"This original study sets out to investigate and analyze the reactions of English artists in the four decades following the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The period was a critical one: despite the brilliant achievements of Turner, Constable, and Lawrence, there was a growing uneasiness about the "sensuous" direction taken by the British School as a whole. After years of isolation due to the wars with France, British artists became aware of striking new developments in continental art, culminating in the 1840s when German monumental painting was held up as a model for the competitions for the decoration of the new Houses of Parliament"--Publisher's description.