MY FAVOURITE ENGLISH PAINTER

           From early times Englishmen have been great collectors and travellers. The general level of art in Great Britain has always been high. But it has never reached that of France and Italy. Many greatest foreign masters were attracted to Bri­tain by lavish rewards and honours. Among them were the Flemish Anthony Van Dyck, Harts Holbein of German extrac­tion. They were the originators of the brilliant school of En­glish painting.

           As for me, William Hogarth is the most colourful figure, whose paihtings attract by their singular originality. Hogarth wrote series of paintings which, like acts of a drama, were bound together by a plot. His famous series are «АHarlot’s Progress», «A Rake’s Progress» and «Marriage a la Mande». In a few years came another series «Elections». In them Hogarth displays the English state system, its statesmen and the evil practices going on during election campaigns.

            Hogarth didn’t want to follow the vogue and copy the old masters: the truth of life, the every day reality seemed to be of greater importance. He breaks off with the old style. Hogarth is the creator of his own method. His contemporaries called Hogarth’s style the «modern moral subject». Hogarth’s rea­lism paved new ways for English art.

            William Thackeray in his book «The English Humourists of the 18th century» describes William Hogarth in the follo­wing way: «…he’s a jovial honest London citizen, stout and sturdy man, who has a proper bourgeois scorn for everything pretentious and false».

QUESTIONS:

1. Is the level of art in Great Britain high?

2. William Hogarth is the most colourful artist of 18th century, isn’t he?

3. What Hogarth’s series of paintings do you know?

4. Did Hogarth create his own method?

5. How does William Thackeray describe Hogarth in his book?

VOCABULARY:

level — уровень

lavish — щедрый

reward — награда

vogue — мода

contemporary — современник

jovial — веселый

stout — отважный

sturdy — крепкий