Dominant school in painting in England from the 18th century to 0441; 1850.
From 1730 to 1750 two distinctive British forms of painting were perfected by William Hogarth : genre scenes depicting the "modern moral subject," and the small-scale group portrait, or "conversation piece." Full-scale portraiture was popularized by Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough ; the landscape tradition was founded by Richard Wilson ; and historical painting was practiced by two American-born painters, Benjamin West and John Singleton Copley . The flowering of English Romantic art was embodied in the landscapes of J.M.W. Turner and John Constable . The art of the period rivaled continental art in quality and had great influence on European painting.