Belinda Rathbone

A wry and wistful second look at a real life "ever after." Belinda Rathbone (American, of Boston) meets and marries John Ochterlony, heir to the Guynd, an small but venerable estate in the Scottish lowlands that has been in his family for over four hundred years, the centerpiece of which is a (small for a mansion) elegant Georgian house, built in the early 1800's. The estate comes with several hundred acres, an ancient Dower House (the original manse), cottages, the official farmhouse and much more. As Belinda throws herself into restoration--taking on the task of sorting and chucking all the broken, useless items that the family has collected over the centuries, removing the brown lino that has covered all the floors since the house was requisitioned in the second world war, scraping, plastering, painting she comes up, again and again, against an immovable obstacle: her husband. There is great affection between the two and a lot of common sense and they have a child together that both adore. I won't spoil, it's neither a happy nor unhappy ending, not even an ending, but more the way life tends to be, nothing neatly tied up and good intentions everywhere. I loved it, loved the descriptions, loved Rathbone's honesty. Highly recommended. **** 1/2… (lisätietoja)

In her afterward, the authors says she wanted to write a memoir of her father and the people in his professional life but that book was not of interest so she wrote about the Boston Raphael. However, I think she did end writing mostly the first book to the detriment of the second. I knew nothing about the Boston Raphael scandal and I'm afraid she really skimmed through the events of it without alot of clarification. This is not hagiography but comes pretty close. She clearly is defending her father against Seybolt and the Board of Trustees but I can't say I really disagree with her. However, the circumstances of how the painting left Italy are pretty murky and the "everyone did it" defense is weak. I think I would have enjoyed more about the Rathbone and his life in the world of museums and more evenhanded coverage of the scandal. Ultimately, it ended up as an occasionally interesting but often dry book with way too many names that I didn't bother to keep track of.… (lisätietoja)

Belinda Rathbone, daughter of Perry Rathbone who was director of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston from 1955 to 1973, recounts her father's biography, focusing on the "scandal" in 1972. Using some dealings that may not have been completely aboveboard, Rathbone procured a previously unknown portrait, said to have been painted by Raphael. Between the efforts of a self-serving Italian "art sleuth" and an obnoxious board president, Rathbone is forced to retire.

Belinda Rathbone does an excellent of job of fair-handed writing. She obviously admires him, but is willing to admit that he may have made some errors. I came away from the book with strong feelings about all of the characters, and I attribute that to the excellent writing.… (lisätietoja)