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19th-century Britain

Works made in Britain in the 19th century.

40 works · hang 1280 ·

The rooms are imagined; every work on their walls is real.

Walk this roomRehang this room

Section 1, north wall

  1. Lady Lilith, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1867
    Lady LilithDante Gabriel Rossetti, 1867Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. Bray Church Yard, by John Varley, 1807
    Bray Church YardJohn Varley, 1807Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  3. Weymouth Bay, by David Lucas, 1830
    Weymouth BayDavid Lucas, 1830Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  4. A work made of oil on panel.
    The Shadow of DeathWilliam Holman Hunt, 1873-74Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Section 1, south wall

  1. From a grassy riverbank, we look across the placid surface of a river lined along the far bank with trees and farm animals in this horizontal landscape painting. The scene is painted loosely with brushstrokes visible throughout, so some details are difficult to make out. For the surface of the river, russet-brown and steel-gray paint skims lightly across the canvas and leaves some unpainted areas visible, creating the effect of light shimmering on the still water. On our left, a shallow wooden barge is propelled along the stream by two men in red caps with long poles. The boat carries a white horse wearing blinders and a harness. The riverbank beyond is lined with pale, sage-green grass tinged with gold, growing in front of a tangle of darker green trees and bushes. Across the water from us near the middle of the picture, a small rowboat sits in the shallows at the foot of a steep riverbank. Above, a white cottage with a reddish roof and chimney is tucked behind the trees, with a wooden rack full of hay next to it. Nearby, a plow and wheeled cart, highlighted with strokes of white, sit near more mounds of hay. Rocky fields reach into the distance. The vista is blocked to our right by another clump of trees and a rocky outcropping, rising from the stream, to our right of center. The steep, dark roof of a farmhouse is barely visible among the trees. Along the riverside to our right, a small group of cinnamon-brown and cream-white cows stand at water's edge. A rolling pasture stretches behind them to meet blue hills in the distance. Above, in the upper third of the painting, mottled white, pale rose, and gray clouds rolling across a steel-gray sky are reflected in the water below.
    The White HorseJohn Constable, 1818-1819Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. We look out onto a landscape with low, grassy hills to the left, a lake to the right, and a brick building in the center distance below a sky filled with towering white clouds in this horizontal painting. A wooden fence closer to us crosses the landscape from the lower left corner and disappears where the land slopes down to meet the water at the center of the painting. Several black and white cows graze in the field beyond the fence to our left. Two men in a wooden boat pull in nets on the lake to our right near a pair of swans. The lake crosses the composition in the near distance, disappearing into a culvert farther back. A donkey pulls a small carriage with two people near a bridge that crosses the lake in the distance to our left. The brick manor house is visible through a break in the full, deep green trees that line the horizon, which comes halfway up the composition. The clouds cast noticeable shadows in the brightly sunlit scene.
    Wivenhoe Park, EssexJohn Constable, 1816Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

Section 2, south wall

  1. Armies of men march and battle along a rocky outcropping set among huge rock formations and massive buildings under a stormy sky in this horizontal landscape painting. The people we can see all have pale skin. Sheets of rain fall from flint-gray clouds on our left into a valley, though hints of peach brighten the clouds along the mountainous horizon there. In the right half of the sky, light pours down from a brilliant white sun that breaks through white clouds to reveal topaz-blue patches of sky. The horizon comes about halfway up the composition and is lined with rugged white, pale pink, and olive-green mountains on our left and silvery-white buildings along the right half. These structures include two domed buildings and a colosseum among many others. The buildings are all enclosed within city walls buttressed with towers. The land dips precipitously from the rocky cliffs supporting the buildings, to sweep down toward us. A huge outcropping angles up like a ramp between us and the buildings in the distance. A road runs from the walled town toward us, down along the ridge and in front of the outcropping. Countless warriors march in rows of four or five across on the road past a man wearing a feathered helmet and armored breastplate. This man, Joshua, stands on a rocky precipice facing away from us with his right hand raised. He wears a scarlet-red toga under his breastplate, and a royal-blue cape flutters at his left side. He holds a round, copper-colored shield and a spear in his other hand. Two men with gray beards stand near Joshua with their backs to us. Both gesture up to the sky. One holds a slender staff and the other a curling horn. They and another pair of men, who stoop to hold poles used to carry a chest, all wear long, ivory-white robes, cherry-red drapery, and white turbans. The column of soldiers on foot and horseback pass in front of Joshua to a massive battlefield to our left. The fight takes place in a valley that leads back to a river. A bolt of lightning zigzags from the storm clouds and strikes a city in the deep distance. The artist signed the painting in the lower right, “J. Martin.”
    Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still upon GibeonJohn Martin, 1816Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. The Lake of Zug, by Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1843
    The Lake of ZugJoseph Mallord William Turner, 1843Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Section 2, north wall

  1. Large English country landscape painting, farmers with horses, green trees.
    Stoke-by-NaylandJohn Constable, 1836Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. Whalers, by Joseph Mallord William Turner, ca. 1845
    WhalersJoseph Mallord William Turner, ca. 1845Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Section 3, north wall

  1. Large marine landscape of boats on rough waves, storm clouds.
    Fishing Boats with Hucksters Bargaining for FishJoseph Mallord William Turner, 1837–38Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. Serene red-haired woman, framed with allegorical symbols of red bird, sundial.
    Beata BeatrixDante Gabriel Rossetti, 1871–72Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. A work made of graphite on ivory wove paper.
    A Byzantine Well-headFrederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton of Stretton, 1852Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Section 3, south wall

  1. A work made of oil on paperboard.
    Lane Scene at NightJohn Atkinson Grimshaw, 1872Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. The image displays a man in a portrait from the waist up, in a three-quarter view. He is facing slightly to the right and looking into the distance with a calm expression. The man has fair skin, light reddish-brown hair, sideburns, a defined nose, and a slightly upturned chin. He is wearing a black double-breasted coat with a high collar, a dark waistcoat, a white shirt, and a medal on his chest with an insignia and ribbon. The background is plain and deep brown.
    Francis Charles Seymour-Conway, 3rd Marquess of HertfordThomas Lawrence, c. 1822/1823Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  3. A work made of oil on canvas.
    The FestivalSir John Edward Poynter, 1875Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago