The Art of Travel: A History of British Art

Thu 5th Nov 2026

10:30 am

Lecturer: Leslie Primo

 Lecture 1

The Cult of Celebrity: Omai, the Exotic and Joshua Reynolds

Why were foreigner painters preferred by the aristocracy in London to native-born English painters, why did foreigners come in the first place, what was their motivation, and what was the impact of foreigners in London on English art and art practice? The lecture will look at the various formats and uses of art, tracing foreign artists from the Tudor period through to the Renaissance and Baroque, looking at their origins and how they came to work in England. It will examine the contributions of artists such as Holbein, Gerrit van Honthorst, Marcus Gheeraerts the younger, Lucas and Susanna Horenbout, Isaac Oliver, Paulus van Somer, van Dyck, Peter Lely, and Rubens.

Lecture 2

The Foreign invention of Brtish Art from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment

This lecture will look at the events that led up to Joshua Reynolds’s portrait of Omai becoming an emblematic and iconic image representing Britain at the very height of its imperial powers. This famous moment from history when two worlds collided will be explored through the key players in Omai’s story, his origins in Tahiti, his background and motivation to come to England, followed by his time in England and English society and his interaction therein. It will then go on to look at Joshua Reynolds’ ideas regarding his self-image, his influences and how this related to his image of Omai.