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. It is, therefore, probable Ring and the Book’ repeated recently on years. that they are buying in London as well. Radio 4 Extra. Originally broadcast in Recent auction sales there have included 2008, the play, adapted by Martyn Wade, In 1941 Katherine married Norman Mac- the corrected proofs of RB’s ‘Colombe’s quoted directly from the poem but also donald, a young doctor she had known Birthday’, which was sold for £11,000 skilfully brought the story to life by re- since her student days. By then she was hammer-price to an English private col- constructing some of the scenes in prose. working for war intelligence and in 1945, lector. Considering its rarity, this was not Robert Browning became the narrator when employed at Chatham House, she published a book on the future of post- expensive. and was convincingly played by Anton Lesser; Pompilia’s youthful innocence war France. Later, Katherine, who by ...... was well portrayed by Loo Brearley, who now had two children, worked for the British Council and was secretary of the Volume 22 of The Brownings’ Corre- avoided any hint of sentimentality. The London Conference of Overseas Stu- spondence was published in late 2015. It narrative was shortened into two episodes dents. Her love of languages and travel covers the period from November 1855 to of an hour each by omitting characters continued throughout her life: at the age June 1856 when the Brownings were like the Pope and the two lawyers. The of 77 she made a journey to China on the staying in Paris. This remarkable defini- first episode is available for listening on Trans-Siberian Express, and she regularly tive edition gets better and better, superb- You Tube. ly edited by Philip Kelley and his team. visited the South of France well into her nineties. ings. Pippa Passes, Browning’s first San Zenone degli Ezzelino, where the wholly successful long poem, and a fa- Ghibelline warrior, Alberico, took his last Katherine’s main interest in her later life vourite of Elizabeth’s, was set in Asolo. stand. Despite Mrs Bronson’s qualms the was researching the work of her grandfa- elderly poet insisted on climbing the iso- ther, Alexander Munro. She had hoped to Asolo is little changed from the small lated tower. We did the same, grateful complete and publish a catalogue raison- hillside town, guarded by its thirteenth that the staircase to the top is now much né of his sculpture, but difficulties in ob- century Rocca at the top of the hill over- less rickety, and were rewarded with an taining information about his scattered looking the town, that Browning knew. It extraordinary view and the sight of fal- works, particularly from Russia, prevent- has attracted several famous residents, cons still swooping and circling below the ed this. It is hoped that another scholar including the great Italian actress, El- tower. will be able to use her notes and complete eanora Duse, (whose grave we visited) the project. Her knowledge of the Brown- and the British explorer and writer, Freya Another high point in our visit was the ings, therefore, came mainly through Stark (who is still vividly remembered morning spent in Castel Franco, where Munro, who was a friend of both poets we were welcomed to the new Casa Gior- and sculpted their young son Penini. gione museum celebrating Castel Fran- Katherine lent important items from her co’s most famous son. It is beautifully collection of Munro’s books and papers conceived and executed. Close by is a to the 1986 exhibition ‘Meeting the site, which, in itself, would have justified Brownings’ at Southwestern College, our visit to Italy: the only known altar- Winfield, Kansas, and attended the open- piece by Giorgione still in situ in a side ing hot-foot from Yale and Harvard, chapel in the Cathedral. The tranquil where she had been working on Munro. beauty of his Madonna between St Fran- Later, in 2001, she gave a lecture at the cis and St Nicasius is unforgettable. Armstrong Browning Library in Texas So too are the Veronese frescos in the and was photographed next to her grand- Villa Barbara at Maser with their brilliant father’s bust of Penini in the entrance hall trompe l’oeil effects. Our visit there came of the library. after a brief call at the melancholy re- Katherine was warm and modest, interest- mains of Caterina Cornaro’s country re- ed in others and always playing down her treat and pleasure gardens, Il Barco della own considerable talents. She provided a Regina, now well off the beaten track. voice of progressive commonsense at Also on our itinerary were visits to the committee meetings of the Browning Civic museum and gallery in Bassano and Society. She was at her happiest with her a walk across the picturesque covered many friends. Few of those will forget her bridge designed by Palladio, as well as a glorious 90th birthday party, given at call at the museum and library in Asolo, Wightwick Manor and attended by some there). As we discovered during our four which has interesting displays on the leading members of the art and literary days in Asolo the town still attracts a live- Brownings’, Freya Stark’s and La Dusa’s worlds, eager to play tribute to this re- ly local and international community connections with the town. markable lady. All who knew her will while Browning’s connection with it is Although Browning did not re-visit Asolo miss her greatly, none more so than those cherished. for forty years after his first stay there, he of us in the Browning Society. A highlight of our stay was the opportuni- found its imaginative appeal irresistible, ...... ty to see two of the houses most closely constantly dreaming of returning there. associated with the Brownings: La Mura, One of his first acts when he did in 1889, ASOLO where Mrs Brownson regularly enter- aged 78, was to climb up the steep path to tained Browning and his sister at the end the Rocca hoping to rediscover the echo Nine members of the Browning Society, of long days exploring the surrounding within the castle walls he had first found including the President, Stephen Evans, countryside; and La Torricella. Three of in 1835. We looked up at the castle from paid a memorable visit to Asolo in the Mrs Bronson’s direct descendants took the terrace in front of our hotel, promising Veneto in April 2016, seeing many of the the trouble to come specially to Asolo to ourselves that, at some point, we too places to which Browning had travelled welcome us at La Mura and show us would climb up to the Rocca, but never on his first visit there in 1838, when he around the house with its lovely view managed it. Next time perhaps … There journeyed alone, and on later visits in his over the town from the Loggia, where will be another reason, too, for returning last years, when he and his sister, Sarian- Browning spent many happy evenings. to Asolo, apart from its irresistible beauty na, came to Asolo as guests of their Pen’s house with its splendid tower has and tranquility. In the Museum there we American friend, Mrs Kay Bronson. His magnificent gardens, including a grotto saw a portrait of Sarianna by the Ameri- son, Pen, settled in Asolo after Brown- decorated with a characteristically eclec- can artist, Charles Forbes, still striking ing’s death and built a house there, La tic collection of statuary chosen by Pen. but now in rather poor poor condition. Torricella. Asolo was always a magical Sparky, down-to-earth Sarianna is in place for Robert Browning. As he record- Like Browning, we also visited the Tem- many ways the unsung heroine of the ed in the Prelude to his final collection pio in Possagno where the great Italian Browning story. She took care of her fa- Asolando (published in London on the neo-Classical sculptor, Antonio Canova, ther in his exile in Paris, gave Browning day he died in Venice), this was the place is buried. His museum close by gives an the domestic stability he needed in his where he first got a clear sense of the informative account of his way of work- later years and kept tabs on Pen after his immensity of the poetic challenge ahead ing, as well as containing many examples father’s death. As a small thank you for of him and was transfixed by its beauty of his sculptures. One place that Brown- the very generous welcome the Browning and the historic richness of its surround- ing was particularly keen to revisit was Society members received in Asolo, we volunteered to pay the costs of restoring 3 pm A showing of the 1934 film The this rare image of Browning’s indispensa- Barretts of Wimpole Street OFFICERS of the ble sister. Going back to see it when the work has been completed will be yet an- 6.30 pm Pre Concert Talk society other incentive, if any were needed, for returning to magical Asolo. 7.30 pm Robert & Elizabeth: An Extrava- President ganza with Rosumund Shelly & Julian The restored portrait by Charles Forbes Forsyth The Revd Canon Stephen Evans ...... Vice-Presidents Annual Commemmoration of the Marriage of the Brownings at St Robert Browning Esq. Marylebone on 12th September 1846 Norman Collings Esq. The Revd Clive Dunnico 10th September 2017 Dr Philip Kelley

