Many academic books lay claim to being ‘groundbreaking’ or ‘pioneering’, but the multi-authored Painting in Britain, 1500–1630 has a stronger claim than many to such a status: this is a volume comprised of nearly thirty genuinely groundbreaking studies that result in one truly pioneering book. The volume is one of the tangible outputs of the seven-year research project at the National Portrait Gallery in London entitled ‘Making Art in Tudor Britain’, and directly results from a major conference held in December 2010 during which the findings of the project were shared. The innovations come largely from new technologies and methodologies deployed for the study of early modern paintings: scientific analyses such as infrared reflectography, dendrochronology, x-radiography, photomicroscopy, and pigment analysis that reveal important, hitherto invisible stylistic traits, adjustments in composition, manners of laying foundations, under-drawing, and choices of materials. In addition to the technical analyses, the book benefits from explorations of previously untapped archival resources and in the process proposes revisions of hitherto canonical accounts of artists' lives, oeuvres, and practices. The ambitious nature of the project and the individual authors' approaches to the study of English art set this book apart from current trends in art history in other fields. Perhaps because art in England was so unlike that of its Italian counterparts, for example, the questions asked of English paintings and painters have to be different. And this is where Painting in Britain succeeds so brilliantly: it operates outside the traditional art historical enquiry of simply solving problems of iconography, authorship, and style. It asks, instead, how paintings were made, what sorts of artists were working in England in the 16th and 17th centuries, how different were the working methods of artists in England from those on the Continent, how networks and families of artists operated and thrived; in other words, questions that complicate the simple master narrative of the lone ‘genius’ artist creating autograph ‘masterpieces’ that continues to dominate Renaissance art history.

While the material covered by this volume is complex and often technical, the concern is overwhelmingly to communicate the results in a manner that is intelligible to the interested general reader. Especially helpful to the technologically uninitiated reader are explanations of terminology, thoughtful examples of how the various technologies can reveal particular effects, and extremely well chosen photographs that illustrate what only those analytical tools can reveal. Additionally, each major section of the book begins with an introductory essay that crystallizes the overarching questions addressed in the subsequent chapters. And, in the majority of cases, each chapter has a concluding paragraph that encapsulates the significance of the research and efficiently contextualizes the findings. In combination, these elements create a highly readable, stimulating volume that welcomes the non-specialist.

The book is beautifully produced: the fact that the National Portrait Gallery provides the majority of images illustrated in this book makes possible the publication of hundreds of high-quality colour plates. These plates are integral to the presentation of the findings and are essential to the arguments; the clarity of their resolution allows the reader to see through the authors' eyes and to participate in the process of asking new questions of the material. The reproductions look even better because the book is printed on excellent glossy paper. In addition to the illustration of individual works of art, the book benefits from numerous diagrams, graphs, tables, catalogues of works attributed to specific artists such as Hans Holbein the Younger and Hans Eworth, comparative details, and other such precise means of presenting information. A pictorial catalogue with major examples from the ‘Making Art in Tudor Britain’ project appears at the beginning of the book as evidence of the kinds of discoveries that stemmed from the research.

As a resource, this volume will certainly be highly valuable to those looking to become familiar with the state of the field in English Renaissance art history, with some exceptions. While the bibliography is substantial, filling some nine pages, there are notable gaps that would need to be addressed to provide complete coverage of the subject. This is surprising considering the ambitions for this project. The notes appear at the end of each major section, which has the effect of requiring the reader to refer constantly to later portions of the book; that said, the notes are content-rich and provide useful jumping-off points for further reading and research. A brief glossary towards the end of the text clarifies technical terms that frequently appear in the chapters and spells out how they are used. The index is largely concerned with the historical figures appearing in the portraits under discussion, with some thematic referents.

Beyond the technical advances achieved during the ‘Making Art in Tudor Britain’ project, a large number of new ‘historical’ areas of investigation were launched: there are chapters in this book devoted to the exploration of English collectors and collecting, painters and patrons in provincial England, portrait sets and series, and conventions and formulae in Jacobean portraiture. Painting in Britain, 1500–1630 represents a monumental achievement in paradigm shifting and agenda setting.