Eighteenth‐Century Engravings and Visual History in Britain. By IsabelleBaudino. New York: Routledge. 2023. x + 192 p. £125.00 (hb). ISBN 978‐1‐032‐15364‐3.

Isabelle Baudino's study explores eighteenth-century engravings in popular pictorial histories, such as John Lockman's New History of England (1747) and Thomas Mortimer's New History of England (1764–1766) and their pivotal role in shaping public perceptions of British history. These engravings, often rendered by artists like Samuel Wale (c. 1721–1786), transcended mere decoration; they functioned as dynamic agents in crafting visual narratives that articulated and reinforced national identity and historical continuity. Baudino's approach, synthesising art history, cultural studies, and historiography, elucidates how these images operated as instruments of ideological mediation and collective memory formation. What makes these seemingly straightforward illustrations so potent in shaping national consciousness? Baudino's work interrogates how visual culture reflects and actively constructs historical understanding, presenting a focused inquiry that enriches the discourse for art historians, scholars of British history, and visual studies experts. The book is structured into four chapters, each exploring visual history through the framework of iconographic historiography—sequences of engravings that present a curated narrative of British history. The introduction underscores the role of these series in shaping collective memory, showing how engravings in widely circulated books like The New History of England served as visual narratives reinforcing a cohesive national identity. These images were deliberately chosen to emphasize historical moments aligned with dominant political ideologies, subtly shaping public perception. As Baudino states, ‘This book is about the making of such visual historical series and about the surprisingly enduring persistence of such illustrations in the collective imagination’ (p. 1). Through her analysis, Baudino invites us to reflect on how historical narratives are written and visually constructed to perpetuate ideological perspectives. The first chapter examines the techniques artists like Wale used to craft historical engravings, facilitating a shift from textual to visual cognition. Baudino demonstrates how these engravings evolved from simple illustrations to active visual narratives that shaped collective historical awareness. The second chapter explores how these images were curated to resonate with Georgian audiences, often simplifying and reframing complex historical events. Baudino notes, ‘The relatively harsh treatment of medieval kings, glaringly apparent when compared to the depiction of the early Stuarts, for instance, points towards the main quality of the Middle Ages, that is to say, their remoteness’ (p. 78). This selective portrayal underscores how visual narratives were crafted to align with contemporary ideologies. However, a more in-depth exploration of the complexities — such as how artistic choices intersected with political ideologies and the sociocultural biases underlying these representations — would have enhanced the analysis further. In the third chapter, Baudino discusses the evolution of history painting in Britain, highlighting its development as a strategy for British artists to establish themselves within the prestigious genre of grand narrative works. The ‘conundrum’ Baudino identifies is the struggle of British painters to forge a distinctive national identity in art that could compete with the magnificence of continental history painting. She writes, ‘This chapter presents the manner in which historical painting in Britain developed as a means to resolve this conundrum, allowing British artists to prove themselves as painters of grand narrative works of national significance fit to be exhibited in public’ (p. 97). Here, Baudino's analysis might have benefited from a deeper examination of the institutional forces at work — specifically, how the Royal Academy of Arts and the emerging culture of public exhibitions influenced these artistic advancements by setting aesthetic standards and deciding which works were suitable for public consumption. The final chapter considers the lasting impact of eighteenth-century engravings on later generations, emphasizing their significance in educational and cultural contexts. Baudino notes, ‘These pictures formed the essential components of a visual language that provided simplified and replicable visions of historical events’ (p. 162), referring to specific engravings from popular pictorial histories that became instrumental in disseminating historical knowledge. Although Baudino's analysis is insightful, it could have been enriched by a more thorough investigation into how these images were received, reinterpreted, and repurposed over time. Such an exploration would have uncovered the evolving layers of meaning these engravings acquired as they were adapted to diverse contexts and audiences. One of the most compelling facets of this book is the meticulous analysis of Wale, a versatile and prolific draughtsman whose oeuvre significantly shaped the visual historiography of eighteenth-century Britain. Wale's engravings, particularly those for Lockman and Mortimer's books, went beyond decorative purposes, functioning as complex visual narratives that deepened and challenged the textual representations of British history. Baudino highlights how Wale strategically omitted ‘distressing episodes’ (p. 163), such as the violent deposition of Edward II, instead depicting the event as a peaceful transition of power, thus shaping a controlled historical narrative. This selective depiction sanitized history, reinforcing a unified national identity by avoiding unsettling details. Baudino suggests that Wale's engravings, balancing educational content with aesthetic appeal, acted as tools of ideological influence, shaping collective memory and actively participating in reconstructing British history. While Ian Haywood's Romanticism and Caricature (2013) focuses on graphic satire's political critique, Baudino widens the scope to explore how visual media reinforces national identity. Unlike the expansive approach of Dana Arnold and David Peters Corbett's A Companion to British Art (2013), Baudino delivers a focused analysis of how eighteenth-century engravings shaped cultural and political narratives, arguing that these images not only recorded history but actively shaped it as tools of ideological power. By examining how engravings selectively framed historical events, Baudino compels us to reconsider their role in shaping collective memory and national consciousness. Her work enriches the discourse on visual historiography, urging us to critically assess how visual media continues to influence historical understanding and the articulation of collective memory.