A portrait of the Victorian world that takes readers on a journey through the birth of modern Britain. Using the paintings of the era as a starting point, it tells us stories of urban life, family, faith, industry and empire that helped define the Victorian spirit and imagination.
From high gothic architecture to the birth of the football league, from the novels of Dickens to the technological marvels of Brunel, the paintings of the era provide an overview that ranges across the whole of Victorian life and culture
Jeremy Paxman's unique portrait of the Victorian world takes readers on an exciting journey through the birth of modern Britain. Using the paintings of the era as a starting point, he tells stories of urban life, family, faith, industry, and empire that helped define the Victorian spirit and imagination. To Paxman, these paintings were the television of their day, and his exploration of Victorian art and society explains how artists like Butler, William Powell Frith, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Luke Fildes, and Ford Madox Brown were chronicling a world changing before their eyes. This enthralling history is an opinionated, informed, surprising, and hugely enthusiastic appraisal of the Victorians' influence on modern culture.
Published to coincide with the BBC series presented by Jeremy Paxman himself, this is a unique exploration of Victorian society through the paintings of the era.
Jeremy Paxman offers his unique take on the most important and influential period of Britain’s past. Using the paintings of the era as his starting point, Paxman explores themes of family, urban life, industry, empire and imagination, to uncover truths (and explode some myths) about Victorian Britain.
To Paxman, these paintings were the television of their day, immensely popular visual narratives that attracted crowds by the hundreds of thousands.
The Victorians shows how artists like Butler, William Powell Frith, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Luke Fildes, and Ford Madox Brown, were chronicling a world changing before their eyes, and his overview ranges across the whole of Victorian life and culture: from high gothic architecture to the birth of the football league, from the novels of Dickens to the technological marvels of Brunel.
From the Hardcover edition.
