Guernsey, D: The Artist and the State, 1777-1855 The Politics of Universal History in British and French Painting

'This deeply researched, original book maps cultural exchanges among French and British artists through history paintings. Guernsey convincingly argues for profound cross-geographical connections rarely explored in much scholarship that is too often limited to one country.' Julie F. Codell, Arizona State University, author of The Victorian Artist (2003)

As a piece of intellectual history, Guernsey's work makes a genuine contribution, deepening our understanding of the ideological nuances of well-known but still perplexing works. His source material is wide-ranging, his grasp of it impressive, and his choice of textual sources is generally convincing and historically justified. ...Guernsey's four case studies, particularly that on Delacroix, make significant and original contributions to the literature devoted to each artist, and, taken together, elaborate a sophisticated and thought-provoking thesis. Caa.reviews

Daniel Guernsey's ambitious, meticulously researched study examines the political uses of universal history in European art from 1777 to 1855. ... Although the individual artists and works that Guernsey investigates have been quite thoroughly studied within a national context, what distinguishes this book is its transnational and comparative approach and its focus on the rich artistic crosscurrents and exchanges between England and France in the years between the American Revolution and the 1855 Exposition. Clio