'The Victorians' (Walker VI)

A Stroll around the Walker VI:
‘The Victorians’
Monday 7 September at 6pm

Since I arrived in Merseyside just over two years ago, I have gradually been getting to know the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool by taking occasional strolls around its superb collection. So far I have taken five of these – and I may have reached the final two, even though I know there is much I have never discussed. 

At the beginning of September I will arrive at the 19th Century, and my chief focus will be the room entitled Victorian Narrative Painting. It may not surprise you, given recent curatorial trends (or rather, my hang-ups about them), to learn that this room also includes landscapes and portraiture… but we will explore the material thoroughly to work out why this might be the case! 

The overall sense is of a nation trying to work out its place in the world by looking to its history. The paintings include two versions of The Death of Nelson, for example, one by Benjamin West, the second President of the Royal Academy, and the other, the work of Daniel Maclise. The Walker is also home to that great rhetorical machine, And When Did You Last See Your Father? – a painting I have somehow always been aware of, even if I am only just beginning to find out why. There are also works by Constable and Turner, and, moving through the century, two ‘Fredericks’ - George Frederic Watts (known as ‘England’s Michelangelo’ - and we will consider if this appellation is justified) and Frederick, Lord Leighton – who, like West, would become President of the Royal Academy.

Please remember, I do not record my talks.