This book traces some key developments in British 18th- and 19th-century painting, focusing in particular on the outstanding portraits and landscapes in the National Gallery's collection. Compare what rival portrait painters Thomas Gainsborough and Sir Joshua Reynolds offered their sitters: the choice between shimmering colours and expressive brushwork, or ennobling classical references. Their techniques and philosophical ideals would be challenged and developed even further by the next generation. The ground-breaking landscapes that Constable and Turner produced inspired the French Impressionists, and are still among the world's favourite paintings today.
