The British Art Journal, over its 24-year existence, has argued that there is no copyright in faithful reproductions of two-dimensional works of art that are themselves out of copyright. It has also argued that museums’ imposition of reproduction fees could not feasibly raise money sufficient to outweigh the administrative costs involved. This journal was correct on both counts.
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.”
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 Vol. XXIV No. 2
La Belle dame sans ‘Merci’ by EH. Punch
7 December 1895
See pp. 61–66
Cover Vol. XXIV No. 3
An Illustration of all 71 covers of The British Art Journal
This months feature is the whole of the final print issue of The British Art Journal
EDITORIAL
2 | William MB Berger Prize 2023: Winner
RESEARCH
3 | Sophie Rhodes
‘Translated into English Lymning’
The cabinet miniature copies of Peter Oliver (c1589–1647)
16 | Martin Postle
‘A simple domestic character’
A study by Thomas Lawrence (1769–1830) for George IV in private dress
23 | Tom Hockenhull
Designs for coins and medals by William Wyon (1795–1851) and his circle
36 | Peter S Forsaith
‘An odd purchase now and then’
The picture collection of James Everett (1784–1872)
43 | James DW Church
‘Took the Jurors by Storm’
William Orpen, the Carnegie Institute and American Art (1910–1915)
50 | David Platzer
Harold Acton Part VI
57 | Rina Arya
Bacon’s beasts
The pathos of the animal in the art of Francis Bacon (1909–1982)
61 | Ed Lilley
Problems in picturing Keats’s La Belle Dame sans Merci
67 | Clive J Easter
The monument to Penelope Boothby in St Oswald’s, Ashbourne
71 | John Eglin
Girolama Piccolomini’s portrait of James Boswell
73 | Geoffrey Munn
New light on Dadd
George Bailey (1821–1898) by Richard Dadd (1817–86)
REVIEWS
77 | Peter Cormack
Martin Ferguson Smith
The Artist Helen Coombe (1864–1937).
The Tragedy of Roger Fry’s Wife
EDITORIAL
2 | Copyright
RESEARCH
3 | Peter Humfrey
The picture collections of the poet Samuel Rogers (1763–1855) and his siblings
17 | Peter Jones
A neglected little gem of 1946’
Clausentum by John Arlott (1914–1991) and Michael Ayrton (1921–1975)
27 | Philip McEvansoneya
Estella Solomons (1882–1968) and the Irish contribution to the Artists’ Refugee Committee
33 | Iain Macdonald
William Alister Macdonald (1861–1956) of Scotland and Tahiti
A portrait of the artist in the third age
44 | William Chubb
Mendelssohn and Sophocles
Victoria and Albert’s sixth wedding anniversary
47 | Charles Raab
The discovery of two portrait drawings by the young Thomas Lawrence (1769–1830)
49 | Alexander Marr
Holbein’s earliest portraits in England?
The sequence of his work for Sir Thomas More
58 | Allister Neher
Benjamin Robert Haydon (1786–1846) and the ‘Illustrious’ John Bell
The anatomical foundations of the Lectures on Painting and Design
67 | Robert LS Cowley
William Hogarth’s personal ‘Erewhon’
A search for the ‘Guzzledown’ of his Election series
74 | Robin Simon
Giotto, Caravaggio, Gainsborough, Reynolds, and the Purkinje Shift
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.
