Customer Reviews

Private Splendor: Great Families at Home

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a fabulous book. I bought the book because of my connection and time spent at Harewood House in England. The photographs are so fantastic and the text very competent. Which in the case of Harewood is quite an accomplishment since the history is long and quite complicated. Alexis Gregory is to be congratulated on getting all the facts right. I know this home intimately and the photos show Harewood just as it is in all its glory.

I was also fascinated with St. Emmeram Palace in which I have also spent much time. Again the images and the accompanying text are best examples of their craft.

But the best part of the book was discovering other stately homes and palaces that I did not know about. It was exciting to get a look inside these private spaces. A more beautiful book will be hard to come by. I could not put it down. The only complaint with the whole book is that there was not more of it- more photos and more homes included!

I am often disappointed by such photography/history books, but this is the exception to that rule.

My highest compliments!

PRIVATE SPLENDOR is by far one of the best of its type. Author Alexis Gregory and photographer Marc Walter are guests in eight great houses still inhabited by their aristocratic families. An intimate view into the lifestyle of today's owners is presented in a good blend of the scholarly and the artistic. Granted, more about the architecture, art, furnishings, family history, etc., could have been told and shown, but each palace is worthy of its own book. This is a very good book that shows life in great houses beyond the velvet rope that would restrict the casual visitor.

I find this to be a beautifully photographed book, I have dupilcated one of the floral arrangements already. A great idea book.

Anyone who does not appreciate this book should try to keep a house in their family for six generations. Many of these homes were owned by the "landed gentry" during an agrarian economy. Not only is it impressive that the homes are still maintained within the families, the art collections are superior to many art museum collections throughout the United States. I would say they are on the same level as the MET and the Louvre. Alexis Gregory, who, according to what I have read, is involved in Sothesby's and New York society and is very fortunate to have access to the people who were generous enough to share their homes with us. As a student of life and lover of art, I never would have been able to see some of Sargent's pieces otherwise. I wish the families did not have to share their homes to cover the costs of repairs. I wish they could invite their own friends and families to entertain at their pleasure, as most people who have their own homes do. Inheritance comes with it's own set of responsibilities. I appreciate their generousity and hope you do too. This is such a marvelous book for history, art, decorating, family genealogical studies, and cultural education, it is worth the purchase.

This book is excellent! If you've ever wondered what it must be like to live in grandeur like the British nobility and some European Royal Families, then this is the book for you!

Buy it today!

Beautiful objects, great architecture, photos show dark inhospitable living conditions of a time gone by. I would have liked more photos of living areas and brighter conditions

The author has arranged to enter some of the oldest, most ornate historical family residences in Europe -- homes we would not otherwise be able to see or tour, in many instances -- thereby providing an opportunity to see what generations have accumulated in these grand mansions. Unfortunately, the photographer is, like so many French photographers of interiors, incompetent.

Virtually all of the images have deep shadows over much of the interior, allowing very little to be seen. We see this repeatedly in French publications focused on interiors, leading us to believe that perhaps French photographers have never learned how to use any supplemental lighting at all, certainly not effectively. This is usually essential in allowing one to actually look at the detail of the decor. Only Naudin and Bardlay, among French architectural photographers, are generally able to make the "available lighting only" approach work and when their work is looked at alongside that of a Skrebneski (as in the Givenchy book), it pales by comparison. Why would the publishing house have accepted these photographs?

A further, minor observation: in two of the homes, the owners are shown. Aside from Princess TNT, (and this is a bit nasty, but what the hell, these books are supposed to be fun to look at) showing the owners in these cases was not a wise editorial choice. When a Conde Nast publication shows a homeowner in an interior, you can be certain he (or far more often, she) will be highly photogenic. If, when showing a home, the resident duchess could, at best, be described as having an "unfortunate" visage, Slim Aarons could usually find a comely young housemaid going about her duties to include in the photos instead.

Poor photography results in a waste of unusual access.

Not accurately described. The book was described as Very Good but the binding was loose and in very poor quality.