The Great Artists chronicles the lives, times and works of the men whose genius have captivated the art world for generations. Informative and entertaining, this series highlights important events in each artist?s life, e... more »xplores their stylistic trademarks and provides detailed explanations of their techniques. The Great Artists also features expert commentary and analyses from leading authorities, art historians and scholars, new location footage and extensive period re-creations. The programs in this series contain an in-depth look at the English Masters. Undoubtedly, the first great painter to hail from England, William Hogarth?s work was a witty and brilliant satirical depiction of English society. This was a society with flaws and Hogarth was not afraid to condemn, as well as praise. With these characteristics combined, Hogarth was able to produce his greatest works, Modern Moral Subjects including The Rake?s Progress and Marriage á-la-Mode which are still admired for their humor and vitality.Hogarth was also a portraitist and his great ambition led him to work in the Grand Manner of European history painting.This fascinating program includes all new location footage including a visit to Hogarth?s House in West London and St. Bartholomew?s Hospital and other inspirational London locations, re-creations and reconstructions, studies of the great works and commentaries and analyses from leading authorities, art historians and scholars. Possibly the greatest-ever English portraitist and landscape artist of 18th century England, Thomas Gainsborough had undoubtedly the most famous individual image. The celebrated Blue Boy is just one of hundreds of powerfully impressive images created by Gainsborough. By the middle of his life, he was a master at depicting the men, women and children of his day, and his genius made him a wealthy man. However, Gainsborough?s real passion was landscape painting and he worked in both genres throughout his life. The Fancy Pictures created towards the end of his career, were a result of combining landscape and portraiture, which are now seen by many as his greatest achievement.Considered one of the most important and influential 18th century English portraitists, Sir Joshua Reynolds was knighted in recognition of his genius. Deeply inspired by the Old Masters during an artistic pilgrimage to Italy, he incorporated their influence into a style of English portraiture never seen before dubbed "The Grand Style". It made him rich, and his many portraits of wealthy men, women, and especially children, remain an English national treasure. As the ultimate example of the Romantic artist, William Blake made radical developments in art technique to communicate his vision. However visual art was just one facet of his achievement. In his famous Illuminated Books, Blake combined painting, engraving and poetry, some of which are now the most famous in the English language. However, Blake?s visual art can be far more readily appreciated, and pictures such as The Ancient of Days remain a powerful testimony to the genius of this multi-talented artist. A Royal Academy exhibitioner at the age of fifteen, J.M.W. Turner, by the end of his life, was the best known artists in England during the Romantic period and one of the forerunners of Impressionism. A life-long lover of landscape and seascape painting, he traveled widely in search of inspiration. No artist had ever painted light and color as Turner did in his astonishing later works. These paintings such as Rain, Steam, Speed and The Fighting Témérair were the conclusion to the long evolution of the art of J. M. W. Turner. John Constable has been eternally associated with just one part of England, Suffolk. As a native of the area, he drew life-long inspiration from his home country in a timeless collection of landscape paintings. One of these, The Hay Wain, may well be the most famous painting ever created by an English artist. However, there were occasions when Constable struggled to gain recognition for his work until the critics in France began to appreciate his genius.« less
![The Post-Impressionists [Boxed Set]: Cezanne, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec, Munch, Rousseau](https://nationalbookswap.com/dvd/s/66/5466/95466.jpg)
