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A Cross-Cultural History of Britain and Belgium, 1815–1918

Mudscapes and Artistic Entanglements

Marysa Demoor author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Springer Nature Switzerland AG

Published:22nd Mar '22

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A Cross-Cultural History of Britain and Belgium, 1815–1918 cover

This book highlights the ways in which Britain and Belgium became culturally entangled as a result of their interaction in the period between the Napoleonic Wars and the First World War. In the course of the nineteenth century, the battlefields of Waterloo and Ypres in Belgium became veritable burial grounds for generations of dead British military, indirectly leading to the most intensive ties between the two countries. By exploring this twofold path, the author uncovers a series of cross-influences and creative similarities within the Belgo-British artistic community, and explores the background against which the British national identity was constructed. Revealing unknown links between some of the most famous artists on both sides of the channel, such as D.G. Rossetti and Jan Van Eyck; Christina Rossetti and Fernand Khnopff; John Millais and Pieter Breughel, and Lewis Carroll and Quentin Massys, the book emphasises an artistic cross-fertilisation that can be found within battlefield literature throughout the nineteenth century, including examples from the likes of William M. Thackeray, Frances Trollope and Charlotte Brontë. Providing a rich intercultural history of Belgo-British relations after the battle of Waterloo, this interdisciplinary book will appeal to scholars and students researching history, literature, art and cultural studies.


“This is a uniquely rich and stimulating study, which is sure to expand the horizons of researchers working in any of the numerous fields with which it engages.” (Adrian Armstrong, BAVS Newsletter, Vol. 24 (1), 2024)

ISBN: 9783030879259

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

288 pages

1st ed. 2022