Review
A vigorously written account of the changes in the depiction of the rural poor in English landscape painting between 1730 and 1840. --
Book Description
Review
'This is a most original, searching and disquieting book. It will help us to look at old masters with new eyes: and also, since we are convicted by Barrell of certain nostalgic illustions about the agrarian past, it will help us to look at ourselves.' E. P. Thompson
'A brilliant reading of certain sets of pictorial conventions (signs) and of how and why they changed during a given historical period.' New Society
'Barrell has made a valuable contribution to our knowledge of the interplay between art and ideology in the eighteenth century.' Art History
'This is a book which is both enjoyable to read and informative.' Agricultural History Review
'A valuable and pertinent book which art-historians of all political persuasions ought to read.' Notes and Queries
'An important book.' Burlington Magazine
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