This week: Edmund Burke, tomb-raiding, early photography, Hubert Parry & more.
Edmund Burke and the Perennial Battle, 1789–1797, edited by Daniel B. Klein and Dominic Pino (CL Press): “Fighting against radicalism, dogmatism, and stubborn, foolish instincts” is the “perennial battle” to which Edmund Burke “devoted the last years of his life.” So write Daniel B. Klein and Dominic Pino in the introduction to their new anthology of the essential late writings of the British statesman. Published by CL Press in partnership with The Fund for American Studies, the Acton Institute, The Edmund Burke Society, the National Review Institute, and the Russell Kirk Center, Edmund Burke and the Perennial Battle, 1789–1797 is framed by Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France of 1790 and his Letters on a Regicide Peace of 1795–96. Here we read of the radicals’ “despotism of their own blind and brutal passions” (“Letter to Charles-Jean-François Depont,” 1789) and Burke’s “marked distinction between Change and Reformation” (“A Letter to a Noble Lord,” 1796). “There is something natural about radicalism, and like other natural penchants, it must be overcome through training and education,” write Klein and Pino at the end of their introduction. Taken together, their concise anthology aims to “instill a sense of duty in its readers to defend liberal policy and stable polity like Burke did.” —JP
A Short History of Tomb-Raiding: The Epic Hunt for Egypt’s Treasures, by Maria Golia (Reaktion): The path to a museum or private collection for a relic of ancient Egypt is often long and complicated, littered with charlatans, black-market treasure-hunters, and, of course, archaeologists. Raiding the resting places of the pharaohs is nothing new: legends of art and riches hidden beneath the Saharan sand have enticed humanity for millennia. In her new book, Maria Golia presents a comprehensive view of the path these treasures have taken from the death of the ancient Egyptian owners to the present day, including the builders’ concealing of the treasure chambers, the tombs’ rites and curses, and the cultural effect of looting on the local populations. —JW
The Idea of Italy: Photography and the British Imagination, 1840–1900, edited by Maria Antonella Pelizzari and Scott Wilcox (Yale Center for British Art): Italy, that “Paradise of exiles,” as Shelley had it, has long occupied an outsize position in the British cultural mind. The Grand Tour, which saw British aristocrats and artists descending on the bel paese in search of an older, purer culture, resulted in large caches of Italian art ending up in Britain, especially towards the end of the eighteenth century. The Idea of Italy focuses on a later period, that of 1840 to 1900, and the role the new technology of photography played in shaping views of Italy within Britain. The editors of the book will join other experts for a lecture at the Yale Center for British Art on September 30. —BR
An Old Belief, by The Sixteen, directed by Harry Christophers (CORO): No other war saw so great a proportion of British artists serve in the line of duty as World War I. One could staff a veritable company with the roll call of composers: Arthur Bliss, George Butterworth, Ivor Gurney, Ernest J. Moeran, Frederick Septimus Kelly, and Ralph Vaughan Williams, to name a few. The casualties were devastating as well; in 1916, the Battle of the Somme alone claimed the lives of at least two promising young composers, Kelly and Butterworth. Hubert Parry, the ailing elder statesman of British music, watched with growing despair as many of his students departed for war. Over the last two years of the war and of Parry’s life, the jubilation of his great hymn “Jerusalem” (1916) gave way to the somber emotion of the Songs of Farewell (1916–18), which set words from Psalm 39 and the work of past Britons, including John Donne and Henry Vaughan, who knew the horrors of war firsthand. The choir The Sixteen has taken a line from one of the settings, “An Old Belief,” to organize a new album and expanded meditation around Parry’s Songs. —IS
From the Archives:
“The Glory of Byzantium at the Met,” by Karen Wilkin (May 1997). On “The Glory of Byzantium: Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine Era, A.D. 843–1261” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Dispatch:
“Heroes forever and ever,” by Franklin Einspruch. On “Flying Woman: The Paintings of Katherine Bradford” at the Portland Museum of Art, Maine.