Page:An Elementary History of Art.djvu/626

X. Painting in England. In England, as in the other countries of Europe, the Middle Ages naturally produced artists of every kind, from architects to goldsmiths, as well as painters ; painters of the walls of churches, or of altar-panels, painters for glass and tapestry, painters of portraits for cabinets for public buildings and castles, painters who illustrated missals and manuscripts. Few remains of these curiosities have been preserved ; wars and conflagrations, the Reformation and Puritanism having in their turn destroyed the relics of former times. There scarcely exist more than a few traces of wall-painting in the churches and other public buildings ; and a few books ornamented with miniatures. Up to the end of the fifteenth century, the history of art in England is shrouded in obscurity. It is only from about the time of Henry VIII. that an historic sketch of painting can be commenced. But even then it is not of a native school — the English school did not have its origin until the eighteenth century with Hogarth and Reynolds — but of a succession of foreign painters, who worked during more than two centuries for the court and the aristocracy. 1. Foreign Artists in England. Early in the sixteenth century, in the reign of Henry VIII., Hans Holbein, of Augsburg (1497-1543), came over to England on a visit to Sir Thomas More. The king made him painter to the court, and gave him a small salary. Holbein, who stayed twenty-eight years in