Beyond the Metropolis: The Changing Image of Urban Britain, 1780–1880 by Katy Layton-Jones (review)

Beyond the Metropolis opens up with a sensible, albeit provocative, suggestion that our thinking about early industrial British cities as sites of physical and moral destitution is too simplistic, essentially reflecting a disdain derived from popular Victorian fiction. Cultural historian Katy Layton-Jones argues that the history of early urban Britain is significantly more complex and therefore should be discussed in the context of an expansive and nuanced past rather than restricted to the extreme binaries of the Victorian and Georgian models. She utilizes an exceedingly wide range of pictorial sources, from oil paintings and printed advertisements to decorative knives and mugs, to show that popular perceptions of rapidly industrializing provincial cities were markedly positive, reverent, and exhilarant. Indeed, as growing metropolises like Manchester, Glasgow, and Liverpool attempted to compete with London, artists employed changing aesthetic trends to highlight and popularize unique local qualities as tourist attractions. In addition to challenging historical assumptions, Layton-Jones calls upon the field of urban history to regularly engage with visual sources as valuable historical evidence and not mere illustrations to existing historiography.

The succinct yet fluid text is organized both thematically and chronologically, starting with a discussion of the traditional topographic view of the city and its picturesque roots. Such images depicted stunning urban vistas framed by natural elements like water, trees, and bushes. However, while it is often assumed that nature was presented to serve as an antidote to the evils of urbanization, Layton-Jones argues it was not clearly so. Picturesque urban perspectives commonly integrated rural hinterlands along with roads and ports to advertise growing prosperity, commercial exchange, and agricultural wellbeing. Indeed, the harmony and codependence of urban and rural environments was the essence of these pictures; the author proves her point with a captivating case study of an artist extending equal artistic treatment to chimney smoke and trees alike.

The author then takes us to exhibitions that prompted fierce competition between towns for commercial advantage and acclaim. After all, representations of efficient labor and the distinguished fruit of that labor had the potential to elevate a town's reputation. Pictures of urban improvements such as the construction of ports, sanitation, and architecture of "good taste," similarly drew attention to the cities' great aspirations and "spirits." Viewers were encouraged to appreciate the diverse visual qualities of these "landscapes of transition," although urban improvements also contributed to geographical and economic divisions within cities. Likewise, while manufactories were at first depicted as assimilated parts of the complex urban fabric, their growing size ultimately came to dominate images, and manufactories were soon pictured as segregated mega-structures, or what the author calls "factoryscapes." Layton-Jones concludes her book with a discussion of the representations of urban populations as distinct, homogeneous, male, commercial, and politically active.

Clearly, this book is enormously ambitious: it attempts to integrate urban, architectural, social, and art histories spanning an entire century and involving different geographic locales. Consequently, the major contribution of this text is its thoughtful and imaginative integration of diverse sources into a coherent discussion of early representations of urban change in provincial Britain. The author's use of the most elaborate visuals, such as the Rogers and Sons' Norfolk knife, testify to the significance of this subject. Viewing the material evidence, one can easily envision that the exhibiting of such extravagant instruments would have impressed national and international audiences alike, indeed elevating the image of the particular company as well as the city. However, the degree to which Layton-Jones manages to bring out the distinctive local character highlighted in these artworks is questionable, as the text centers on thematic continuation while geographic specificity takes the back seat.

As if this extensive and captivating history were not enough, Layton-Jones attempts to illustrate the significance of these images by extracting their impact on the physical developments within cities, unfortunately often falling short of this goal. There are some enticing glimpses...