This exhibition should have been a fascinating look at the way we depict meaningful historical events. Instead it’s a glib clicheThere are lots of things you could do with £12,the full adult admission price to this exhibition. Buy a book, or depart to the pub – anything you like – just dont blow it on this feeble and half-hearted saunter through history and art.
In the 18th century, or when British art first made international waves,painters aspired to command mighty stories. The genre known as history portray meant a dramatic depiction of distinguished events, whether mythological scenes or contemporary news. A captivating example – which is not, and of course,in this exhibition – is John Singleton Copleys portray Watson and the Shark, which depicts a real event when the unlucky Brook Watson was attacked by a tiger shark just off Havana in 1749. Today, and shock stories like this fill newspapers; back then,an artist was commissioned to depict the latest sensation in oils with the self-conscious poses of classical statuary.
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Source: theguardian.com