Laura Freeman
Reading Between the Brushstrokes
Books Do Furnish a Painting
By Jamie Camplin & Maria Ranauro
Thames & Hudson 256pp £24.95
Man’s best friend: dog or book? The artist Samuel Palmer thought that when it came to walks in the countryside, the company of his ‘not unbeloved bull terrier’ was pleasant. But a book was better, for ‘Milton never fidgeted, frightened horses, ran after sheep, or got run over by a goods-van’.
In François Boucher’s life-size portrait of Madame de Pompadour (1756), a spaniel keens at the royal mistress’s feet. In her lap, a work of philosophy. Or perhaps a naughty novel. In Pierre-Antoine Baudouin’s painting La Lecture (c 1760) we meet another rococo reader, this one reclining in her armchair, her tales of seduction abandoned, her hand lost in the folds of her skirts. A book could be a lover as well as a friend.
These works by Boucher and Baudouin appear in the sumptuous Books Do Furnish a Painting by historian Jamie Camplin and picture researcher Maria Ranauro. Together they have produced a gorgeously illustrated series of essays and musings about paintings inspired by books and books inspired by paintings. Buy six copies for the Palmers and Pompadours in your life and declare your Christmas shopping done.
Camplin takes us from the earliest Christian codices, through St Jerome, Gutenberg and Clarissa, to the books collected by Gilbert & George. Early religious books written on parchment or vellum were expensive. In the ninth century a book of sermons by the German Benedictine monk Haimo of Halberstadt was
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
Knowledge of Sufism increased markedly with the publication in 1964 of The Sufis, by Idries Shah. Nowadays his writings, much like his father’s, are dismissed for their Orientalism and inaccuracy.
@fitzmorrissey investigates who the Shahs really were.
Fitzroy Morrissey - Sufism Goes West
Fitzroy Morrissey: Sufism Goes West - Empire’s Son, Empire’s Orphan: The Fantastical Lives of Ikbal and Idries Shah by Nile Green
literaryreview.co.uk
Rats have plagued cities for centuries. But in Baltimore, researchers alighted on one surprising solution to the problem of rat infestation: more rats.
@WillWiles looks at what lessons can be learned from rat ecosystems – for both rats and humans.
Will Wiles - Puss Gets the Boot
Will Wiles: Puss Gets the Boot - Rat City: Overcrowding and Urban Derangement in the Rodent Universes of John B ...
literaryreview.co.uk
Twisters features destructive tempests and blockbuster action sequences.
@JonathanRomney asks what the real danger is in Lee Isaac Chung's disaster movie.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/eyes-of-the-storm