GERMAN FRESCO PAINTING AND THE NEW HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT AT WESTMINSTER, 1834–1851

Abstract

In 1841, a select committee proposed that the houses of parliament at Westminster, which were being rebuilt in the aftermath of the fire of 1834, be decorated with fresco paintings and that Ludwig I of Bavaria's patronage of the arts be used for guidance. Both recommendations were surprising, for Britain had neither any tradition of public painting, nor any obvious ties with the south German state. This article explains why the committee was so sensible to Ludwig's example, and what it hoped to achieve by introducing fresco painting into Britain. The scheme was to serve not only as the means of establishing a national school of painting that could compete with the modern German school, but also as an integral part of a broader endeavour to construct a national culture in Britain that was both patriotic and socially inclusive. The national potential of this state-sponsored scheme of art promotion came to be undermined, however, by the emergence of both political and religious hostility to such German-style patronage in Britain. The article highlights not only the crucial role played by German art in the endeavour to construct a national culture in Britain, but also the continuing potency of religion as an element of British national identity during the first decade of Victoria's reign. It also draws attention to the fundamental role played by Prince Albert in his capacity as president of the fine arts commission, and the extent to which the debate surrounding the commission's proceedings provided the essential context for both the emergence and reception of the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood in 1848–50.