The period of Queen Victoria's reign (1837-1901) was a time of great change in Britain. During Victoria's 64 years on the throne, Britain altered irrevocably as a result of the relentless onslaught of the Industrial Revolution.
The paintings of the age helped those who first viewed them to come to terms with the changes that were going on in their daily lives. For us, with our preconceived notions of what it means to be 'Victorian', these works of art prove to be a revealing, sometimes shocking glimpse into a world that is not always as different from ours as we would like to believe.
The book is split into five sections, each analysing how the works of art of the age dealt with issues and current events that were of relevance to every strata of Victorian society.
The Mob in the Picture Gallery
This section examines works that portray the hustle and bustle of Victorian life in a range of settings from the seaside and race courses to railway stations and the Great Exhibition of 1851. Amongst these is William Powell Frith's The Derby Day (1856-1858), a mind-boggling depiction of the annual Derby Day race at Epsom Downs Racecourse, Surrey. In class-conscious Victorian Britain, Frith's painting reveals a scene where the upper classes come into close contact with those of inferior social rank.
Thy Long Day's Work
As a direct result of the Industrial Revolution, migrants flowed into the great cities of northern England and Central Scotland to find work in the, as Blake so succinctly put it, 'dark, satanic mills'. The horrific living and working conditions endured by the majority of mill-hands became the subject of a whole new genre of literature - the Industrial novel.
Artists soon began to lay open the degrading, grinding poverty and hopelessness that blighted the lives of the industrial migrants. Luke Fildes Applicants for Admission to a Casual Ward (1874) is unrelenting in its portrayal of human misery as the poor queue for assistance beneath posters offering rewards for the capture of murderers, missing persons and advertisments for young men to join the Royal Artillary.
The Angel in the House
The title of this chapter is taken from a poem of the same name which portrays an idealised happy marriage with the wife presiding contentedly over her domestic sphere. In no period of time has the role of women been more hotly contested than in the Victorian age.
The fundamental dichotomy between the woman as wife/mother and Eve's own sinful, tempting daughter is reflected in the paintings of the time. Women are painted variously as remorseful mistresses, sullen wives repenting a marriage of convenience, proud matriarchs, unfaithful wives and doting mothers with many shades in between.
A World of Wealth and Power
The concerns of Empire and the Crimea War prompted many artists of the period to respond with paintings that often created a great sensation. One such work was The Roll Call (1874) by Elizabeth Thompson. Inspired, as she said, to portray the 'pathos and heroism' of war rather than the hitherto popular images of gallant, aristocratic soldiers, Thompson's work revealed the startling brutality of war through its images of dead, dying and injured soldiers.
A Land of Dreams
Confronted by the irrefutable claims of Darwin and the growing trend towards a decline in church attendance, the latter years of the Victorian age were beset by growing feelings of doubt. These were reflected in the many highly symbolic paintings of the mid to late 19th Century that reveal a concern with with death, the after-life and what, if anything, is the alternative to religion.
There are examples of artists who depicted the common hope that if God did not exist, there was more to life than just the mere fact of our existence. Paintings such as Speak! Speak! (1894-1895) by John Everett Millais portray the dramatic appearance of a beloved wife newly risen from the grave.
Paxman's The Victorians is a veritable mine of information on the Victorian age presented in a refreshingly vivid manner. Favourite paintings of the era are presented alongside more unusual pictures but both will delight those with an interest in the history of 19th Century Britain.
Source:
Jeremy Paxman, The Victorians - Britain Through the Paintings of the Age
BBC Books ISBN 978-1-846-07743-2
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