Volume 53, Number 16 · October 19, 2006
British Art: The Showcase
By Julian Bell
School of Genius: A History of the Royal Academy of Arts
by James Fenton
Royal Academy, 319 pp., $60.00
Candidates for Fame: The Society of Artists of Great Britain, 1760–1791
by Matthew Hargraves
Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art/Yale University Press, 244 pp., $75.00
William Blake liked to read other authors with his pen poised for riposte: but eventually, the occupation of defacing your own library turns absurd. After littering the margins of Sir Joshua Reynolds's Discourses with many a 'Villainy!,' an 'Infernal Falshood!,' and a 'Damn'd Fool!,' Blake swung around to defend himself against some invisible watcher over his shoulder. 'Having spent the Vigour of my Youth & Genius,' he explained in the volume's front pages,
Review, 4102 words
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