ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the persistence of visual history and the emergence of a national imagery. It followed the paths uncovered by historical illustrations through to current forms of imaginative engagement with the past. In Britain, artistic education became a topic of intense public debate in the early decades of the nineteenth century as a result of mounting anxiety over the cultural consequences of rapid industrialisation and urbanisation. The repurposing of the figures of King Canute, Oliver Cromwell, and many others on twentieth-century cigarette cards or in illustrations for children's magazines shows that far from being exhausted by their many travels, historical illustrations had gathered into a potent imagery. Ancestors in their historicised costumes are not only summoned in movies, TV series, video games, graphic novels, and adverts but also in the various experiential uses of re-enactment from theme parks to art galleries.
