Woman Behind the Painter: The Diaries of Rosalie, Mrs. James Clarke HookThe wife of the prominent Victorian painter of seascapes, James Clarke Hook (1819-1907), Rosalie was a trained artist and brought her artist's sensibility, her humour, and her talent for relationships to the project of writing a diary of their travels to Italy in the two turbulent years of the Risorgimento leading up to 1848. Rosalie's subsequent diary records a busy professional couple in the thick of running a country home with studio, annual trips to the bracing coastal sites where Hook painted, and their relations with famous contemporaries. Juliet McMaster, a descendant of the Hooks, provides a fascinating introduction on their professional and personal lives. The book is illustrated throughout by Hook's vivid sketches and by many of James's and Rosalie's paintings. |
Contents
Illustrations | ix |
Acknowledgements | xv |
Note on the Texts | xix |
Professional and Domestic Partnership | xxiii |
The Italy Diary 18461848 | xxxv |
The Italy Sketchbook | lv |
The Silverbeck Diary 18531896 | lx |
Colour Plates | xcv |
The Way to Naples | 50 |
Naples | 52 |
Back to Florence | 60 |
The Way to Parma | 84 |
Venice | 99 |
IIO Homeward Bound | 110 |
The Silverbeck Diary 18531896 | 121 |
| 201 | |
Common terms and phrases
A.J. Hook Aberdeen Art Gallery Academicians Allan April arrived artists August Austrian beautiful became Beefolds boat Bodleian Library bought Bryan Hook Burton carriage Church Churt Clovelly colour Dickens died dinner dressed English Etching Club F.G. Stephens Florence Gardenstown girls Hallsands Hayter Hook's horses Horsley Hotel Italian Italy Diary Italy Sketchbook J.C. Hook James Clarke Hook James Hook John July June lodgings London looked Macdonald March Maria married Millais morning Myles Birket Foster night painter painting Palace Palmer Parma passed Photograph by Bryan Piazza Pickersgill Pictures From Italy PLATE Pope portrait Punch road Rome Rosalie Rosalie Hook Rosalie records Rosalie's round Royal Academy Schools Sambourne Samuel Palmer scene Sea daisies seems Sennen Sennen Cove Sept side Silverbeck Silverbeck Diary sketch staid studio Sunday took town travellers Venice Victorian visited Viva walked wife