Carriera were the go-to artists for 'vedute' (views) and portraits respectively, and we will see how the careers of each developed according to the demands of the tourists.

The Enlightenment is often understood as the triumph of scientific enquiry over mysticism and tradition. Across Europe, philosophers, writers, intellectuals and scientists increasingly wanted to understand the world around them and sought to do so through observation and experimentation. We will look at how these changes impacted the production of paintings and, in particular, paintings of volcanoes. We will also consider whether the break with mysticism and superstition was as final as many have claimed.  

The second part of the session will focus on a single painting, perhaps the most complete visual presentation of the ideals, and problems, of the Enlightenment – Joseph Wright 'of Derby’s' ‘An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump’. We will see that Wright was both enlightened and a mystic.