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grubstlodger's review
3.0
An enjoyable and well-written look at the lively world of the Covent Garden area in the 18th Century.
I very much enjoyed ‘City of Laughter’ and I enjoyed this also - the focus is a little wider, starting off with the environment of Covent Garden, the sort of houses, shops and spaces that were there and how they were depicted before going into a tension between artists who portrayed real life and those (primarily of the Royal Academy) who were making art that was more neo-classical and refined.
Then we had a chapter on Hogarth, one on Rowlandson and one on Turner. These last three chapters, interesting as they were, didn’t seem to contribute much to the Covent Garden theme and seemed more tangental to it.
I definitely liked the first part about Covent Garden as a place most. I also love how his feeling for the 18th Century where the writing is no nonsense and ‘propels us niftily to the point’ as opposed to the 19th Century which is ‘windy tosh’ is exactly my feelings.
I’m still not convinced we called call the people of Covent Garden Bohemian though, even following his definition; ‘an attitude of dissent, from the prevailing attitudes of the middle class’ as most of the people in Covent Garden were the middle class. Also, people like Hogarth were desperate to be of a higher social status and the writers wrote for money - I just don’t think there is the anti-middle class element to call them Bohemian.
I very much enjoyed ‘City of Laughter’ and I enjoyed this also - the focus is a little wider, starting off with the environment of Covent Garden, the sort of houses, shops and spaces that were there and how they were depicted before going into a tension between artists who portrayed real life and those (primarily of the Royal Academy) who were making art that was more neo-classical and refined.
Then we had a chapter on Hogarth, one on Rowlandson and one on Turner. These last three chapters, interesting as they were, didn’t seem to contribute much to the Covent Garden theme and seemed more tangental to it.
I definitely liked the first part about Covent Garden as a place most. I also love how his feeling for the 18th Century where the writing is no nonsense and ‘propels us niftily to the point’ as opposed to the 19th Century which is ‘windy tosh’ is exactly my feelings.
I’m still not convinced we called call the people of Covent Garden Bohemian though, even following his definition; ‘an attitude of dissent, from the prevailing attitudes of the middle class’ as most of the people in Covent Garden were the middle class. Also, people like Hogarth were desperate to be of a higher social status and the writers wrote for money - I just don’t think there is the anti-middle class element to call them Bohemian.
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