The Browning Society Newsletter Issue No: 2 March 2017 his depiction of the Holy Family, particu- rescued by Stephen Evans from St Giles Man and Wife larly in the figure of the baby Jesus. The in the Fields, where it had been placed new-born child is shown blessing his prior to the old parish church’s demoli- Hanging above the altar in St. Maryle- parents and the world, as if already aware tion in 1949. The Brownings’ marriage bone Parish Church when Elizabeth Bar- of his allotted role in life. In his startling- is, therefore, now permanently commem- rett married Robert Browning in Septem- ly bold depiction of Jesus, West gives the orated at St. Marylebone, together with ber 1846 was an oil-painting of the Holy baby’s face an almost adult seriousness, the memory of one of their Italian admir- Family. The work of the Anglo-American which becomes the focus of the painting. ers and commentators. President of the Royal Academy, Benja- A shaft of light from above suggests the min West, the picture is still in the parish presence of God, while the Trinity is church today, but had been moved into completed by a dove roosting on a beam NOTES the old parish church when the architect above the baby’s head. The Deptford Heritage Festival was re- Thomas Harris reordered the present par- Just how much of this Robert and Eliza- vived in 2015 and, for the past two years, ish church in the 1880s. The painting the Browning Society has been invited to returned to the parish church in its pre- beth Barrett Browning saw during their wedding is unknown. It was a brief cere- contribute. In 2015 Michael Meredith sent position shortly before the old parish gave a paper, ‘Home at Hatcham’, which church was demolished in 1949. mony in an empty church with only two witnesses present, yet the Reverend was accompanied by readings from RB’s Thomas Woods Goldhawk stood directly poems and the love letters by Sue Brown in front of the painting as he married and Nick Baker. The following year four them. Elizabeth particularly enjoyed por- members, Nick Baker, April Barrett, Je- trayals of the Madonna and later would rome Wynter and Dmitry Usenco, read visit the Pitti Gallery especially to see favourite poems by EBB and RB and those painted by Raphael. Robert knew then talked about them. The meetings other paintings by West, and, with his were held in St. Nicholas’ Church, Dept- love of art, would certainly have exam- ford, a mile down the road from the ined the panel on one of his visits to the Browning’s cottage at New Cross. It church to arrange the wedding. So the proved a most sympathetic venue with painting has a part, however small, to features that Browning would have seen on his visits to Deptford, including some play in the history of their lives. fine Grinling Gibbons wood-carving and West’s Holy Family attracted other eyes. two stone skull and cross-bones at the In 1859 a ‘lunatic’ drew a knife and vio- entrance to the churchyard. After the lently slashed the wooden panel from meetings members of the Society had corner to corner before being restrained. lunch at the Naval Museum, Greenwich. The damage was poorly overpainted and it was returned to the parish church. Through the next hundred and fifty years the varnish darkened and some of the Benjamin West, PRA, 1818, damage resurfaced. The painting was completely restored in 2015, thanks to a The Holy Family, generous donation in memory of an hon- orary member of the Browning Society, the Italian teacher and scholar, Maurizio The painting is uncharacteristic of West, Masetti, who died in 2013. who is best-known for his very large his- torical canvasses, the most famous of After restoration the painting was re- which is the death of General Wolfe on dedicated by the Rector of St Maryle- the Heights of Abraham near Quebec bone, our president Stephen Evans, in the during the Seven Years’ War. Towards presence of nearly thirty of Maurizio’s the end of his life, however, West started English friends, his partner, Simonetta to work on a smaller scale, specialising in Berbeglia, and her parents. Tributes were religious painting and portraits. He fre- paid to Maurizio during a moving ser- quently used symbolism to emphasise the vice, during which a plaque was un- significance of his subject. This is true of veiled. The West painting now hangs in the side-chapel above its original altar, After the 2015 AGM, Scott Lewis talked In the present volume RB’s and EBB’s . to us most interestingly about Dr A. J. responses to the disappointing reviews of Casa Guidi hosted a successful day’s Armstrong, the inspirational Texan who the recently published ‘Men and Women’ conference on English Poets in Italy in