Richard Ormond

Splendid as a coffee table book, though as someone who doesn't know much about art I found that most of the commentary went over my head. This is probably not the book's fault, as it's surely intended more for displaying or browsing rather than reading straight through, and for people who aren't novices like me (if you are, I'd recommend having a glossary of terms and artists nearby). I also noticed that while most of the pictures reproduce well, a couple come out either too small or too dark for the details to come across. Still the artwork is almost uniformly fantastic, the overview of Sargent's career is very informative, and the book does make me want to see Sargent's oils, watercolors and murals in person.… (mehr)

This is just what the title says: A collection of royal portraits. The sequence begins with William the Conqueror and runs through Elizabeth II. The earliest images are from seals and coins (plus the Bayeux Tapestry). Starting with Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, we have effigies. The first portrait is of Richard II. With Victoria, we start getting photographs -- and cartoons.

Most of the images, especially in the early sequences, are of the monarchs themselves, but their spouses and families also get some attention. Some monarchs are pictured more than others; there does not seem to have been a particular rule for how many images to include.

The back of the book includes some information about the sources of the images and about the monarchs themselves, but with 177 images and only two dozen pages of notes, this material is very limited. The book is not a significant source for historical data; it's truly all about the pictures.

For the early monarchs, there were few artifacts to choose from, so there will be little debate about the choices. For the twentieth century rulers, I think the same is true, because there are so many choices that no one can reasonably declare a particular image the "right" picture of Elizabeth II. If there is any disagreement, it will be about the monarchs in the middle. Is it really proper to have eight images of Elizabeth I (one color plate of a portrait, six black and white reductions of portraits, and one copy of an engraving) while giving only two images of her sister Mary, both from the same painting? And shouldn't there be a copy of the only genuine portrait of the conquering monarch Henry V? (The actual image shown is from a book illumination and almost certainly is not from life.) And what about one of the early images of Henry VIII, showing what he was like before he went bad? There are many places one could quibble.

On the other hand, every monarch is here. Often in ways that show how they presented themselves, or even how their enemies presented them. Internet searching might find you more, but this is a good place to start on English royal portraiture.… (mehr)

Three essays introduce the catalogue: John Singer Sargent: A Biographical Sketch and Sargent's Ark, both by Richard Ormon, Director of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, and the artist's great nephew; and Sargent in Public: On the Boston Murals by art historian Mary Crawford Volk. The Catalogue itself is divided into sections: Early Landscapes and Subject Pictures; Paris and the Salon; Impressionism; Portraiture in England and America; The Murals; Sargent the Watercolourist; Late Landscapes, Figure Studies and the war. The book concludes with a Chronology, Selected Bibliography and an Index.

The Catalogue provides a comprehensive commentary on each picture. Many of the entries are illustrated; in total there are 171 colour images and 85 black and white; the black and white images include some photographs and the work of other artists.

The beauty of this book is not just the reproductions, which are beautifully presented and many of which are half page or full page size, but also the accompanying commentaries printed alongside. A very handsome and well produced book.

12" x 9.6" (30.5 cm x 24.5 cm) 285 pages. Published 1998, ISBN 069100434X Hardback… (mehr)