This is the first comprehensive publication on English, Scottish, Welsh, and Irish paintings and pastels by artists born before 1841 in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ranging in date from the late 16th through the third quarter of the 19th century, the 140 works included are by such major artists as Peake, Lely, Hogarth, Reynolds, Gainsborough, Lawrence, Turner, Constable, and Burne-Jones. While the collection is particularly rich in portraiture, it also contains genre paintings and landscapes. Each painting is reproduced in color and carries full cataloguing data as well as a generous selection of comparative illustrations, among them pendants, related paintings, and prints.