created the Browning library at Baylor are recorded; for the first time, every 2015. More recently, a more ambitious University, now bearing his name. This known review of the book has been re- conference discussing England’s contri- occasion was also the British launch of printed. Such thoroughness is invaluable bution to the 1966 flood relief in Florence Scott’s book ‘Boundless Life’, his biog- to the scholar, but is also interesting to attracted an even larger audience. Well raphy of Armstrong. In 2016 we wel- the casual reader, for whom the detailed run by the Landmark Trust, Casa Guidi, comed Sue Brown who gave a lively pa- and relevant explanatory notes are also the Brownings’ Florentine home, is an per, ‘My dearest Friend’ about Julia invaluable. ideal place for a family holiday. On the Wedgwood and RB, based on research . Oltrano, close to the Pitti Palace, it is she is currently undertaking. This gave a furnished in such a way that the modern fascinating introduction to her forthcom- ‘Men and Women’ is in the news. Lewis visitor can appreciate what life was like ing book, which we eagerly await. Carroll’s copy of the first edition, stolen in the nineteenth century but enjoy, at the in the mid-1980s, has resurfaced. This . .. same time, modern comforts. important book, signed with Charles Lut- Recent speakers at our December com- widge Dodgson’s monogram on the title- . memoration of Robert Browning at West- page of volume 1, was lent to an exhibi- minster Abbey have included Professor tion at St. Marylebone Library. On its Isobel Armstrong in 2015 and Professor way home, it was grabbed with other RB OBITUARY Michael Slater in 2016. Both occasions rarities by a sneak-thief at Paddington In our last issue we recorded the death of attracted large numbers of members who Station. Although the thief was later ap- our member Katherine Macdonald. We enjoyed themselves, in spite of some cas- prehended, tried and imprisoned, not all have received the following tribute to her: ual organization by the Abbey authorities. his haul was recovered, including the Carroll ‘Men and Women’. The book is Katherine Macdonald, who died on 1st . .. bibliographically important, as its binding January this year, was for many years a On 16 May 2015 Pamela and David Sing- is a unique variant of about 1860, so it valuable member of the Browning Socie- ton entertained the Society at their Lon- was with relief (and some surprise) that it ty committee and a regular contributor to don home to hear Simon Avery lead a was found at the Olympia Book Fair last our events. She last attended the West- discussion of a number of EBB’s poems, year. minster Abbey commemoration in De- including ‘The Runaway Slave at Pil- cember 2013 in her 101st year, and, bely- . grim’s Point’, which attracted most atten- ing her age, gave the address there ten tion. About fifteen members attended a At the Fair there were few Browning bar- years previously. delicious tea-party and there was a lively gains to be found, although there was a Katherine was born in 1913, the daughter debate, sparked by Simon’s informed superb copy of EBB’s Poems of 1844 of John and Margaret Munro. Her father, enthusiasm. We were particularly pleased priced at a very reasonable £1000. The an Oxford don and the son of the Victori- to welcome Peg and Jack Wernette, most remarkable bargain was to be found an sculptor Alexander Munro, was Rector founder members, who were about to on eBay only a few weeks ago, where a of Lincoln College, Oxford from 1919, so relocate to their home in America. Peg complete set of RB’s ‘Bells and Pome- Katherine and her four siblings were was our treasurer for a number of years. granates’ sold for £50. It had been very brought up in a strongly academic envi- badly catalogued by someone who knew . ronment. She, herself, read modern lan- nothing about its rarity or potential value. guages at Oxford in the early 1930s be- In our last issue we remarked on the re- It contained the very rare first edition of fore beginning social work in the de- cent high prices paid anonymously at ‘Blot in the ‘Scutcheon’’, which is usual- pressed Durham and Northumberland auction for letters of both Brownings. It ly represented by the second edition in coalfields. Her attempt to work as a vol- seems that the Chinese have started to complete sets. unteer nurse in Spain during the Civil take an interest in English literary manu- . War was thwarted when she learned she scripts. Letters by RB and EBB have last had contracted tuberculosis, which kept year been sold at auctions in Beijing for It was good to hear a play based on ‘The her in and out of a sanitorium for a few impressive sums.