Find the following words in a dictionary and memorize their meanings

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harmonious 
heroic 
impressive 
vividly 
would-be 
4. Read the text. 
Painting in England in the 17
th
–19
th
centuries is represented by a number of 
great artists and during that period it was greatly influenced by foreign paint-
ers. The Flemish painter Van Dyck was really the father of English portrait 
school. The English king personally invited Van Dyck to London and during 
his first year in England the painter spent most of his time painting the King 
and the Queen. Yan Dyck created the impressive, formal type of portrait and 
such masters as Reynolds, Gainsborough, Lawrence and Raeburn owed much 
to their study of his works. He created a genre of aristocratic and intellectual 
portrait which influenced much the development of English painting. Van 
Dyck created the type of portrait which helped him to convey the sitter’s indi-
vidual psychology. 
The sitter’s individuality is vividly expressed in the “Family Portrait”. One 
can easily follow the gentle and even character of the young woman and the 
outstanding searching, restless personality of her husband. The artist managed 
to create the impression of spiritual relationship in spite of the difference of 
characters. The colour scheme of this canvas is very beautiful. The prevailing 
tones are red, golden and brown. 
During the 18
th
century the truly national school of painting was created, 
William Hogarth was the first great English painter who raised British picto-
rial art to a high level of importance. Hogarth (1697–1764) wasn’t a success as 
a portrait painter. But his pictures of social life which he called “modern moral 
subjects” brought him fame and position. Among his favourite works are six 
pictures united under the title “Marriage a la Mode”. This famous series is 
really a novel in paint telling the story of the marriage of an earl’s son and city 
merchant’s daughter, a marriage made for reasons of vanity and money. De-
spite the satirical, often amusing details, the painter’s purpose is serious. He 
expects his pictures to be read and they are perhaps full of allusions. At the 
same time Hogarth remained an artist and passages especially in “Shortly after 
the Marriage” show how attractively he could paint. The free handing of the 
“Shrimp Girl” is combined with cockney vivacity. The girl is brushed onto the 
canvas in a vigorous impressive style. As a painter Hogarth was harmonious in 
his colouring, very capable and direct in his theme and composition. He 
painted many pictures. He is well known as a humorist and satirist on canvas. 
In the second half of the 18
th
century narrative and satirical themes lost 
their leading role in the English art. The ruling classes tried to show in art a 

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confirmation and glorification of their social position. The most popular form 
of painting became ceremonial portraits of representatives of the ruling class. 
Sir Joshua Reynolds was the most outstanding portraitist of the period. In De-
cember 1768 the Royal Academy was found and Reynolds became its first 
president. He created a whole gallery of portraits of the most famous of his 
contemporaries. He usually painted his characters in heroic style and showed 
them as the best people of the nation. As a result his paintings are not free of a 
certain idealization of the characters. Reynolds was greatly influenced as a 
painter by the old masters. This influence can be seen in his “Cupid Untying 
the Zone of Venus”. The picture is close to Titian’s style in the use of colour, 
but it is typical of the 18
th
century English school of its approach to subject-
matter. He often included real personages in his mythological works (Venus-
Lady Hamilton). Reynolds did not want British art to be provincial and iso-
lated. It was he who insisted that artists should be brought up in line with 
European art and that they should develop the Grand style of painting. As a 
president of the Royal Academy Reynolds delivered lectures. These lectures 
were regarded as the most sensible exposition of the Academic view that by 
well-directed work it was possible to learn the rules of art and use discoveries 
and ideas of the old masters to create a new style of one’s own. He recom-
mended that a would-be painter should put his faith in old masters from whom 
he should be ready to borrow. He advised that in portraits the grace should 
consist more in taking the general air than in exact rendering of every feature. 
He suggested that the proportions of a sitter’s figure should be altered in ac-
cordance with a fixed ideal.

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