DAVID Dimbleby attempts to tell Britain’s story through its art and objects – from the Iron Age to the Computer Age – in his new book The Seven Ages of Britain, to tie in with a primetime BBC series of the same name.

The exquisitely illustrated book is comprised of seven chapters each depicting an era in Britain’s art history – from the Middle Ages right through to 20th Century modernism – written by distinguished historians and curators.

In his introduction, Dimbleby writes about the Alfred Jewel, a gold and crystal jewel, encasing an enamel picture of a man clutching a flower in each hand, thought to have been commissioned by King Alfred to give to his bishops as a pointer for reading the Bible. The tangible object breathed life into the mythical king and rendered “the king who burnt the peasant woman’s cakes” in Dimbleby’s mind as real. The object is a medium through which history makes itself concrete. Such is the premise of the book. Its theme-based approach does possess some faults for certain centuries are too complex to be pigeon-holed as a specific “age”

however by heralding the events and artefacts of each era, Dimbleby and his collaborators demonstrate vividly how art reflects British history.

Trisha Andres