Michael Prodger
Brushes at Twenty Paces
The Judgement of Paris: Manet, Meissonier and an Artistic Revolution
By Ross King
Chatto & Windus 448pp £17.99
France’s artists have never been ones to let their country’s fondness for revolution pass them by. Jacques-Louis David was not only a signatory to Louis XVI’s death warrant but forged Neoclassicism into the style of the 1789 Revolution; Antoine-Jean Gros’s daring proto-Romanticism was born alongside the gimcrack glamour of Napoleon’s rule; Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People, complete with self-portrait, was the icon of the événements of 1830.
Ross King’s wonderfully rich The Judgement of Paris purports to tell the story of another, artistic revolution, the birth of Impressionism, but it is no coincidence that the years in which the movement came into being were also ones of civil turmoil as Napoleon III’s Second Empire met its bloody
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
Richard Flanagan's Question 7 is this year's winner of the @BGPrize.
In her review from our June issue, @rosalyster delves into Tasmania, nuclear physics, romance and Chekhov.
Rosa Lyster - Kiss of Death
Rosa Lyster: Kiss of Death - Question 7 by Richard Flanagan
literaryreview.co.uk
‘At times, Orbital feels almost like a long poem.’
@sam3reynolds on Samantha Harvey’s Orbital, the winner of this year’s @TheBookerPrizes
Sam Reynolds - Islands in the Sky
Sam Reynolds: Islands in the Sky - Orbital by Samantha Harvey
literaryreview.co.uk
Nick Harkaway, John le Carré's son, has gone back to the 1960s with a new novel featuring his father's anti-hero, George Smiley.
But is this the missing link in le Carré’s oeuvre, asks @ddguttenplan, or is there something awry?
D D Guttenplan - Smiley Redux
D D Guttenplan: Smiley Redux - Karla’s Choice by Nick Harkaway
literaryreview.co.uk