Hylas and the Nymphs by John William Waterhouse, longlisted for the Art Everywhere project. Photograph: Manchester City Galleries  Among the options are a 673-year-old stained glass window, pre-Raphaelite crowd-pleasers such as Millais's Ophelia and Waterhouse's The Lady of Shalott, and, for those with less traditional tastes, a self-portrait of Sarah Lucas with fried eggs on her breasts.  They are all in a longlist that the public is being asked to vote on in an attempt to find the top 50 favourite British artworks.  Once they have been chosen, they will appear on thousands of poster sites across the UK for two weeks in August.  The Art Everywhere project was the brainchild of Richard Reed, co-founder of Innocent Drinks.  He said the objective was simple: "This is a joyful celebration with no agenda other than to flood our streets with art and celebrate the creative talents and legacy of this amazing country."  On Friday, more than 100 works were listed on the Art Everywhere website, chosen by a panel attempting to "ensure there was a balanced range of artists, subjects and periods".  The earliest dates from 1340: a beautiful stained glass window of the Virgin Mary which was once in Hadzor church in Worcestershire and now lives in the Stained Glass Museum in Ely.  All the artists are British or, in the case of the German-born Hans Holbein the Younger, adopted British.  He spent two periods in England and became the pre-eminent painter of the Tudor court, and two of his works, The Ambassadors and A Lady With a Squirrel and a Starling have made the cut.  From the 17th and 18th centuries the list includes one Van Dyck (An Equestrian Portrait of Charles I), one Gainsborough (Mr and Mrs Andrews), two Stubbs (Whistlejacket; and Cheetah, a Stag and 2 Indians), and two Wright of Derby's (A Philosopher Giving That Lecture on the Orrery, in Which a Lamp is Put in the Place of the Sun; and An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump).  There might be a slight turn in the grave of Constable if he were able to hear that only one of his paintings is in the list – Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows, recently bought by Tate after a fundraising campaign – while there are two from his great rival JMW Turner, represented by The Fighting Temeraire and Norham Castle, Sunrise.  From the 20th century, artists include Stanley Spencer (The Resurrection, Cookham), Barbara Hepworth (Pelagos), Francis Bacon (Head VI) and Lucian Freud (Girl With a Kitten).  The many living artists on the list include Peter Doig (Blotter), Tracey Emin (For You; and Hate and Power Can Be a Terrible Thing), David Shrigley (Stop It) and a Damien Hirst spot painting (Pardaxin).  The project is aiming to raise £200,000 to fund what is an unashamedly celebratory project – with donors getting badges, bags, T-shirts and framed prints designed by artist Bob and Roberta Smith depending on how much they give.  For those with exceptionally large walls you can even get one of the billboard posters by donating more than £450.  Voting opens on Friday and the posters go up between 10-25 August.
Art Everywhere scheme asks public to choose 50 favourite artworks to appear on thousands of UK poster sites in August