It was January 2000 at a local antiques fair at Potter Bar, Hertfordshire that my husband and I purchased our first Bennett print. We bought it because my husband said he liked it (a very good reason to buy art or antiques). We arrived home and I had a really good look at the print, it was dated and signed F. M. Bennett. Not knowing the artist I decided to look him up. From the print I could tell that he was a Victorian genre artist, but what really attracted me was the quality of the artwork, it was so beautifully painted and he had a well focused eye for detail. Before I had chance to gather any more information we had purchased second print and so our passion for Frank Moss Bennett had started. I hope that as you read my book you will also discover more about this great artist and learn of his life and the times he lived in. Frank Moss Bennett's original paintings are now fetching considerable amounts of money at the auctions and are becoming very collectable.

"In the hands of an innovative team consisting of Sir Coutts Lindsay, his wife Blanche Lindsay, and two managers, Charles Halle and Joseph Comyns Carr, the gallery developed a reputation as a leading exhibition space for British and Continental artists during the late Victorian period. What factors contributed to its rise to prominence on the London exhibition circuit? How did it maintain that respected place in light of the diversification of showcases during this period?" "Central to this book is a close examination of the paintings which were shown at the gallery during its fourteen-year run, how they were received by the critics, and which movements were represented."--Jacket.

A comprehensive survey of the distinctly British version of Impressionism.

The diaries of the National Trust's country house expert James Lees-Milne (1908-97) have been hailed as 'one of the treasures of contemporary English literature'. The first of three, this volume, which includes interesting material omitted when the diaries were originally published during the author's lifetime, covers the years 1942 to 1954, beginning with his wartime visits to hard-pressed country house owners, and ending with his marriage to the exotic Alvilde Chaplin.