Martin Myrone, “From Gainsborough to Gothic Nightmares”

REGISTER

Join Dr. Martin Myrone, Senior Curator of British Art to 1800 at Tate Britain in London, UK, for a presentation exploring the extraordinary life and art of Richard St. George in its art historical context. Myrone will discuss how he identified St. George as the sitter for Thomas Gainsborough’s portrait, previously known to art historians only as An Officer of the 4th Regiment of Foot, on loan to the Museum of the American Revolution from the National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne, Australia). Re-identifying this striking portrait opened up an expected set of connections between the historical trauma of the Revolution and the fantastical culture of the Gothic, involving cheap shocks, weird plots, and amateur dramatics.

Schedule

• 6 p.m. – The talk will begin
• 7 p.m.  – Access to Cost of Revolution Exhibition
• 8 p.m. – Conclusion

Following the talk, you are invited to take a closer look at Cost of Revolution, open for all ticketed guests this evening from 7 p.m. – 8 p.m. and during regular Museum hours, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. through March 17, 2020.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Martin Myrone is Senior Curator, British Art to 1800, at Tate Britain, and has been Visiting Tutor in the History of Art at the University of York and at the Courtauld Institute of Art. As a specialist in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British art, he has delivered a range of exhibition and display projects at Tate Britain, including Gothic Nightmares: Fuseli, Blake and the Romantic Imagination (2006), William Blake’s 1809 Exhibition (2009), John Martin: Apocalypse (2011–12), and British Folk Art (2014), all complete with published exhibition catalogues. He was co-editor of Court Country City: British Art and Architecture 1660-1735 (2016), and his new book on art education and artistic identity at the advent of liberal modernity, 1770-1840, is due to be published by Yale University Press in Fall 2020. His newest exhibits include a major exhibition of the work of William Blake at Tate Britain, London (11 September 2019 – 2 February 2020), and a survey of British art 1760-1820, L’âge d’or de la peinture anglaise, at the Musée du Luxembourg, Paris (11 September 2019 – 16 February 2020).