About the Book:

This book celebrates the lives of friends, all much missed, to whom the writer has an enduring sense of debt. Some made notable contributions in their chosen spheres: George Finch as mountaineer and scientist; James Byam Shaw, Sir Brinsley Ford, David Carritt, Sir John Pope-Hennessy and Benedict Nicholson as connoisseurs and art historians; Uguccione Ranieri and Sir Steven Runciman as historians; Penelope Betjeman as a travel writer; Derek Hill as a painter; Contessa Marina Lulung-Buschetti and her sister, Contessa Anna Maria Cicogna, Gervase Jackson-Stops, M and Mme Emmanuel de Margerie and the 6th Marquess of Bute to the preservation and restoration of buildings; while Mrs Vincent Astor and Drue Heinz were outstandingly generous and perceptive supporters of numerous civilized and civilizing causes. The lives of some, notably Richard Cecil, were tragically cut short; others like Sir David Scott, Lady Bonham-Carter and the Duke of Portland survived to represent links with what then seemed a distant past.

About the Author:

Francis Russell was born in 1949 and educated at Westminster and Christ Church, Oxford. Since 1972, he has worked at Christie's where he is Deputy Chairman, specializing in old master paintings. He has been travelling to Italy for more than fifty years and writing and lecturing about Italian art and architecture for almost as long.