The Invention of British Art

Longlisted for The 2025 Berger Prize - Perfect for the art aficionado in your life

A provocative, captivating and highly accessible story of British art from 4000 BCE to the 19th century.

THE 10 BEST ART BOOKS OF 2024 – THE TIMES

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2025 BERGER PRIZE

LONGLISTED FOR THE SALTIRE BOOKS OF THE YEAR AWARD

‘Inventive, profound, fabulously quirky, Bendor Grosvenor’s journey to the heart of British art takes him in directions that have never previously been trodden … A triumph.’ Waldemar Januszczak

‘An intellectually thrilling 400-page romp through 12,000 years of our often brutal history’ Daily Telegraph

Britain has produced some of the world’s most famous artists and paintings. But what made British art ‘great’? Was it the individual genius of artists like Hogarth and Constable? Or were their careers shaped by a distinctly ‘British’ society, culture and history? And if so, why has that distinctiveness been overlooked, and why have we ignored so many of the characters who helped create the story of British art?

In The Invention of British Art, Bendor Grosvenor (presenter of BBC’s Britain’s Lost Masterpieces) embarks on a journey of discovery through an incredible array of artworks and artists from 10,000 BCE to the nineteenth century, revealing how the art from these isles was created, what made it distinctive, and why it took so long to emerge. From folk art to the role of female artists, from the influences of invaders to the colonised territories of the British Empire, the book embraces previously overlooked contributions to the story of British art and explores the cultural, political and economic factors that helped to shape it.

Beautifully illustrated throughout, The Invention of British Art is a provocative and captivating survey of the glories of British art.

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