Through History

A new book from Oxford University Press examines how artists depicted an era of seismic technological change

Painting the Industrial Revolution

Between 1750 and 1830, Britain underwent an unprecedented period of change that saw it move from an agricultural society to the modern industrial country we know today. This Industrial Revolution saw the British economy transformed by new materials such as iron and steel, the growing use of fossil fuels, the introduction of factories and cuttingedge machinery, and a mass migration from the countryside to the cities.

Somewhat surprisingly, while this period was discussed heavily in literature (notably the works of Charles Dickens) and featured in sketches, few paintings remain. A new book from Oxford University Press, Art and Industry by David Stacey, details the work of seven artists of the era and places them in the context of their time. The artists featured are: Joseph Wright of Derby (1734–97), John Opie (1761– 1807), Philippe-jacques de Loutherbourg (1740– 1812), Penry Williams (1802–85), William Havell (1782–1857), Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) and Henry Hawkins (1800–81).

In his book Stacey argues that these artists portray, in their own individual ways, the various problems and conditions that arose during the Industrial Revolution. Thematically they show a coherent approach to changing technologies, industries and social classes within 18th and 19th century Britain.

This painting of entrepreneur Richard Arkwright by Joseph Wright of Derby shows him seated next to a model of his patented spinning frame. The first water-powered spinning frame, its invention ensured Arkwright would be remembered as one of the founders of the factory age.

Joseph Mallord William Turner remains a beloved painter of the Romantic period, nicknamed ‘the painter of light’ due to his distinctive use of colours. Shown here is a painting of Chichester Canal, one of a series from the 1790s-1830s in which Turner portrayed Britain’s emerging canal infrastructure.

A night vista of Richard Arkwright’s cotton mill complex in Cromford, Derbyshire. By 1780 it employed over 600 men, women and children. So successful was Arkwright’s spinning mill design, he was able to sell them as far afield as America.