This book, published to coincide with a major exhibition at the National Maritime Museum, explores and celebrates Turner's lifelong fascination with the sea. It also sets his work within the context of marine painting in the 19th century. Each chapter has an introductory text followed by discussion of specific paintings. Four of the chapters conclude with a feature essay on a specific topic.

The Armada Portrait is perhaps the most immediately recognisable depiction of Elizabeth I and, arguably, of any British monarch. It captures both the drama of a pivotal moment in Britain's history - the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 - and the majesty of the Tudor monarchy. But while the image it presents is one of assuredness, success and might, the portrait both overstates English power and downplays the real dangers the Armada presented to England and its queen. By understanding the portrait and its symbolism, the history of the Armada and the turbulent Elizabethan age come to life.

This richly illustrated publication explores the lasting influence of Gainsborough's Blue Boy on British art and culture Marking the return of Gainsborough's Blue Boy to the UK exactly 100 years since it left for the United States, this richly illustrated publication will explore the lasting influence of this iconic painting on British art and culture. During the nineteenth century, the painting's fame grew and full-length portraits by Gainsborough and his contemporaries became much sought after by wealthy American collectors. The sale of The Blue Boy to the American railroad magnate and collector Henry E. Huntington in 1921 was unsurprisingly viewed as a national tragedy-emblematic of a shift in economic and cultural power. However, its afterlife, as a permanent ambassador for British art, has undoubtedly fed into ideas of Britain and Britishness-its history, society, culture and character-that still resonate today. Including a select group of paintings that demonstrate the profound influence of Sir Anthony van Dyck and the old master tradition on Gainsborough's practice and identity, Gainsborough's Blue Boy will examine this masterpiece within the context of the National Gallery's collection. Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule: The National Gallery, London January 25-May 15, 2022

Presenting new work by American artist Kehinde Wiley, as he explores the European landscape tradition through film and painting The American artist Kehinde Wiley (b. 1977) is best known for his spectacular portraits of African Americans with knowing references to the grand European tradition of painting. He was commissioned in 2017 to paint Barack Obama, becoming the first Black artist to paint an official portrait of a president of the United States. His work makes reference to old master paintings by positioning contemporary Black sitters in the pose of the original historical figures, raising issues of power and identity, and the absence or relegation of Black and minority-ethnic figures within European art. For his first collaboration with a major UK gallery, Wiley will depart from portraiture to explore the European landscape tradition through the medium of film and painting, casting Black Londoners from the streets of Soho. His new works will explore European Romanticism and its focus on epic scenes of oceans and mountains, drawing inspiration from the National Gallery's masterpieces in landscape and seascape. Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule: The National Gallery, London (December 10, 2021-April 18, 2022)

An accessible introduction to American painter Winslow Homer, examining his work through the lens of conflict A fresh exploration of the work of iconic American painter Winslow Homer (1836-1910) through the lens of conflict, a recurring theme in his prolific career. A persistent fascination with struggle permeates Homer's art -from emblematic images of the Civil War and Reconstruction to dazzling tropical works and monumental marines -and reveals his lifelong engagement with the charged subjects of race, nature, and the environment. This publication illuminates Homer's preoccupation with the complex social and political issues of his era-war, slavery, imperialism-as well as his broader concerns with the fragility of human life and dominance of nature. These powerful themes are present in his earliest Civil War and Reconstruction paintings, which explore the effect of the conflict on the landscape, soldiers, and the formerly enslaved. They continue through his later images of rural life, dramatic rescues, and hunting -paintings that grapple with the often uneasy relationship between humans and the natural world. Toward the end of his life, human figures were reduced to tiny, irrelevant presences, while the ocean acquired a pivotal role. This richly illustrated volume will be published to accompany a retrospective at the National Gallery, organized in collaboration with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Published by National Gallery Global/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule: The National Gallery, London September 10, 2022-January 8, 2023

An exploration of Turner as an artist-traveler, in relation to two important European harbor scenes This publication marks the return to the United Kingdom, for the first time in over a century, of two groundbreaking oil paintings by J. M. W. Turner (1775-1851), on loan from The Frick Collection in New York: Harbour of Dieppe: Changement de Domicile and Cologne, the Arrival of a Packet-Boat: Evening. They were acquired by wealthy American industrialist Henry Clay Frick in 1914 and have remained in the USA ever since. Painted in the mid-1820s, Dieppe and Cologne exemplify Turner's lifelong fascination with the subject of ports and harbors -past and present -as dynamic, transitional places. Exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1825 and 1826 respectively, they represent in powerfully visual terms the outcomes of Turner's regular sketching tours within Europe that were central to his fame as an artist-traveler, as well as his radical approach to color, light, and brushwork. This sumptuously illustrated publication examines Turner's creative process, and his use of sketchbooks and watercolors to capture his ideas as he traveled. Published by National Gallery Global/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule: The National Gallery, London November 3, 2022-February 19, 2023

With its unprecedented focus on the history of Orientalism in British art, this handsome book places the British within the story of how the genre was established in the 19th century--a story heretofore dominated by the French. Featuring both well-known and rarely seen paintings, together with sketches and photographs, this volume examines the work of British artists who engaged with Middle Eastern themes over three centuries, from the 1620s to the eclipse of the Ottoman Empire in 1922. Included are works by Joshua Reynolds, J. F. Lewis, W. H. Hunt, David Wilkie, John Singer Sargent, William Holman Hunt, J.M.W. Turner, Roger Fenton, Andrew Geddes, and Edward Lear. Many of their images are, or purport to be, the result of direct observation of actual places in the Middle East. The book spotlights numerous topics of timely cultural interest, including the cross-pollination of British and Islamic artistic traditions, as well as Western myths about the Islamic world in relation to artists' actual experiences.