Abstract

From Library Journal Gillett here explores the values inherent in Victorian painting, showing how they have been downplayed in contrast to those found in the literature and science of that period. She thereby restores to their proper place once-prominent artists like Luke Fildes, Hubert Herkomer, and G.F. Watts. While the achievements of key men are covered, the two best chapters treat Victorian women painters; the role of women as artists is well discussed in both a broad cultural context and in terms of specific careers. These chapters contain valuable insights into the problems facing the serious British woman painter. The final chapter, which looks at the nature of the late Victorian art world and its public, concludes that painters and their audience began distancing themselves from each other due to changing social conditions. This book updates Quentin Bell's Victorian Artists (1967) for use in academic and research art library collections.