Painters to the People

In recent years, the prejudice against Victorian art has diminished, allowing a re-evaluation of its realism and mass appeal. The Victorian painter had a close relationship with his audience. Victorians of all classes would flock to new paintings as they were exhibited, in contrast to art's latter day elitist image. Painters to the People examines this close relationship and the great variety of schools in existence in this creative period. Christopher Wood, art dealer and notable author on the Victorian period, presents this series of six half-hour films introducing Victorian paintings to a modern audience. The programmes cover the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood, the narrative tradition, the concept of applied design, the Aesthetic Movement, the Romantics and the English Impressionists.