Ford Madox Brown
The Manchester murals and the matter of history
By Colin Trodd
Book Information
- Format: eBook
- ISBN: 978-1-5261-4245-0
- Published Date: July 2022
Description
The twelve murals that Ford Madox Brown painted in Manchester Town Hall are the most important public art project in late nineteenth-century Britain. This ground-breaking book examines them in detail, revealing how they responded to contemporary political disputes about the nature of history, culture and social life.
The book challenges existing readings of Brown by illustrating how his ideas about art relate to Thomas Carlyle's unusual modelling of history. Brown sought to create a new type of painting that combined Hogarthian populism with socially engaged romanticism. Rather than simply reproducing liberalism in artistic form, he designed the murals to address contemporary questions: what is the nature of historical life? How do we distinguish between cultural and economic value? How do we share human experience?
For readers interested in Victorian culture and intellectual history, Ford Madox Brown: The Manchester murals and the matter of history is packed with rewarding observations and analyses.
Contents
Introduction
Part I: A working life
1 Ford Madox Brown and the historical imagination
2 The making of Ford Madox Brown
Part II: History embodied
3 Manchester, mythos, murals
4 The endless periphery
5 Manchester made modern
Afterword: the last of Ford Madox Brown
Index
Author
Colin Trodd is a Senior Lecturer in Art History and Cultural Practices at the University of Manchester. His books include Blake's Shadow (2008) and Representations of G. F. Watts (2004).