From high gothic architecture to the birth of the football league,
from the novels of Dickens to the technological marvels of Brunel, the
paintings of the era provide anoverviewthat ranges across the whole of
Victorian life and cultureJeremy Paxman's unique portrait of the
Victorian world takes readers on an exciting journey through the birth
of modern Britain. Using the paintings of the era as a starting point,
he tells stories of urban life, family, faith, industry, and empire that
helped define the Victorian spirit and imagination. To Paxman, these
paintings were the television of their day, and his exploration of
Victorian art and society explains how artists like Butler, William
Powell Frith, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Luke Fildes, and Ford Madox
Brown were chronicling a world changing before their eyes. This
enthralling history is an opinionated, informed, surprising, and hugely
enthusiastic appraisal of the Victorians' influence on modern culture."