Between researching and writing lectures there’s time for the occasional novel. Just finished Aldous Huxley’s 1923 novel Antic Hay; it’s just like I never looked up from my work. Lots of references to artists on this course as well as the more older masters. Most of the characters’ motivation and personalities are revealed through the art they own or have knowledge of.
Lypiatt the artist- His own art which sounds like a cross between Pre-Raphaelite art and Cinzano. Sounds like he's painting a Futurist portrait of the socialite Myra Viveash. Lypiatt thought to be based on B.R. Haydon. Quotes Michelangelo's sonnets. Huxley wrote an intro to the 1926 edition of BRH's Autobiography.
Coleman the rake- Leonardo's "Anatomy of Love" (Huxley's name for reproductive drawing). I think he means this.
Shearwater the scientist- Doesn't seem interested in art at all!
Rosie (Shearwater)- prints of Raphael's "Transfiguration" and Domenichino's "Last Communion of St Jerome."
Emily - NK. Meets TG in the National Gallery.
Myra Viveash- Has a portrait of herself painted by Jacques Emile Blanche.
Theodore Gumbril the ex-schoolmaster- Piero della Francesca's "Resurrection". Hates Marchand, the landscape painter. Huxley wrote an essay on Piero’s painting at Sanselprocro.
Gumbril Senior- the architect. Pines for Sir Christopher Wren’s vision of a Micheangelo-esque London
Mercaptor the critic- Marie Laurencin, fans by Charles Conder, Victorian objet d' arts, Chines figurines.
Good article on the novel.
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