- Published: 11 January 2011
- ISBN: 9781446426586
- Imprint: Vintage Digital
- Format: EBook
- Pages: 576
A Genius for Failure
The Life of Benjamin Robert Haydon
- Published: 11 January 2011
- ISBN: 9781446426586
- Imprint: Vintage Digital
- Format: EBook
- Pages: 576
O'Keeffe has done an exhilarating job
Emma Crichton-Miller, Evening Standard
Haydon's story is essentially tragic but it has many elements of comedy, even high farce, and Paul O'Keeffe's biography brings the comedy to the fore with an enviable lightness of touch
Peter Burton, Daily Express
Haydon's story is one of the great cautionary tales in art history, and it still has the power to shock, even after 150 years: there is barely a page in Paul O'Keeffe's new biography on which this reviewer has not written in the margin either "oh no" or "Oh God"...O'Keeffe's book largely refrains from psychological speculation, and I can't decide whether that's a good thing. What is definitely a good thing, though, is the way Haydon's tragedy is presented as a human story, with many down-to-earth facts
Lynne Truss, Sunday Times
O'Keeffe has produced a fascinating study of a forgotten life that is rich in detail for fans of period drama
Mark Williamson, The Herald
tactful and unobtrusive ... Hayden steps forth, as full of colour and bluster as ever, but with dignity as well as absurdity, and a perspicacious, as well as biting, tongue
Gregory Dart, TLS
This excellent book- beautifully written and well researched - recalls a man who ought not to be forgotten
Contemporary Review