Changes

[[Image:Van Dyck Charles I from Three Angles.jpg|thumb|Charles I, King of England, from Three Angles ''by Anthony van Dyck''. ]]

[[Image:Van Dyck Charles I from Three Angles.jpg|thumb|Charles I, King of England, from Three Angles ''by Anthony van Dyck''. ]]

'''English Painting''' has a long and rich history. It is believed that [[English]] painting had been influenced by the [[Celts]]; however some scholars affirm that real English painting started in the 18th century; this is because the most important painters who worked before in England were foreigners ([[Hans Holbein the Younger]], [[Anthony van Dyck]], etc.), from mainland Europe, and painting was essentially an aristocratic matter (Works from the masters of Italian Renaissance were in the collections of the Earl of Arundel and the Duke of Buckingham). Nineteenth Century, "The Great Century of British Painting", produced a variety of outstanding works. In late XIX century, [[Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema]], a classical-subject Dutch painter, the most successful of the Victorian era, influenced English painting (in some list he appears as English painter). <ref>[http://victorianartinbritain.co.uk/artists.htm Short Biographies of Leading Victorian Painters]</ref> Portraits and landscape painting have been the great English specialism.

'''English Painting''' has a long and rich history. It is believed that [[English]] painting had been influenced by the [[Celts]]; however some scholars affirm that real English painting started in the 18th century; this is because the most important painters who worked before in England were foreigners ([[Hans Holbein the Younger]], [[Anthony van Dyck]], etc.), from mainland Europe, and painting was essentially an aristocratic matter (Works from the masters of Italian Renaissance were in the collections of the Earl of Arundel and the Duke of Buckingham). Nineteenth Century, "The Great Century of British Painting", produced a variety of outstanding works. In late XIX century, [[Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema]], a classical-subject Dutch painter, the most successful of the Victorian era, influenced English painting (in some list he appears as English painter). <ref>[http://victorianartinbritain.co.uk/artists.htm Short Biographies of Leading Victorian Painters]</ref> J.M.W. Turner and John Constable influenced not only subsequent generations of British painters, but American and European as well. Portraits and landscape painting have been the great English specialism.  

== Nicholas  Hilliard ==

== Nicholas  Hilliard ==

[[Thomas Gainsborough]] (Sudbury, Suffolk, 1727 – London, 1788) was a landscape and portrait painter, considered one of the great English masters. In the aristocratic spa town of Bath and later in London, he became well-known for [[portraits]] like ''Mrs. Philip Thicknesse (1760), Mary, Countess Howe (about 1763-4), The Blue Boy (exhibited R.A. 1770), and the landscape The Harvest Wagon (exhibited S.A. 1767). In 1768 he became one of the foundation members of the Royal Academy, at which he exhibited annually until 1784''. <ref>[http://www.abcgallery.com/G/gainsborough/gainsboroughbio.html Biography of Thomas Gainsborough] </ref>

[[Thomas Gainsborough]] (Sudbury, Suffolk, 1727 – London, 1788) was a landscape and portrait painter, considered one of the great English masters. In the aristocratic spa town of Bath and later in London, he became well-known for [[portraits]] like ''Mrs. Philip Thicknesse (1760), Mary, Countess Howe (about 1763-4), The Blue Boy (exhibited R.A. 1770), and the landscape The Harvest Wagon (exhibited S.A. 1767). In 1768 he became one of the foundation members of the Royal Academy, at which he exhibited annually until 1784''. <ref>[http://www.abcgallery.com/G/gainsborough/gainsboroughbio.html Biography of Thomas Gainsborough] </ref>

In 1780, Gainsborough painted the King George III and Queen Charlotte, becoming the Royal Family's favorite painter. ''Before his death in 1788, he turned from portraiture to pictorial compositions, producing in all some 200 landscapes in addition to his prolific output of about 800 portraits of the English aristocracy.'' <ref>[http://www.britainexpress.com/History/bio/gainsborough.htm Thomas Gainsborough]</ref>

In 1780, Gainsborough painted the King George III and Queen Charlotte, becoming the Royal Family's favorite painter. ''Before his death in 1788, he turned from portraiture to pictorial compositions, producing in all some 200 landscapes in addition to his prolific output of about 800 portraits of the English aristocracy.'' <ref>[http://www.britainexpress.com/History/bio/gainsborough.htm Thomas Gainsborough]</ref> Gainsborough is the master of the English [[Rococo]].

Sir Joshua Reynolds, President of the Royal Academy, was in painting his most important rival.   

Sir Joshua Reynolds, President of the Royal Academy, was in painting his most important rival.