Empire To Nation - Art, History and the Visualization Of Maritime Britain 1768 to 1829
By Geoff Quilley
Published by Yale University Press: London 2011
"Empire to Nation: Art, History and the Visualization of Maritime Britain, 1768-1829 by Geoff Quilley is a major scholarly study examining how maritime imagery helped shape Britain's national identity during a transformative period of imperial expansion. Focusing on the years from Captain Cook's first voyage to the aftermath of Trafalgar, Quilley explores how paintings, prints, exhibitions and institutional displays framed the sea as a defining element of British power, progress and self-understanding. Maritime art is presented not merely as illustration, but as an active force in constructing ideas of empire, nationhood and historical destiny.
Published by Yale University Press in 2011 for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, this richly illustrated volume draws on visual culture, political history and art criticism to trace changing representations of naval warfare, exploration and seafaring life. With close attention to artists such as Turner and to institutions like the Royal Academy and Greenwich Hospital, the book offers a sophisticated account of how art mediated Britain's transition from imperial ambition to national myth. It would particularly appeal to scholars and collectors of maritime art, British imperial history, and readers interested in the visual culture of exploration and empire."
