Britishness, Empire & the Picturesque

How did Britain visualise its Empire? Perhaps, through its picturesque depictions of landscape. 2025, marks the 250th birth anniversary of J.M.W. Turner, generating a host of exhibitions celebrating Turner’s picturesque navigations of British and Imperial terrain (think India and Wales). But, there are other ‘picturesque pros’ who deserve consideration too: the Daniells’ work in India and around Britain, George Chinnery’s paintings and watercolours of India and China, David Roberts’ images of the eastern Mediterranean and Edward Lear’s views of India, Egypt and Palestine, to name a few. The picturesque’s centrality in defining, visualising and claiming the spaces of Empire warrants urgent re-appraisal – as Britain grapples with its Imperial past and its ‘post-colonial’ implications. What does the picturesque reveal about British-ness, then and/or now? Does its legacy live on in how postcolonial nations ‘see’ themselves? Is there a connection between the picturesque and national identity? 

This Session is proposed in light of the Berger Trust Fellowship in the History of British Art, spearheaded by Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and The Huntington, California, that culminates in a project that highlights the latter’s British India collections (including picturesque views of the Subcontinent). The Convenors invite art historians, historians, visual theorists, curators and/or artists to probe the picturesque in the context of Britain’s internal and external colonies. We are interested in art and visual culture from the 18th century to the present day, welcoming discussions of traditional examples of the picturesque as well as contemporary artistic critiques of it.

Submit your Paper via this form. Please download, complete and send it directly to the Session Convenor(s) below by Sunday 2 November 2025:

Melinda McCurdy, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, California, mmccurdy@huntington.org

Zehra Jumabhoy, University of Bristol, United Kingdom Zehra.Jumabhoy@bristol.ac.uk