The Empress of Art
Book Review - The Empress of Art
Reading The Empress of Art by Susan Jaques at the Missouri Botanical Gardens
The Empress of Art by Susan Jaques first made it on my radar through the St. Louis Art Museum's Members' Book Club. You might remember I also discovered Broad Strokes by Bridget Quinn (one of my favorite art books I've ever read...) this way. I'm still recommending Broad Strokes to anyone who asks me about my favorite books! SLAM even had the author attend the Members' Book Club on May 5, but I was out of town visiting family and therefore unable to attend. Even if I can't attend the discussion, I love discovering new books about art through the St. Louis Art Museum...all of the books on their list this year are new to me and intriguing! I don't know that I'll read all of them, but I'm happy to have learned about all of them.
Reading The Empress of Art by Susan Jaques at the Missouri Botanical Gardens
I brought this book with me to my first visit to the Missouri Botanical Gardens - the spring blooms were out in full force that day. I couldn't get over the pretty trees! I love visiting the Missouri Botanical Gardens, in fact we have a family membership so that we can visit during every season (and often several times a season) to see the new plants in bloom. We just attended the Grapes in the Garden event last weekend and had a great time tasting wines and touring the gardens. Plus, the Stephen and Peter Sachs Museum just reopened at the end of April after being closed for decades. During the renovation process, workers discovered hidden murals (which I think fits nicely with the art focus of this book.)
Reading The Empress of Art by Susan Jaques at the Missouri Botanical Gardens
The Empress of Art by Susan Jaques is a book the academic and historian side of me absolutely loved. This book is not for people with a casual interest in art or history, you have to really love the subject and want in-depth knowledge about the subject to stick with it. With that being said, I thought it was written in a very approachable way and I thought the author did a great job hooking her reading from the very beginning by teasing us with little snippets of fascinating information about the Empress. But this book in DENSE with historic information and at times I was a big bogged down with the sheer number of facts that can be placed in one sentence. I enjoyed reading this book, but it took me some time to get through the 400+ pages.
Reading The Empress of Art by Susan Jaques at the Missouri Botanical Gardens
