INFORMATION FOR AUTHORS

We have  no formal definition of ‘British’ but contributions fall into one or more of the following categories.

 

British art history is the story of art within the UK itself. A British artist is one who ­– regardless of nationality ­– lived and worked within this country. Past contributions to the Walpole Society have included: Canaletto in England (vol 9, 1920-21), Drawings of England by W.Schellinks, J.Esselens and L.Doomer (vol 35, 1954-6), Peter Tillemans, with a list of Paintings (vol 47, 1978-80). The Catalogue of the Collections of Charles I by Abraham van der Doort (vol 37, 1958-60) which, though it describes the English royal collection, preserves in its phonetic spellings its author's heavy Dutch accent.

 

British art history is also the story of encounters overseas between the British and people, ideas, markets and artistic traditions of other societies. Walpole Society contributions often describe British artists, agent or collectors in other countries, such as The Virginia drawings of John White (vol 13, 1924-5), British artists in India, 1760-1820 (vol 19, 1930-31), British Travellers in Spain, 1766-1849 (vol 77, 2015), and Sir James Thornhill's visit to Paris (vol 80, 2018). Given the primacy of Italian art in post-Renaissance Europe, accounts of travels there have been a particular focus of studies published by The Walpole Society, such as The Memoirs of Thomas Jones (vol 32, 1946/48), and Lord Shaftesbury in Naples, 1711-13 (vol 54, 1988).

 

Thirdly, we are interested in foreign nationals working overseas for a clientele in Britain. For example The Diaries of Otto Mündler (vol 51, 1985) which record his travels in Europe as an agent of the National Gallery.

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We treat as British all regions of the United Kingdom, even if they were politically independent during the period under study. Also in scope are the art worlds of colonial territories while they were under British rule.