Christine Riding – författare

This book, published to coincide with a major exhibition at the National Maritime Museum, explores and celebrates Turner’s lifelong fascination with the sea. It also sets his work within the context of marine painting in the 19th century. Each chapter has an introductory text followed by discussion of specific paintings. Four of the chapters conclude with a feature essay on a specific topic.

This richly illustrated publication explores the lasting influence of Gainsborough’s Blue Boy on British art and cultureMarking the return of Gainsborough’s Blue Boy to the UK exactly 100 years since it left for the United States, this richly illustrated publication will explore the lasting influence of this iconic painting on British art and culture. During the nineteenth century, the painting’s fame grew and full-length portraits by Gainsborough and his contemporaries became much sought after by wealthy American collectors. The sale of The Blue Boy to the American railroad magnate and collector Henry E. Huntington in 1921 was unsurprisingly viewed as a national tragedy—emblematic of a shift in economic and cultural power. However, its afterlife, as a permanent ambassador for British art, has undoubtedly fed into ideas of Britain and Britishness—its history, society, culture and character—that still resonate today. Including a select group of paintings that demonstrate the profound influence of Sir Anthony van Dyck and the old master tradition on Gainsborough’s practice and identity, Gainsborough’s Blue Boy will examine this masterpiece within the context of the National Gallery’s collection.Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press

An accessible introduction to American painter Winslow Homer, examining his work through the lens of conflictA fresh exploration of the work of iconic American painter Winslow Homer (1836–1910) through the lens of conflict, a recurring theme in his prolific career. A persistent fascination with struggle permeates Homer’s art⁠—from emblematic images of the Civil War and Reconstruction to dazzling tropical works and monumental marines⁠—and reveals his lifelong engagement with the charged subjects of race, nature, and the environment.  This publication illuminates Homer’s preoccupation with the complex social and political issues of his era—war, slavery, imperialism—as well as his broader concerns with the fragility of human life and dominance of nature. These powerful themes are present in his earliest Civil War and Reconstruction paintings, which explore the effect of the conflict on the landscape, soldiers, and the formerly enslaved. They continue through his later images of rural life, dramatic rescues, and hunting⁠—paintings that grapple with the often uneasy relationship between humans and the natural world. Toward the end of his life, human figures were reduced to tiny, irrelevant presences, while the ocean acquired a pivotal role.This richly illustrated volume will be published to accompany a retrospective at the National Gallery, organized in collaboration with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Published by National Gallery Global/Distributed by Yale University Press

An exploration of Turner as an artist-traveler, in relation to two important European harbor scenesThis publication marks the return to the United Kingdom, for the first time in over a century, of two groundbreaking oil paintings by J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851), on loan from The Frick Collection in New York: Harbour of Dieppe: Changement de Domicile and Cologne, the Arrival of a Packet-Boat: Evening. They were acquired by wealthy American industrialist Henry Clay Frick in 1914 and have remained in the USA ever since.  Painted in the mid-1820s, Dieppe and Cologne exemplify Turner’s lifelong fascination with the subject of ports and harbors⁠—past and present⁠—as dynamic, transitional places. Exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1825 and 1826 respectively, they represent in powerfully visual terms the outcomes of Turner’s regular sketching tours within Europe that were central to his fame as an artist-traveler, as well as his radical approach to color, light, and brushwork. This sumptuously illustrated publication examines Turner’s creative process, and his use of sketchbooks and watercolors to capture his ideas as he traveled. Published by National Gallery Global/Distributed by Yale University Press

As part of the ‘Discover’ series, this catalogue explores Constable’s most famous painting and its social, political and artistic significance. It begins with an introduction to depictions of rural England by the artist’s predecessors and contemporaries in the British art world, before examining how the English landscape was changing physically and politically at the turn of the nineteenth century. Having set the context, the publication considers Constable’s life and career prior to producing The Hay Wain, going on to look closely at the making of the painting itself, the artist’s practice and materials, and the work’s exhibition in Britain. Two further chapters focus on Constable on the international stage in his lifetime and beyond, and the afterlife of The Hay Wain. Published by National Gallery Global Ltd/Distributed by Yale University Press

A focus on Wright of Derby’s hugely atmospheric ‘candlelight’ paintings, which have become his most popular works.Renowned for his depictions of dramatic contrasts between darkness and light, Joseph Wright of Derby created a significant series of paintings ‘by candlelight’ between 1765 and 1773. Centred around masterpieces including An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump from the National Gallery and A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery from Derby Museum and Art Gallery, this publication explores the social and artistic context of these pictures, foregrounding them as outstanding examples of European painting.The candlelight scenes offer a wealth of insights into Wright’s own thinking as well as contemporary preoccupations during the ‘Age of Enlightenment’, reflecting the artist’s concerns with death, melancholy, scientific progress and scepticism. The publication also discusses aesthetic debates concerning the sublime, as well as childhood wonder, curiosity and the loss of innocence. In addition to paintings and mezzotints, it considers related objects, such as contemporary scientific instruments.Published by National Gallery Global Ltd/Distributed by Yale University Press

The Armada Portrait is perhaps the most immediately recognisable depiction of Elizabeth I and, arguably, of any British monarch. It captures both the drama of a pivotal moment in Britain's history - the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 - and the majesty of the Tudor monarchy. But while the image it presents is one of assuredness, success and might, the portrait both overstates English power and downplays the real dangers the Armada presented to England and its queen. By understanding the portrait and its symbolism, the history of the Armada and the turbulent Elizabethan age come to life.