The Victorian art may not receive quite as much praise as it probably should, especially if you are speaking solely of the Englishs work. Generally, if you collected art work you would probably collect pieces from French or Italian artists. They were considered much more popular and probably are still to this day.

Another thing to consider is that the Victorian era is the center of the Industrial Revolution. Things that may have involved artists were now being mass produced in factories. The fortunate part is that this fact really did not get too many of the artists of this day down. Their work was still viewed as superior and is probably much more valuable for those few pieces that remain today.

Probably the first name that most people would think of when they consider Victorian art is William Morris. He really is not a household name, but is still considered to be one of the best artists of this time period. He certainly did not let mass production keep him away from competing in the marketplace. William Morris was responsible for many styles of furniture which his company was responsible for creating by hand in the early days of Morris & Co. Early on though, they did a lot of work on churches with stained glass windows. Some of his work still exists today.

The unfortunate part about the industrial revolution is that it never really spurred too much creativity. There were very few artists who were capable of selling pieces and making a living at it. Generally, people stuck to the much cheaper mass produced items for anything they needed. This could include window work, furniture, trim work in homes, and other things that was all previously considered to be art by the former centurys standards.