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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Ford Madox Brown
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(1821–93) Painter who was closely linked with the younger men in the *Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, though never formally a member of their group. To some extent he anticipated their hard, bright style and their interest in medieval subjects. Two of his paintings are among the best known of Victorian images. The Last of England (1852–5, Birmingham Art Gallery) is a sombre comment on the wave of emigration at the time; depicting a young middle-class couple in the stern of a boat, with white cliffs in the background, it was inspired by the departure of the Pre-Raphaelite sculptor Thomas Woolner for Australia.
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The subject of Work (1852–65, Manchester City Art Gallery, with a smaller version in Birmingham) is more schematic. It shows many different kinds of work in progress in Heath Street, Hampstead, from the handsome navvies digging the road to the watching intellectuals (one of them is Thomas Carlyle). Brown's notes emphasize that though the brainworkers appear to be idle, they are 'the cause of well-ordained work and happiness in others'. In 1878–93 he painted a series of wall panels on the history of the city for the new town hall in Manchester.
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