September 22nd is the release day of The Peculiarity of Mr. Darcy’s Mirror, so I’m gearing up for a release! Ellie Gardiner is an art restorer starting her first real job at Pemberley of modern day. She obviously would know a lot about art, but how much of that knowledge is right on the tip of her tongue. When she finds herself in 1811, she has a few discussions about art. How would she not? So let’s talk about a few of the artists who are mentioned.
John Constable (1776-1837) was an English landscape artist famous for his scenes of his home county of Suffolk. While he only sold about 20 paintings during his lifetime, he is now considered one of the great British landscape artists. His most famous work is The Hay Wain, Dedham Vale, and many of you may know Wivenhoe Park from a book cover here or there.
William Marlow (1740-1813) was an English landscape artist famous for his marine scenes and etchings. Mr. Bennet has Marlow’s View of Legate Street from Ludgate Hill. Originally from Southwark in London, Marlow started with the Incorporated Society of Artists. He showed his work there, at the Free Society of Artists, and the Royal Academy. Due to licensing, I do not have an image of Mr. Bennet’s etching for you. I do have it saved on Pinterest.
Antonio Canova (1757-1822) was an exceptionally skilled Venetian sculptor. By 1800, Canova had patrons from France, England, Russia, Poland, Austria and Holland and also sculpted for several royal families, being one of the most celebrated artists on the continent. Have you seen the sculpture gallery at Chatsworth? If you’ve watched the 2005 Pride and Prejudice, Lizzy looks at several of Chatsworth’s amazing Canovas in that movie. Of course, Pemberley wouldn’t be Pemberley of the future…or the past without Canovas so Fitzwilliam has several from his father’s association with Mr. Canova himself.
There are more artists, but I won’t list them all today 🙂 I’m prepping the preorder for The Peculiarity of Mr. Darcy’s Mirror, so hopefully, you can preorder it soon! In the meantime, for my latest news and fun content, sign up for my mailing list here.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Canova
Photo of Canova’s Perseus Courtesy of The Met and CC0
Photos of Flatford, Wivenhoe Park, and The Hay Wain taken by the author.
