Art Treasures at Wordsworth Grasmere – ‘Praised be the Art’ celebrates the Fine Art collection at Wordsworth Grasmere, two beautifully illustrated essays providing a lively anthology of selected highlights. The first essay tells the exciting story of the development of British landscape painting around the lifetime of William Wordsworth himself (1770-1850), an ever-perceptive critic. The second essay discusses the growth and rationale of the Fine Art collection from the early days of the Wordsworth Trust (and the acquisition of Dove Cottage, the poet’s first Grasmere home) at the end of the nineteenth century through to the splendid museum we enjoy today. The book’s subtitle echoes the opening words of a sonnet that Wordsworth addressed to his friend, patron and artistic mentor Sir George Beaumont. Cecilia Powell is an independent art historian and curator specialising in the Romantic period.
