I'm still waiting for my invitation to visit Venice, but in the meantime, I can luxuriate in the prose and illustrations of Ms. Byatt's fine art biography. With a mix of criticism and history, she takes the familiar, William Morris, and the less familiar, Mariano Fortuny, and highlights their lives and work with the interpolation of beautiful illustrations. This was a pleasingly informative short excursion into the world of art. The quotes from Ruskin and Proust were an added delight. ( )

A fascinating mix of art history and art criticism comparing and contrasting two artists. My only quibble was that the captions for the illustrations and photographs were in a separate appendix/index, which made for a bot of page flipping. ( )

I picked this up secondhand at a bookfair because I have an interest in Morris, Venice and A.S Byatt's writing. It is also a gorgeously produced little book.
I was spurred onto read it because there is a gorgeous Pre-Raphelite exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia and it seemed like a good time to read it.
It did give me a taste of all those things plus I learnt a little about Fortuny's textile art. There are also some quotes of Ruskin and Proust that were interesting.
Really needed more depth for a higher rating but it was good none the less. ( )

A thin essay with way too much description of visuals and not nearly enough pictures. Not rigorous enough to be academic, and not interesting enough for trade. No true central thesis that I could find. Very disappointing offering from one of my favorite writers of fiction. ( )

I WANTED TO LIKE THIS MORE. THE TOPIC INTERESTS ME. THERE WERE WONDERFUL PICTURES. BUT I DIDN'T LEARN MUCH. ( )