Facsimile versus white line: an Anglo-German disparity

Abstract

• This chapter explores how Ford Madox Brown took full advantage of historical source-books when working on his paintings in the 1840's and how he continued this process of consultation when he turned to illustrating the Dalziel's Bible Gallery in the 1860's. For him depicting scenes from the Bible was not about portraying the figures as classical and timeless but showing them as real people from a specific time period, recreating their surroundings as accurately as possible. The challenge of fleshing out the past for his viewers led him to turn to the latest research into biblical history and the newly published illustrated books discussing the most up-to-date archaeological finds in Egypt and the Middle East. As a result Brown's depictions of the Bible became part of the new, more visual representation of history that he approached his work as an illustrator as an extension of his work as a painter.