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Tuesday, April 19, 2005
ISLAND TO EMPIRE - 300 Years of British Art 1550-1850
Art Gallery of South Australia: 11 March - 13 June 2005
In mid-sixteenth century Britain, as the legendary reign of Henry VIII neared its end, a new era was emerging, placing the British Isles firmly at the centre of the ‘civilised’ world. Britannia was expanding her reach across the seas, exploring the four corners of the earth and commanding an empire like no other. An artistic tradition was also evolving, one which would see British art develop over the next three centuries beyond its mainstay of portraiture to become known for maritime paintings, animal pictures, watercolours, satire, and finally and triumphantly, for landscape painting.
The magnificent exhibition, Island to Empire: 300 Years of British Art, traces these advances in British art from 1550 to 1850, through around 150 important oil paintings, miniatures, watercolours, drawings, prints, sculptures and decorative arts taken from the collection of decorative arts taken from the collection of the Art Gallery of South Australia – the most comprehensive British art collection outside the United Kingdom. ...
http://www.artgallery.sa.gov.au