Stuart Style

Stuart style, visual arts produced during the reign of the British house of Stuart; that is, from 1603 to 1714 (excepting the interregnum of Oliver Cromwell). Although the Stuart period included a number of specific stylistic movements, such as Jacobean, Carolean, Restoration, William and Mary, and Queen Anne, there are certain common characteristics that can be said to describe Stuart style. The English artists of the period were influenced by the heavy German and Flemish Baroque but gradually gave way to the academic compromise inspired by Italian Palladianism. For much of the period, artists in England looked for inspiration to contemporary movements (primarily the Baroque) on the Continent—especially in Italy, Flanders, and France.

Under James I (1603–25) the arts were in a period of transition, not fully recovered from the ossification that characterized the last years of the long reign of Elizabeth I. It took 20 years for growth to recommence. The most forward-looking artist of James’s reign was Inigo Jones, who, as Surveyor of the King’s Works, designed a number of royal buildings in the Italian Renaissance style. The Banqueting House (1619–22) at Whitehall is only one of his masterpieces. The reign of Charles I (1625–49) was as exciting artistically as it was disastrous politically. Jones continued as the crown’s architect and designed a number of the sets for the Stuart masques. The Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens came to England, was knighted, and designed an elaborate ceiling that was installed at the Banqueting House. Another Flemish painter, Sir Anthony Van Dyck, followed Rubens and created an English portrait type that was to serve as the model for two centuries.

When Charles II returned in 1660 from an exile spent chiefly in France, French taste and ideas began to dominate English arts. The outstanding achievement of Charles’s reign was the rebuilding of London (destroyed by fire in 1666) under Sir Christopher Wren. Wren’s blending of Renaissance, Italian Baroque, and contemporary French elements created a personal architecture that greatly influenced his followers until a reaction set in during the Georgian period (see Georgian style). Sir Peter Lely, the portraitist of the Restoration court, worked in a style close to that of Van Dyck but more superficial.

Under William and Mary (1689–1702) and Anne (1702–14) a number of noteworthy architectural monuments were constructed. The fine furniture and other decorative arts created during this period reflected the growing skill of English craftsmen.