Summer Pleasures: The Loss of the Tuscan Order

26 Aug 2016: In many parts of the US, students have already returned to the classroom – those in Europe will not be too far behind. This seems like an appropriate time to commence slipping a little bit of academic life back into these posts. Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola established the vogue for the Five Orders of Architecture …

Summer Pleasures: One of the Towers of Orleans Cathedral

19 Aug 2016: Guest post by Geoffrey Batchen This week I am delighted to introduce the first of our guest editors, appropriately my old friend Professor Geoffrey Batchen. He teaches art history at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, specializing in the history of photography. His many and influential books include Burning with Desire: The Conception of …

Summer Pleasures: Good Day, Sunshine – No. 3

12 Aug 2016: Guest post by Brian Liddy In previous posts I had intended to conjure up the idea of sunshine as a summer pleasure but instead I found that I was drawn to shadows. Shadows tell us the sun shone brightly the day a photograph was taken, but in the absence of sunlight they represent passages of …

Summer Pleasures: The Reverend in the Cloisters

5 Aug 2016: As the summer of 1845 began to draw to a close, Henry joined his mother Lady Elisabeth in London to celebrate the 35th birthday of his half-sister Horatia. Making their way back to Lacock Abbey, Lady Elisabeth noted in her diary the “brilliant weather”. That probably explains why she also recorded the 6 September arrival …