Fans of British comedy will recall the episode of ‘Blackadder’ in which Robbie Coltrane’s Dr. Samuel Johnson is furious to discover he has forgotten to …
Edward Pritchett: Painter of Venice
We currently have two paintings for sale by one of Victorian Britain’s finest painters of Venice, Edward Pritchett; ‘St, Mark’s Square from the Ducal Palace’ …
Henry Dawson: the Self-Made Man’s Man
Like the gifted 19th century English landscape painters of the Pether family, the artist Henry Dawson (1811-1878) was also an inventor and a musician who …
Frédéric Soulacroix & the Florentine Romantics
By the second half of the 19th century the city of Florence – once home to Raphael and birthplace of the High Renaissance – had …
Henry Pether: Mr Moonlight
The son of the artist and polymath Abraham Pether FSA (1756-1812), Henry Pether (1800-1880) was one of the 19th century’s finest exponents of the topographical …
Richard Morton Paye:
an Unfortunate Genius
an Unfortunate Genius
In the earliest days of the Royal Academy in London, during the reign of King George III, the name of Richard Morton Paye was a …
Alfred Stevens: Hymns to Beauty, Hints to the Soul
Throughout the second half of the nineteenth century Alfred Stevens was amongst the most famous and successful artists in Europe. His skill as a draftsman …
Jacques-Émile Blanche: More than a Good Likeness
Jacques-Émile Blanche was born into a wealthy family of eminent psychiatrists and grew up in Passy near the Bois de Boulogne where his father ran …
Explosive Art in the Age of Reason
In the mid-18th century Europe witnessed an intellectual and cultural explosion known as The Enlightenment that emphasized reason over superstition and empirical truth over blind …
Demeaning Turner:
the Daft Punking of Britain’s Greatest Artist
the Daft Punking of Britain’s Greatest Artist
Having previously spent 20 years in television I am well aware that making interesting and appealing arts programmes isn’t easy. It’s one thing for producers …