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Distributed for Paul Holberton Publishing

Capturing the British Landscape

Alfred Augustus Glendening (1840–1921)

The life and work of Victorian landscape painter Alfred Augustus Glendening, illustrating his rapid rise from railway clerk to an acclaimed artist.

Though critics often reviewed Alfred Augustus Glendening’s exhibitions, very little has been written about the artist himself. Here, new and extensive research removes layers of mystery and misinformation about his life, family, and career, accurately placing him amid the British art world during much of the nineteenth and into the twentieth century. Glendening was a man from humble origins, working full-time as a railway clerk when he managed to make his London exhibition debut at the age of twenty—a feat that would have been almost impossible before the Victorian era ushered in new possibilities of social mobility. Although his paintings show a tranquil and unspoiled landscape, his environment was rapidly being transformed by social, scientific, and industrial developments, while advances in transport, photography, and other technical discoveries undoubtedly influenced him and his fellow painters.

Celebrating his uniquely Victorian story, the book places Glendening within his proper historical context. Running alongside the main text is a timeline outlining significant landmarks, from political and social events to artistic and technical innovations. Thoroughly researched, the narrative explores why and for whom he painted, his artistic training, and his various inspirations. The book uncovers new information about the Victorian art world and embraces such aspects as Royal Academy prejudices, the popularity of Glendening’s work at home and abroad, his use of photography, and the sourcing of his art materials. 

320 pages | 370 color plates | 9 3/4 x 11 | © 2022

Art: British Art

History: British and Irish History


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Reviews

"more than a monograph on a single artist, this is a book about the rapidly changing Britain of the late Victorian era, with cogent analyses of divers topics such as industrial development, domestic service, and the art world of the era. The countless reproductions of Glendening’s pastoral idylls are a bonus."

The New Criterion

"[A] lavish and deeply researched volume on Alfred Augustus Glendening (1840–1921) and his painting descendants."

Country Life

"Aside from the glorious reproductions of his magnificent landscapes, this is both biography and social history – the strands adroitly woven together by Alice Munro-Faure."

The Field

"The life and work of Victorian landscape painter, Alfred Augustus Glendening is presented in this beautifully illustrated book from Paul Holberton Publishing... New and extensive research of the artist for this book removes much mystery and misinformation about his life, family and career, and sets the artist within his historical context."

Leisure Painter

"Munro-Faure’s monumental monograph on the accomplished, though not well known, Victorian landscape painter Alfred Augustus Glendening (1840–1921) testifies to the continuing importance of traditional art history. Thanks to her diligent archival work digging through period newspapers, historical accounts, auction records (an entire chapter devoted to the artist’s dealers and salesrooms) and amassing his prolific oeuvre from private collections, independent art historian Munro-Faure delivers an exhaustive biographical and contextual account of Glendening’s relentlessly pastoral art."

Choice

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