Before the 18th century, British art had no place in the history of European art, some medieval art heritage was also destroyed in the long-term turmoil, coupled with the lack of interest in the British upper class before the Industrial Revolution, British art has not been developed, has not formed its own national tradition. Instead, a few foreigners such as Holbein Jr., Van, Canaletto, etc. in England painted with a pen, or portraits, or landscape paintings, or landscape paintings... It brought a few strands of vitality to the silent painting world of the British Empire, and rippled in circles on the River Thames, laying the foundation and sowing the seeds for the "standout" of British painting in the future.
Born in Germany, Holbein the Younger studied painting with his father. He was deeply influenced by the masters of the Italian Renaissance, and at the same time had close contacts with german humanists, gradually becoming a humanistic painter. He devoted his life to painting, and excelled in portraits, religious paintings, and printmaking, and his greatest achievement was portraiture. For example, "Erasmus Statue" and "Ambassadors" are listed in the forest of the most outstanding portraits in Europe.
Holbein Jr. lived in England twice. In 1536 he was appointed palace painter and became an English "royal painter", painting almost all members of the royal family. Most of his fame, achievements, and many of his excellent works were born in England, and his influence on British painting is like a river rushing to this day. Especially his portrait paintings, the exquisite writing skills, accurate and realistic character shapes, even in the modern era of unprecedented development of photographic technology, compared with it, it is not inferior, and future generations will really look at it as "a taste in the heart".
Van Dyck was born in Antwerp, where his teacher was the famous Rubens. In 1620, King Charles I invited Van to London to serve as the chief painter of the court. Here, van Dyck's paintings no longer resemble Rubens', but are self-contained and form their own artistic style. He does not run as enthusiastically as Rubens, has a strong sense of movement, he pays attention to portraying the personality of the characters, and the characters he portrays appear soft and calm, presenting an elegant and delicate and gorgeous and elegant temperament. This is the case with his portrait masterpiece The Hunting Chart of Charlie I. Van Dyke's artistic activities in the British royal family had a great influence on the British painting that was still very conservative at that time, and he was also named a nobleman by the British King because of his great achievements in painting, and Sir Van was named after it.
Born in Venice, Canaletto was an outstanding representative of the cityscape painting (landscape painting) of the Venetian School. He pioneered and innovated in painting, using the "photographic optical method" and inventing the "mechanical painting method", so that his landscape paintings were like modern photographs, real and pleasing to the eye, such as "Venice Greets the French Ambassador", and so on.
In 1735, Canaletto created "Venice Grand Canal Landscape" for the British consul Smith, which was well received and his reputation spread far and wide, and it was popular in England. So, in 1746, he moved to England, where he spent a relaxing, splendid decade. During this decade, Canaletto successively painted some outstanding works based on the British capital and countryside, opening up new avenues for the British school and providing "model plays" that could be studied. (Lisk)