We very much regret having to announce that The British Art Journal will cease publication on 31 December this year, 2023, with the publication of Volume XXIV, No. 3, owing to the retirement of the editor. It may well start again under new management, but nothing has yet been decided.
In the circumstances, we are not accepting any new subscriptions.
The annual prize created to recognize excellence in the field of British art history was created in 2001 by the Berger Collection Educational Trust (BCET) and The British Art Journal, in honour of the late American collector and patron William MB Berger.
Since its inception, the Berger Prize has come to be recognized as the most respected in the field.
Timothy Clayton being presented with the 2023 William MB Berger Prize for British Art History by Deborah Swallow on Wednesday 29 November during a reception at the Society of Antiquaries, London
“Once again we’ve been presented with a vast array of brilliantly researched and written books, as always it is a hugely difficult job to pick a shortlist, let alone a winner.”
Professor Robin Simon, Editor, The British Art Journal
GA Bremner
Building Greater Britain: Architecture, Imperialism, and the Edwardian Baroque Revival 1885–1920
Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art
368 pp 292 col & bw
ISBN 978-1913107314 £50
Tim Clayton
James Gillray: A Revolution in Satire
Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art
408 pp 205 col & bw
ISBN 978-1914414350 £50
Paris Spies-Gans
Revolution on Canvas: The Rise of Women Artists in Britain and France, 1760–1830
Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art
384 pp 157 col & bw
ISBN 978-1913107291 £45
Nicholas Tromans
The Private Lives of Pictures: Art at Home in Britain, 1800–1940
Reaktion Books
296 pp 77 ill (28 col)
ISBN 9781789146233 £25
Cover
Tir y Blaenau by David Jones (1895–1974), 1924–5.
Watercolour, ink and crayon, 57 x 39.5 cm.
National Library of Wales.
This months featured article is a review of Frédéric Ogée’s Sir Thomas Lawrence: Le Génie du portrait anglais
by Andrew Wilton on p 108
EDITORIAL
2 | William MB Berger Prize 2023 Long List
RESEARCH
3 | Susanna Avery-Quash
The extraordinary in the ordinary
Stanley Spencer (1891–1959) as a religious painter
15 | Hilary Davies
Sacramental landscapes
Coventry sixty years on
21 | Patricia R Andrew
A place in the country
The so-called ‘Raphael’s Villa’ in Rome
27 | Tim Marshall
Edward Rooker (1724–1774) and Michael Angelo Rooker (1747–1801)
Family connections
37 | Martin Hopkinson
The London paintings of Victor Mottez (1809–1897)
49 | David Platzer
Harold Acton Part V
Harold at Oxford: back to Mahogany
61 | Richard Dagorne
Henry de Triqueti (1803–1874)
A forgotten candidate for the Memorial to the Great Exhibition
67 | Philip Ward-Jackson
Some unknown projects and recent revelations
The Memorial to the Great Exhibition and the critical fortunes of Henry de Triqueti (1803–1874)
70 | FG Notehelfer
Some further observations on John Constable’s ‘Garter Painting’
73 | Brendan Cassidy
Gavin Hamilton (1723–1798)
His beginnings as an artist informed by an unpublished
collection of letters
87 | Kenneth McConkey
‘Life’s most real satisfactions’
The Ireland of William Henry Bartlett (1856–1932)
96 | Melissa L Gustin
‘What Are Men to Rocks and Mountains?’
Mythology and geology in Chaos by GF Watts (1817–1904)
BOOK REVIEWS
105 | Martin Hopkinson
François Marandet
Louis Chéron (Paris, 1655–London, 1725). L’ambition du dessin parfait
EXHIBITION REVIEWS
115 | Kenneth McConkey
‘Essence of Nature – Pre-Raphaelites to British Impressionists’
Lost progressive artist of the mid-19th century
The British Art Journal was launched at a reception given at the Thomas Coram Foundation (now the Foundling Museum), 40 Brunswick Square WC1 on 1 July 1999. Two issues were published in the first year, and three issues have been published every year since.
The British Art Journal publishes original research on British art of all periods, and actively encourages the work of younger scholars. Articles cover most fields of art-historical research, including painting and the graphic arts, books and publishing, sculpture, architecture, the decorative arts, and the history of dress.
Submissions are invited from scholars.
Main articles are usually 3,000 – 7,500 words, but it is a policy of the journal to consider longer articles up to 20,000 words; shorter articles up to 3,000 words.
Suggestions for reviews of books and exhibitions are welcomed.
Contact the Editor,
email: editor@britishartjournal.co.uk
All research articles are refereed.