Britain in the World presents highlights from the collection of the Yale Center for British Art. Included alongside iconic works—such as George Stubbs’s Zebra, Sir Joshua Reynolds’s Miss Prue, and J. M. W. Turner’s Dort—are diverse and fascinating objects that range from the Tudor period to the present day.

Featuring work by John Constable, William Henry Fox Talbot, Barbara Hepworth, Chris Ofili, and Yinka Shonibare, this beautifully illustrated book offers a valuable glimpse into the Center’s vast and varied holdings. It also reveals British art as a global phenomenon, shaped and characterized by cultural exchange, exploration, scientific discovery, and, crucially, by the long history of colonialism and empire. This book illustrates the myriad ways in which visible and invisible global connections are present in the visual and material culture of Britain.

Published in association with the Yale Center for British Art

Martina Droth is deputy director of research, exhibitions, and publications and curator of sculpture, and Nathan Flis is head of exhibitions and publications and assistant curator of 17th-century paintings, both at the Yale Center for British Art. Michael Hatt is professor in the History of Art Department at the University of Warwick.