Author Archives: picturesinpowell

As part of his introduction of Dr. Trelawney, Jenkins writes: “Simple-lifers, utopian socialists, spiritualists, occultists, theosophists, quietists, pacficists, futurists, cubists, zealots of all sorts in their approach to life and art … were then [1914] thought of by the unenlightened … Continue reading →

Stonehurst, where the Jenkins were living in 1914, had been furnished by its former owners in a style reflecting their prior service in India. “In the hall the brass gong was suspended from the horn or tusk of some animal;   … Continue reading →

The Kindly Ones (TKO) begins with young Jenkins helping Albert lock-up for the night. Jenkins examines “a coloured picture, fastened to the wall by four rusting drawing-pins, of Mr. Lloyd George, fancifully conceived as extending from his mouth an enormous scarlet … Continue reading →

When Nick returns to Stourwater with Templer, the “exuberant” jumble of the decorations impresses him more favorably than it had on his earlier visit with the Walpole-Wilsons.  “Between bookshelves” in a paneled gallery “hung drawings: Conder, Steer, John, a couple … Continue reading →

Nick muses on both the likely and unlikely aspects of his friendship with Moreland.  A list of their shared childhood prejudices makes it seem as if they had known each other long before they had met, and includes a “capricious … Continue reading →

Moreland is talking to Maclintick, who is drunk and depressed. Maclintick is bemoaning how his wife Audrey treats him; Moreland sees a parallel: “It wasn’t for nothing that Petrach’s Laura was one of the de Sade family.”[CCR 204/212 ] Petrarch (1304-1374), the Italian … Continue reading →

We will mention some references to art movements in CCR almost as briefly as Powell does. Stringham refers to his former sister-in-law Anne Stepney “chattering away about Braque and Dufy.” [CCR 170/175] This is a reprise of an similar statement he made … Continue reading →

Jenkins reflected after St. John Clarke’s death: “If so tortuous a comparison of mediocre talent could ever be resolved, St John Clarke was probably to be judged a ‘better’ writer than Isbister was a painter.” [CCR 184/190 ] Mark Members recalled … Continue reading →

After discussing the attribution of the Prince Rupert, Lord Huntercombe continues his rivalry with Smethyck: “I was even able to carry the war into Smethyck’s country by enquiring whether he felt absolutely confident of the supposed portrait of Judge Jeffreys, … Continue reading →

Lord Huntercomb said, “Smethyk showed  himself anxious to point out that my Prince Rupert Conversing with a Herald was painted by Dobson, rather than Van Dyck. Fortunatley I had long ago come to the same conclusion and recently caused its … Continue reading →