The Foreign Invention of British Art

by Leslie Primo

Overview

A timely history of immigration, integration, and national identity that reveals the true heritage behind some of the nation's defining artworks.

To truly understand British art is to recognize the pivotal contributions of the many foreign artists who have called Britain home. Traditional narratives have long obscured foreign influence, but this radical study challenges the notion of an exceptional or exclusive British culture, and in so doing rewrites the history of Renaissance and Enlightenment–era art.

Broadcaster and lecturer Leslie Primo expertly places art history in the wider political contexts of xenophobia and influence, addressing both foreign artists working in Britain and British-born artists affected by foreign cultures. From Hans Holbein to Artemisia Gentileschi, William Hogarth to Angelica Kauffman, familiar masters and lesser-known creators are situated within the multiculturalism inherent to, yet commonly dismissed by, the art world at this time.

Weaving together artists' experiences of both acclaim and adversity, The Foreign Invention of British Art not only demonstrates how immigration and diversification are so often the driving force behind creative innovation, but also reveals the true heritage behind some of the nation’s defining artworks.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780500024010
Publisher:	Thames & Hudson
Publication date:	05/13/2025
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.60(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Leslie Primo is an independent art historian specializing in early to late medieval and Renaissance art. He has presented several art history programs for the BBC and regularly lectures at the National Portrait Gallery, Imperial College London, The Arts Society, and other leading institutions. Primo’s commitment to interrogating the historical canon and championing inclusive narratives continues through this book, his first withThames & Hudson.

Editorial Reviews

2025-03-22
The international heritage of British art.

In his book debut, British art historian and lecturer Primo examines the influence of foreign artists in England from the mid-15th to early-19th century, arguing persuasively that the “new artistic sensibility” that eventually became known as the British school of art could not have developed without the influx of artists from abroad. Some, such as Hans Holbein the Younger and Paul Rubens, are well known; others, such as the Belgian Daniel Mytens and the Czech Wenceslaus Hollar, less so, although both were prolific. Some spent extensive time in England, where they established studios and found patronage; others made brief visits. Holbein the Younger traveled from his home in Basel to England in 1526, carrying letters of praise from Erasmus to Thomas More. He soon became a sought-after portrait painter, whose sitters included Henry VIII and his court. From the Netherlands, Marcus Gheeraerts came to England with his father as a child, in 1568, escaping from religious persecution. Taught by his father, Gheeraerts was heir to the Netherlandish techniques and practices that, by the 16th century, came to dominate European artistic taste and were assimilated into British art. Gheeraerts’ portraits placed his subjects in landscaped surroundings, an innovation copied by others; his full-length portrait of Elizabeth I has been considered “the embodiment of the Elizabethan Age.” While some artists were lauded, others encountered prejudice and misogyny. Swiss-born Angelica Kauffman, for example, who arrived in England in 1766 after studying art in Italy, confronted patriarchal attitudes that trivialized the value of her work. Born in Britain as a person of color with Caribbean heritage, Primo informs his study with a deep sensitivity to the xenophobia and discrimination that incomers still experience in British society. Profusely illustrated.

A timely celebration of multiculturalism.

Kirkus Reviews