“Solkin is the author of two or three of the most important books on 18th and early 19th century British art to have been published in the last quarter century… In his Pelican history he has attempted something even more ambitious, and has been triumphantly successful. He describes it as a social history of art, a critical analysis of how the visual culture of the 18th century ‘operated within a social field structured by relationships of power’. The book is extraordinarily comprehensive, its discussion of the different genres of painting as they develop through the 18th century so full, detailed and thoughtful that it will be completely impossible to do it justice”—John Barrell, <i>London Review of Books</i>

- John Barrell, LRB

“Solkin has created a coherent and persuasive account of the growth and development of British art, based on a fine-grained understanding of the larger historical movements of the periods he considers and an intense engagement with the works themselves.”—David Bindman, <i>Art Newspaper</i>

- David Bindman, Art Newspaper

“An authoritative, enveloping structure. You feel the change and expansion of the British art world over the eighteenth century.”—Patrick McCaughey, <i>Australian Book Review</i>

- Patrick McCaughey, Australian Book Review