St Marylebone Parish Church, London Secretary NW1 5LT

Jim Smith Esq. 11 am Choral Eucharist and Poetry

Reading Treasurer

https://stmarylebone.org Dr Nick Baker ......

ABOUT THE BROWN- Committee Members

Dr Simon Avery ING Society Robert F. Browning Esq.

The Browning Society was formed in Norman Collings Esq. Michael Meredith, working closely with 1969 to provide a focus for contemporary Dr Scott Lewis Vittorio Zaglia, brought all the wealth of interest in Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Michael Meredith Esq. his Browning expertise to planning our Browning. The Society arranges an annu- Dr Sue Brown visit and arranging the various meetings al programme of lectures, visits, etc., in Jim Smith Esq. with people in Asolo and roundabouts London and elsewhere. The aims of the that enriched it. Our visit will always be a Society are to widen the appreciation and How to contact precious memory for which we owe Mi- understanding of the poetry of the chael and Vittorio sincere thanks. Brownings and other Victorian writers the Society and poets, and to collect items of literary Dr Sue Brown and biographical interest. For an account ...... Jim Smith, Esq. of The Browning Society formed during 64 Blythe Vale the poet's lifetime, see William S. Peter- DATES for your London son's Interrogating the Oracle: A History SE6 4NW diary in 2017 of the London Browning Society (Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 1969). An Afternoon with the Brownings Email Membership of the Society is open to all. [email protected] 20th May 2017 to be confirmed The Society's activities centre on London and the South East, but members who December 2016 Wreath Eton College, Berkshire live elsewhere in Britain and overseas are kept in touch through the journal and -Laying in Westminster An Afternoon with the Brownings at Eton regular interchanges of news and infor- College: Afternoon Tea, Talk and Treas- mation. In addition to activities and Abbey’s poets’ corner ures from the Browning Collection with events in England, the Browning Society The Society’s Michael Meredith supports the efforts of the Friends of Casa President with ...... Guidi to restore and maintain the Brown- Professor Mi- Browning Day during the St Maryle- ings' home in Florence, Italy. chael Slater, bone Music Festival the Revd Clive Dunnico and Cynthia Bur- 25th July 2017 Society WEBSITE gess of The The Society Website has recently been Armstrong St Marylebone Parish Church, London refreshed and is always looking for news Browning Li- NW1 5LT and information which will be of interest brary, Baylor to members. You can visit the website at: Texas 1.10 pm Lunchtime Concert. Browning Songs, Soprano and Piano www.browningsociety.org