ABSTRACT
Jacques-Louis David, as the leader of what was undoubtedly the most powerful and best organized art production system in Europe represented a threat to the nascent British School that seemed every bit as real as the political threat represented to the British way of life by the French Revolution itself. This chapter explores the nature of that defensive reaction against David’s Brickdust and suggests ways in which it may actually have had a formative effect on the development of artistic practice in Britain during the period. It outlines the aspirations of artists in Britain immediately prior to this time. James Barry writing provides an example of the association of art with the British 'national character' that was to be used so powerfully in the Romantic period. He claimed that England had grown corrupt through its opposition to America and suppression of Ireland and that this corruption was evidence in the 'impurity' of its art.
