Recent links of note:
The ‘leave’ campaign is right not to lay out a plan for Britain’s future
Charles Moore, The Spectator
Charles Moore’s Speccie Notes are always worth reading; it is to Mr. Moore that I owe thanks for introducing me to the so-called “bread-roll index,” a measure of the likelihood of a bread roll being tossed from one table to another in a dining room. (A certain London club remains at the top of the tables.) But his notes from last week were especially gratifying for their praise of David Pryce-Jones’s memoir, Fault Lines, which Moore describes (correctly) as “a brilliant description of illusion, neurosis, high culture, sexual ambivalence, the destructive power of money . . . and the effect of persecution and war.”
Are there too many Renaissance exhibitions?
Donal Cooper, Apollo
How much art is too much? Some might say there’s no such thing, but Donal Cooper argues otherwise, specifically in regards to the recent vogue for pieces from the Renaissance. Writing in Apollo, he argues that the surfeit of exhibitions on the era can lead to a thinness of available material—it’s hard to put on a show without loans, and the diffusion of objects is a legitimate issue. But in reviewing recent London shows, he sees a way forward: as long as shows can avoid monographic tendencies, they may be able to overcome spottiness in material. As a coda, read Dominic Green on a recent show on Botticelli in London.
Brexit after Obama
John O’Sullivan, National Review
In National Review, John O’Sullivan reviews the Brexit situation after President Obama’s knavish visit to the United Kingdom. The polls are now in, and “they show two things of interest: a small movement toward the Leave campaign, and a clear majority of voters who disapproved of the president’s intervention.” Quite sensible, but will it make a difference in the referendum voting next month? It is no surprise that Obama stands contra Brexit—borderless internationalist that he is. The question is whether his visit will have the sort of consequences he would like, or whether his posturing will discredit the “remain” movement. We’ll soon know.
From our pages:
The scars of Lorelei
Stephen Eide
On the rebirth of a Bronx monument.