Arundel Society
active London, 1848 - 1897
'The object of the [Arundel] Society has been to preserve the record and diffuse a knowledge of the most important remains of painting and sculpture, to furnish valuable contributions towards the illustration of the history of Art, to elevate the standard of taste in England, and thus incidentally to exert a beneficial influence upon our native and national schools of painting and sculpture...The forthcoming work will show the efforts made in order to popularise high art among people who have everything to learn and gain experience.' 1The Arundel Society, founded in the same year as the Pre-Raphaelite movement, saw the progress of art in England as being dependent on popular taste. It was established with the aim to promote a greater knowledge of art through thepublication of literary works and reproductions. The works to be recorded and reproduced were Italian fresco cycles, although classical art was included from the outset, and a handful of Northern European artists' work was also copied. The Society was named after the connoisseur and collector Thomas Howard, second Earl of Arundel and Surrey - a man whom Horace Walpole described as the 'father of Vertue in England' 2 . The history of the Arundel Society is inextricably linked to the history and methodology of art reproduction, as well as the popularisation of art, and it should be seen in the context of other such societies established for the dissemination of moral and educational material.
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Last Updated8/7/24
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