Architecture and painting

Only the rich can afford to hire architects. And 'the rich' in the 1750s meant the landowners. They paid architects to design their country houses. And the architects of the time copied Greek and Roman styles, with columns and grand doorways. Before long, the Greek and Roman style reached the towns as well. The finest streets and squares of Bath and London were built between 1760 and 1820.

In the nineteenth century, though, big companies and town councils hired the architects. Some fine country houses were still being built. But the chief buildings of the years 1860 to 1900 were town halls and railway stations. At the same time, there was a change in style. The Greeks and Romans were out, and the Middle Ages were in. That is why St. Pancras Station in London looks like a cathedral.

The great artists of the mid-eighteenth century painted portraits. By 1800, though, 'romantic' landscapes were much more popular. Fifty years later, the public wanted pictures that told a story. So artists gave them scenes from history or the Bible, or views of modern craftsmen at work.

Walter Robson: Britain 1750 – 1900; Oxford University Press, 1993/2002, pages 84/86