1397 Richard II commissions a diptych
The English king, Richard II, commissions a diptych (the Wilton Diptych) showing himself being presented to the Virgin and Child

1526 Holbein in Chelsea
Hans Holbein the Younger pays his first visit to England, and stays with Thomas More in Chelsea

1632 Van Dyck moves to London
Van Dyck moves to London and becomes portrait painter to the British court and aristocracy

1757 Wright has Derby studio
English painter Joseph Wright sets up a studio in his home town, Derby

1758 Reynolds fashionable in London
Joshua Reynolds, by now the most fashionable portrait painter in London, copes with as many as 150 sitters in a year

1758 Stubbs moves to London
Liverpool-born artist George Stubbs sets up in London as a painter, above all, of people and horses

1759 Gainsborough moves to Bath
Portrait-painter Thomas Gainsborough moves from Suffolk to set up a studio in fashionable Bath

1760 Zoffany moves to England
German painter Johann Zoffany moves to England to find work as a painter of conversation pieces and portraits

1763 Benjamin West moves to London
American artist Benjamin West settles in London, where he becomes famous for his large-scale history scenes

1768 Britain's Royal Academy
The Royal Academy is established in London, with Joshua Reynolds as its first president

1774 Gainsborough moves to London
Thomas Gainsborough moves from Bath to set up a studio in London

1775 Copley settles in London
John Singleton Copley, already established as America's greatest portrait painter, moves to London

1790 15-year-old Turner in Royal Academy
English painter J.M.W. Turner is only 15 when a painting of his, a watercolour, is first exhibited at the Royal Academy

1792 Raeburn's cleric on skates
Scottish painter Henry Raeburn depicts the Reverend Robert Walker skating on Duddingston Loch

1820 Géricault moves to Britain
French painter Théodore Géricault begins a two-year visit to Britain

1820 Constable moves to Hampstead
English painter John Constable acquires a house in Hampstead, a region of London that features frequently in his work

1827 Palmer moves to Shoreham
English artist Samuel Palmer moves to Shoreham, in Kent, for the most inspired years of his career

1832 Lear publishes a book of parrots
20-year-old English artist Edward Lear publishes Family of the Psittacidae, a collection of his paintings of parrots

1835 Edward Lear begins to travel
English artist Edward Lear begins a series of travels, sketching around the Mediterranean and in the Middle East

1838 Fighting Téméraire
J.M.W. Turner paints an icon of British art, The Fighting Téméraire

1846 Lear's Book of Nonsense
Edward Lear publishes his Book of Nonsense, consisting of limericks illustrated with his own cartoons

1848 Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
English art students Rossetti, Holman Hunt and Millais form the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

1850 Victoria honours Landseer
Queen Victoria knights her favourite painter of animals, Edwin Landseer

1850 Tenniel draws for Punch
English cartoonist John Tenniel begins a 50-year career drawing for the satirical magazine Punch

1859 Whistler settles in London
US artist James McNeill Whistler settles in London, which he makes his home for the rest of his life

1870 Monet in London
French artist Claude Monet, fleeing from the Franco-Prussian War, arrives in London

1871 Whistler's mother in subtle shades
Whistler paints his mother and calls the picture Arrangement in Grey and Black

1871 Whistler's Nocturnes
Whistler begins to paint his Nocturnes, a revolutionary series of night-time images on the river Thames

1885 Sargent moves to England
The American portrait-painter John Singer Sargent makes London his home and begins an immensely successful career

1895 Gwen John at the Slade
Gwen John persuades a reluctant father to allow her to follow her younger brother to the Slade School of Art in London

1902 Augustus and Dorelia
Augustus John meets his favourite subject Dorothy McNeill, to whom he gives the Gypsy name Dorelia

1910 L.S. Lowry collects rent
The part-time English painter L.S. Lowry begins a lifetime career in a Manchester property company

1911 Camden Town Group
Walter Sickert and other painters, sharing his preference for everyday subjects, adopt the name Camden Town Group

1913 Walter Sickert's Ennui
Walter Sickert paints Ennui, depicting a difficult or dreary moment in a marriage

1914 Wyndham Lewis and Vorticism
Wyndham Lewis and others launch Vorticism with a new magazine, Blast

1914 Stanley Spencer brings an artist's eye to army life
Stanley Spencer joins the Royal Army Medical Corps, with whom he finds a wealth of subject matter

1915 Jack Yeats emerges as leading Irish painter
The Irish painter Jack Yeats develops a romantic Expressionist style, with a new interest in Celtic myth

1919 Sargent's Gassed
John Singer Sargent completes Gassed, a powerful image of one of the particular horrors of the recent war

1924 Scottish Colourists in Paris
Four Scottish Colourists (Cadell, Fergusson, Hunter, Peploe) exhibit together in Paris

1927 Resurrection in Cookham
Stanley Spencer completes his large visionary canvas The Resurrection: Cookham

1927 Spencer starts work at Burghclere
Stanley Spencer begins his murals in the Memorial Chapel for Henry Sandham at Burghclere, in Hampshire

1932 Graham Sutherland takes up his brush
The British artist Graham Sutherland, after an early career as a printmaker, takes up painting relatively late in life

1934 Francis Bacon's first show
British painter Francis Bacon has his first solo show in London

1937 Euston Road School
William Coldstream and Victor Pasmore open a school of art with a distinctive style, known from its location as the Euston Road School

1938 Hepworth and Nicholson marry
Leading British artists Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson marry

1945 Francis Bacon's Three Studies
English painter Francis Bacon creates a sensation with his Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion

1946 Sadler's Wells Ballet in new home
Sadler's Wells Ballet moves to the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden (and is known from 1956 as the Royal Ballet)

1960 Riley pioneers op art
British artist Bridget Riley creates patterns that produce unexpected optical effects, in a style that becomes known as op art

1967 A Bigger Splash
A Bigger Splash, by English painter David Hockney, casts a new light on sunlit swimming pools

1971 Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy
British artist David Hockney paints a striking triple portrait in Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy

1996 Ofili's Holy Virgin
Chris Ofili's painting The Holy Virgin is embellished with elephant dung