Pre-Raphaelite to Aesthetic

I’ve just finished preparing a presentation for an evening of poetry, music and art at Leighton House on Wednesday evening entitled An Aesthetic Soirée, and can’t resist posting some images.

Just to  catch up retrospectively: it proved a very well-planned and enjoyable evening, interweaving music - Faure, Delius, Schumann - exquisitely played by Prach Boondiskulchok, with poems by Morris, Meredith, the Rossettis, Swinburne and Tennyson, read by Christopher Naylor, myself on paintings and Barrie Bullen heroically reading the account of late-Victorian poetry prepared by Peggy Reynolds, who had to pull out at the last minute. Barrie stepped in with about two hours' notice, and chaired the short Q&A session also.   Daniel Robbins, the house curator, described how Leighton's famous music soirees took place in the very same room, and overall the synaesthetic atmosphere successfully evoked  a true 19th century experience, happily with less of the high plutocratic evening-dress element. Music, verse and visual art complemented each other.    Compliments to the organisers Poet in the City.