"This book tells the story of design and the decorative arts in Britain over 400 from the Tudors to the reign of Queen Victoria. It is the story of a remarkable transformation that embraced the decorative arts in all their rich diversity, from furniture to fabrics and from prints to porcelain. In 1500, at the end of the Middle Ages, Britain played a peripheral role in the affairs of Europe. It was beautiful things created in the workshops of Venice and Florence, of Antwerp and Paris that were coveted throughout western Europe, not those made in London or Edinburgh. The range of high-design objects made in Britain was limited. British craftspeople lacked skills and there was heavy dependence on the expertise of foreigners. Four centuries later, in the reign of Queen Victoria, all this had changed. Britain had become the workshop of the world. Its queen ruled an empire that embraced a fifth of the earth's land surface and a quarter of its people. London was rivalled only by Paris as a focus for international interest in design and the decorative arts. By the nineteenth century, British design was widely admired and copied. Its products could be found right across the globe, from palaces and stately homes to the living rooms of ordinary people." "The book is divided into three sections, each dealing with a different stage in this great transformation: Tudor and Stuart, 1500-1714; Georgian, 1714-1837; Victorian, 1837-1901. These sections explore design and the decorative arts from a number of points of view. They examine style, the question of how things looked. They ask who led taste - who decided what was to be considered beautiful, fashionable and desirable. They look at how fashionable things - from household goods to clothing - were used in daily life. They ask what was new, examining new products and the impact of innovation on design. Together, the chapters provide a fascinating picture of four centuries that saw Britain's international artistic reputation transformed from one of relative obscurity to widespread acclaim." "Written by Michael Snodin and John Styles of the Victoria and Albert Museum, with additional contributions from other leading experts, the publication celebrates the opening of the Museum's new British Galleries 1500-1900. It draws on the V & A's unequalled resources for the study of design and the decorative arts. Nearly 1,000 colour illustrations are drawn principally from the Museum's world-renowned collections."--Jacket.