Fostering in the people the purest types of beauty: Ford Madox Brown and democratic art education

This article explores Ford Madox Brown’s contribution to art education in Britain. Brown adapted his own student experience of continental academies (Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp) to inform his practical tuition of artists in his studio at home and at independent artisanal schools, while responding to contemporary intellectual fashions to draft his Cambridge Slade Professorship application and public lectures. His misgivings about both the Royal Academy Schools and Government Schools of Design manifested itself in his desire to cultivate taste in all classes of Britons, and balance the commercial requirements of manufacturing industry with the learning needs of individuals in society.