BOOKS DO FURNISH A PAINTING

What should you do at Christmas? In Edvard Munch's Christmas in the Brothel, the artist depicts himself sleeping off the effects of drink, but the Madame reads a book. What links Stalin and the artist Rosso Fiorentino? What was Gauguin hinting at when he painted a copy of Milton's Paradise Lost into a portrait of a friend? How did a chance meeting on Unter den Linden make the young owner of Th e Red Book famous? Was it true that no one ever saw Picasso with a book in his hand? And why were the Cumberland girls reading The F ashionabl...[Read more]