John, The painter

JOHN THE PAINTER
the first modern terrorist
by Jessica Warner
Historian Simon Schama was more enthusiastic about his carefully researched work, describing it as a 'rich, ambitious history, executed in literary fire works : a small glory and a joy to read'.
This book's anti hero trained as a house painter but could not find work, so he tramped the country looking for work , his jobs became house breaking and pick pocketing. After a two years of spell in America, he became an impassioned supporter of the American Revolution.
His first act of terror , on returning to England in 1776 , was to try to burn down Portsmouth Dockyard . Unlucky for him , only the rope house was destroyed. Next, he set some fires in Bristol. The country was terrified and the news papers carried full of scare stories. Was he acting alone or part of a gang? Who were his American Masters? At the height of the scare , King George III was being briefed daily, and offered a huge reward for the miscreant;s capture.
The Bow street runners were sent in pursuit. Would the terrorist be caught or would the Royal dockyards be destroyed and the British war effort in America come to a grinding halt?

Discourses on Art

DISCOURSES ON ART
Sir Joshua Reynolds
.by Robert Wark
Sir Joshua Reynolds’ discourses on art ‘forms one of the most eloquent literary documents in the history of the European art. Composed as lectures to the students at the Royal Academy in the late eighteenth century, they both summarise the art theory of the previous 300 years and point towards the attitudes prevalent in the nineteenth century. His general topic is the education of the artist and he is concerned with the essentials of the problem he tackles: the purpose of art, the nature of the creative process and the artist’s relation to tradition. Long recognized as the fundamental text for the study of the eighteenth century English painting, this edition is generally considered to be the definitive.

Mirror

MIRROR, MIRROR!
A history of the human love affair with reflections
By Mark Pondergrast
Out of all man’s inventions, the mirror is the one most closely associated with our consciousness. As the first technology for the contemplation of the self, its invention compliments one of the fundamental attributes that sets us apart from other animals – self awareness. It can surely be said to be the equal of the wheel in importance. Possibly more so as giant optically perfect mirrors now enable us to peer into the heavens, through the space and time back to the genesis of the universe. The Romans created mirrored rooms for their orgies and the ancient Aztecs created mirrors with which to light fires. What is the truth in the tale of Archimedes burning mirror and did it really set fire to a fleet of roman ships? Venetian mirror makers were compelled to live on a cloistered island, escape from which was punishable by death, and Isaac Newton blinded himself for days following experiments with mirrors and intense sunlight. Then we move into the present and the technology and skill which are required so as to produce the absolutely perfect reflectors for the biggest most powerful telescopes and of course when it does not quite works as happened with the Hubble’s mirror. A fascinating tale of how a reflective surface - which means nothing without an observer – has affected religion, science, psychology and the arts.