Author:Paul Strathern
By the end of the fifteenth century, Florence was well established as the home of the Renaissance. As generous patrons to the likes of Botticelli and Michelangelo, the ruling Medici embodied the progressive humanist spirit of the age, and in Lorenzo the Magnificent they possessed a diplomat capable of guarding the militarily weak city in a climate of constantly shifting allegiances between the major Italian powers.
However, in the form of Savonarola, an unprepossessing provincial monk, Lorenzo found his nemesis. Filled with Old Testament fury and prophecies of doom, Savonarola's sermons reverberated among a disenfranchised population, who preferred medieval Biblical certainties to the philosophical interrogations and intoxicating surface glitter of the Renaissance. Savonarola's aim was to establish a 'City of God' for his followers, a new kind of democratic state, the likes of which the world had never seen before.The battle which this provoked would be a fight to the death, a series of sensational events - invasions, trials by fire, the 'Bonfire of the Vanities', terrible executions and mysterious deaths - featuring a cast of the most important and charismatic Renaissance figures.
This famous struggle has often been portrayed as a simple clash of wills between a benign ruler and religious fanatic, between secular pluralism and repressive extremism. However, in an exhilaratingly rich and deeply researched story, Paul Strathern reveals the paradoxes, self-doubts and political compromises which made the battle for the soul of the Renaissance city one of the most complex and important moments in Western history.
A vivid tale in great detail
—— Alexander Cowan , Times Literary SupplementIt preserves precisely the aspects of Bacon that will be hardest for scholarly researchers to capture... no-one can convey better than Farson the fun of Bacon's company and the louche adventures of the Soho underworld
—— Lynn Barber , Independent on SundayPositively Runyonesque...well-written, entertaining, and above all, thought-provoking
—— David Mellor , Daily TelegraphStartlingly revealing
—— Times Literary SupplementAn absorbing capsule history of culture over the past century
—— John Gray , Literary ReviewIts appeal comes from its intimacy.
—— David Robinson , ScotsmanIn this frank memoir, the British journalist Georgie Greig recounts his regular meetings with Freud.
—— ApolloStartlingly frank.
—— Nick Curtis , Evening StandardBoth tender biography and blunt revelation. In that it is the first to reveal the man and the essential symbiosis of heterosexual obsession…with the messy business of painting, it is the most important book yet written on Freud.
—— Brian Sewell , Evening StandardA riveting anecdotal portrait… Everywhere there are fascinating nuggets… A fond, fair-minded, thankfully non-judgmental and pretty full portrait of a person shaped around the people – and most saliently the lovers – who came into his life.
—— Rachel Campbell-Johnston , The TimesGreig has penetrated deep into the labyrinth of Freud’s private life. The result is a gripping page-turner about an endlessly fascinating and extraordinary man.
—— Lynn Barber , Sunday TimesCompelling and fascinating… It is a book fill of clues – generous with routes to an understanding of this massively difficult and hugely gifted individual.
—— William Boyd , Mail on Sunday[It] will be on many an art lover's Christmas list this year.
—— Mary Lussiana , Country & Town HouseFond and faintly disturbing.
—— Nicky Haslam , SpectatorA rattlingly readable effort... Greig does a fine job revealing tales one suspects the artist may have wished to keep private.
—— Alastair Smart , TelegraphAnybody with an ear for a good story, never mind an eye for fine art, will be beguiled.
—— Hephzibah Anderson , Mail on SundayGreig's fascinating, intimate biography of Lucian Freud was a revelation. Every question I had about Freud – from the aesthetic to the intrusively gossipy – was answered with great candour and judiciousness… Wry, dry and completely beguiling.
—— William Boyd , Guardian[Greig’s] perceptive observations and eagle’s eye for detail immediately drew me in.
—— Rebecca Wallersteiner , VantageThe Freud who emerges in this account is a slippery figure, not only for journalists who tried to explain him but also for his intimates.
—— New YorkerMr Greig's is a compelling portrait of a complete amoralist who became a monstre sacré.
—— The EconomistGreig’s portrait glimmers with his eye for the telling detail.
—— Robert Collins , Sunday TimesA mesmerising book, seamlessly crafted, totally absorbing, and impossible to put down.
—— The TabletA very readable and enjoyable book, full of salacious detail of the artist and his fascinating life.
—— Julia Weiner , Jewish ChronicleThis intimate biography of Lucian Freud spares no blushes in its account of one of Britain's greatest painters, tracing his life and work through candid revelations about his views on art, relationships and family.
—— Charlotte Mullins , Art QuarterlyBuilding up brush stroke by brush stroke, Greig has produced a three-dimensional study of equal candour. Part demon, part genius, it is an absorbing portrait of the complexity of a strange human character.
—— Peter Lewis , Daily MailAn unapologetic mixture of intelligent perception and high gossip... It is, overall, more revealing than anything about [Freud] yet written.
—— Frances Spalding , GuardianI am captivated by this fascinating memoir... It's an extraordinary read.
—— Barbara Taylor Bradford , Daily MailCandid and intelligent.
—— Spear'sA gripping, page-turning vision of Lucian Freud that penetrates deep into the artist's private life.
—— Sunday Times OnlineUtterly engrossing and lavishly illustrated
—— Mail on Sunday
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