Author Archives: picturesinpowell

At the Louvre in about 1919, Nick and his parents run into Mr. Deacon, who has stooped over, magnifying glass in hand , to examine closely a painting of St. Sebastian by Pietro Perugino ( c. 1446-1524). [BM 14/10] Sebastian was … Continue reading →

Nick says of Mr. Deacon: “Puvis de Chavannes and Simeon Solomon, the last of whom I think he regarded as his master, were the only painters I ever heard him speak of with unqualified approval.” [BM 9/5] Pierre Puvis de … Continue reading →

Mr. Deacon “disliked the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists almost equally; and was naturally even more opposed to later trends like Cubism, and to the works of the Surrealists.” [BM 9/~5] Mr. Deacon had strong historical precedent for his views. In April and … Continue reading →

A typical patron of Mr. Deacon was “a big iron man” from the Midlands who after visiting Deacon in London would return to Lancashire with “an oil sketch of Antinous, or a sheaf of charcoal studies of Spartan youth at … Continue reading →

Mr. Deacon reappears  throughout A Buyer’s Market. The factual threads from which Powell wove Mr. Deacon are diverse.  For example, as a teen Powell became friendly with Christopher Sclater Millard, the gay owner of a bookshop, a model for Mr. … Continue reading →

A Buyer’s Market  (BM) opens with  our introduction to the inimitable Mr. Deacon––painter, antique dealer, and enthusiast of radical leftist causes.  Long after Mr. Deacon’s death, Nick comes upon some of his canvases at an auction of items of dubious … Continue reading →

Le Bas visits Jenkins in his Oxford rooms. “He came farther into the room, but appeared unwilling to seat himself; standing in one of his characteristic poses, holding up both his hands, one a little above the other, like an … Continue reading →

Stringham brought his horse prints with him to his Oxford rooms. A vistor, Bob Duport, sees the print of The Pharisee and says, “I’ve never seen a jock on land, or sea, sit a horse like that.” (QU 185/191) “‘Put … Continue reading →

Jenkins, Stringham, and Members leave Sillery’s together: “Rain had been falling while we were at tea, but the pavements were now drying under wooly sky. ‘What very Monet weather it has been lately,’ said Members, almost to himself. ” [QU … Continue reading →

Later at Sillery’s, “Members rose suddenly from the sofa and cast himself with a startling bump, almost full length on the floor in front of the fire place: exchanging in this manner his Boyhood-of-Raleigh pose for that of the Dying … Continue reading →