This is the exceptionally rich story of Rembrandt’s fame and influence in Britain. No other nation has witnessed such a passionate – and sometimes eccentric – craziness for Rembrandt’s works. His imagery has become ubiquitous, making him one of the most recognised artists in history. In this book, the world’s leading experts reveal how the taste for Rembrandt’s paintings, drawings and prints evolved, growing into a mania that gripped collectors and art lovers across the country. This reached a fever pitch in the late 1700s, before the dawn of a new century ushered in a re-evaluation of Rembrandt’s reputation and opportunities for the wider public to see his masterpieces for themselves. The story of Rembrandt’s profound and inspirational impact on the British imagination is illustrated by over 130 lavish paintings and drawings by the master himself, as well as by some of Britain’s best-loved artists, including William Hogarth, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Eduardo Paolozzi and John Bellany.

This is the first book in over a century to examine the important work of the watercolour artist and illustrator Frederick Walker (1840-1875) and his closest artistic allies. He was greatly admired (and collected) by Vincent van Gogh and was described by Millais as 'the greatest artist of the century' and yet his premature death at the age of 35 cut short his promising career. Walker, together with his close friends George John Pinwell (1842-1875) and John William North (1842-1924), forged new artistic identities that sought the perfection of the world around them and the distillation of beauty from seemingly mundane subjects. Donato Esposito focuses successive chapters on the lives and works of each of the core members of Walker's group, charting their unconventional journey from a loosely bound collective rooted in the London-based black-and-white world of commercial illustration to a renowned grouping known as the Idyllists, respected and eagerly collected by galleries and private individuals in Europe, America and Australia. The book, which reproduces many of the Idyllists' works in colour for the first time, represents a vital contribution to the literature on Victorian art and restores the Idyllists to their rightful place in the history of British 19th-century art.