Tate Britain: British art over the ages

Tate Britain, London’s gallery of British art, is holding several exhibitions, with one of them called Painting with Light: Art and Photographs from the Pre-Raphaelites to the Modern Age, from 11 May to 25 September 2016, and another called Conceptual Art in Britain 1964-1979, from 12 April to 29 August 2016. However, there are free exhibitions throughout the exhibition, and these are accommodated in rooms according to their chronological history.

An example from the 1500s is a Portrait of Elizabeth I (1563). It is attributed to Steven van der Meulen (? – 1563/4) or Steven van Herwijck (1530-1567). The portrait of Elizabeth I (1533-1603) is the earliest known full-length painting of the queen.

An example from the 1600s is The Cholmondeley Ladies (1600-1610) by British School. The women were born on the same day, married on the same day, and gave birth on the same day. The babies, wrapped in scarlet fabric, look identical, but there are subtle differences. The format echoes tomb sculptures of the period.

An example from the 1800s is Punch or May Day (1829) by Benjamin Robert Haydon (1786-1846). The detailed painting captures Marylebone Road in London. Another example is St Martin-in-the-Fields (1888) by William Logsdail (1859-1944).

An example of the 1950s is The Pond (1950) by L.S. Lowry (1887-1976). It is an industrial landscape featuring terraced houses, the Stockport Viaduct, and figures moving about the streets.

An example of the 1970s is My Parents (1977) by David Hockney (1937-). This was the last painting in the series of double portraits. Painted a year before his father’s death, it shows him reading, while his mother poses in her chair. A book on Chardin, the 18th century French painter of domestic scenes, is placed in the centre of the painting. A postcard of Piero della Francesca’s Baptism of Christ is reflected in the mirror. In an earlier version, Hockney included a self-portrait in the mirror, which is between his parents.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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