Master Painters & Pioneers

18th to 20th Century: London

Master Painters & Pioneers chronicles an extraordinary journey of artistic innovation, from the founding principles of the Royal Academy, represented by Sir Joshua Reynolds, to the pivotal moment when that same institution finally welcomed female members, represented by Dame Laura Knight. 

 

Works by Edward Burne-Jones, James Tissot and Frederic Leighton reflect the achievements of the late Victorian era’s greatest innovators, which give way to the impact of Impressionism at the close of the century. A still life by Camille Pissarro, the ‘father of Impressionism’ leads on to an important series of vibrant harvest landscapes by French painter Henri Martin, paying homage to rural labour. They form a dialogue with exceptional examples of pastoral England by George Clausen, whose career was directly shaped by the work of the naturalist painter Jules Bastien-Lepage.