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Britain

Works made in Britain, from every century in the collection.

85 works · hang 4586 ·

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

Walk this roomRehang this room

Section 1, north 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. From a rocky shoreline, we look on several light-skinned people working by the sea with a boat and a net in this freely painted, almost square seascape. The scene is framed by a silhouette of low boulders along the lower right corner, and a towering cream-white rock rising two-thirds of the way up the composition to our left. Scrubby, celery-green vegetation grows on the rocky outcropping. Near the center, close to the towering white rocks, three people sit, reaching for something near one end of a boat while a fourth person braces against the rock, presumably to push the boat out to the sea. Closer to us, three people on the shore work with a net. Two stand with the net hooked over their shoulders, and a third person crouches in the water with head down. The people all wear simple shirts and pants in shades of tan, mustard yellow, burnt orange, and pale blue. All but two wear hats. The sea meets the shore with frothy white foam and cresting, low waves. The sea beyond fades from pale sage green to arctic blue along the horizon, which comes about a third of the way up the composition. Two sail boats tilt against the wind in the distance. Pale, smoky lavender-purple clouds drift across the ice-blue sky.
    Seashore with FishermenThomas Gainsborough, c. 1781/1782Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

Section 1, south wall

  1. A work made of engraved letterhead, pen and ink calligraphy, and graphite ruling on parchment, folded with strap and (missing) seal.
    Recovery Document (Land Title Grant)Unrecorded British maker, 1702/14 (Queen Anne period)Courtesy 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. Weymouth Bay, by David Lucas, 1830
    Weymouth BayDavid Lucas, 1830Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  4. A work made of brown and black chalks on cream wove paper.
    Study for FestivalSir John Edward Poynter, c. 1875Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Section 2, south wall

  1. John Johnstone, Betty Johnstone, and Miss Wedderburn, by Sir Henry Raeburn, c. 1790/1795
    John Johnstone, Betty Johnstone, and Miss WedderburnSir Henry Raeburn, c. 1790/1795Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. Egypt & Nubia, Volume III, No. 8: Mosque of Sultan Hassan, Cairo, by Louis Haghe, 1842–49
    Egypt & Nubia, Volume III, No. 8: Mosque of Sultan Hassan, CairoLouis Haghe, 1842–49Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  3. The Love Song, by Sir Edward Burne-Jones, 1868–77
    The Love SongSir Edward Burne-Jones, 1868–77Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Section 2, north wall

  1. Cottage Children (The Wood Gatherers), by Thomas Gainsborough, 1787
    Cottage Children (The Wood Gatherers)Thomas Gainsborough, 1787Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. A work made of oil on canvas.
    The Golden AgeSir John Edward Poynter, 1875Courtesy 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, north 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. Large English country landscape painting, farmers with horses, green trees.
    Stoke-by-NaylandJohn Constable, 1836Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Section 3, south wall

  1. A work made of engraving in black ink with opaque and translucent watercolor on cream laid paper.
    August, from Twelve Months of FlowersHenry Fletcher, n.d.Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. Lindisfarne Castle, Holy Island, Northumberland, by Thomas Girtin, 1796–97
    Lindisfarne Castle, Holy Island, NorthumberlandThomas Girtin, 1796–97Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art