Mysterious Wisdom (68 page)

Authors: Rachel Campbell-Johnston

BOOK: Mysterious Wisdom

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The Rising of the Skylark
(
c.
1843). A tiny oil panel is infused with an atmosphere of poetry. The spectator can almost hear the tumbling notes of the lark; sense the longings of the watcher who unlatches the gate.

King Arthur's Castle, Tintagel, Cornwall
(1848â49). Palmer loved the wild moors and coastlines of the West Country. Here he tries to infuse a topographical study with Turner-esque energy, sketching the huge bluff of rock that Turner himself had once depicted, assaulted by powerful shipwrecking storms.

Opening the Fold
etching (1880). The pent-up flock rushing outwards with the first rays of risen light reflects the longing of the artist who yearned for the dawning of a new world.

The Lonely Tower
(reworked 1881 version). For the last fifteen years of his life, Palmer was occupied by his Milton project. This image â the last in the cycle but among the first to be finished â is the most evocative of his late works. A ruined tower stands on the edge of a cliff, a proud remnant of something that had once been great keeping solitary watch over the quiet of the night.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my agent George Capel for her irrepressible enthusiasm, my editor Michael Fishwick for his constant encouragement and a stern ticking-off; Anna Simpson and Alexa von Hirschberg at Bloomsbury for their judicious attention, Laura Brooke for her energetic work in the publicity department and Kate Johnson, the copy editor, for her expertise and thoroughness.

I am enormously grateful to the Royal Society of Literature and the Jerwood Charitable Foundation for the generosity of an award which meant so much more than just the money â though I was delighted enough with that â and to my husband Will for his understanding, patience and undeviating support.

I would like to thank Josh, Alfie and Ella, for keeping me company along the banks of the Darent; my parents for taking care of me like the mad lady in the attic; Anna, Tid and Ben for bearing the brunt of my boring telephone calls; Catherine Milner for always managing to show me the bright side; Alice Miles for her laughter and late nights out drinking; Catherine Goodman for calming walks along the canal; Nancy Durrant at
The Times
for being accommodating; Gordon Cook of the Fine Art Society for his time and advice; and the artists David Inshaw, Emily Patrick and Tom Hammick for their painterly insights. Thank you, too, to the many residents of Shoreham â especially Ken Wilson â who would so kindly point me in the right direction as I poked about in their village; and also to the inhabitants of Palmer's former home in Redhill.

I would particularly like to remember Sebastian whose life ended just before I had ended the book. He wouldn't have read it anyway because it wasn't about him.

I am also thankful to Flea and Bear for staying beside me all through the writing and finally to Katya for coming along right at the end like the last full stop.

A Note on the Author

RACHEL CAMPBELL-JOHNSTON
is the art critic and the poetry critic for
The Times
. She has a PhD in English Literature. She lives in London and in Norfolk with her family and her flock of sheep.

First published in Great Britain 2011

This electronic edition published in 2011 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

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