Author

Francesca Peacock

Francesca Peacock is a member of the Engelsberg Ideas editorial team.

Articles by Francesca Peacock

The Goldfinch by Carel Fabritius (1622–1654).
Review

Carel Fabritius: a precarious life

The art critic Laura Cumming turns her eye to the elusive Dutch golden-age painter Carel Fabritius...

Francesca PeacockJuly 11, 2023
Christine de Pizan presenting a book to Queen Isabeau of Bavaria.
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Shakespeare’s Sisters: a women’s canon

The landscape of women’s literature is far older, more extensive and much richer than is often acknowledged...

Francesca PeacockApril 24, 2023
Unfinished work on top of table. Credit: AA Images / Alamy Stock Photo
notebook

Posthumous publication is a wicked literary problem

Readers should remember that many works published after a beloved writer’s death are the product of speculative —and often controversial — editorial processes...

Francesca PeacockSeptember 22, 2022
'Mother Julian', illustrated by Stephen Reid.
notebook

Solitude standing

From medieval anchoresses to poets, singers, and writers throughout the ages, seclusion is often seen as a particularly female act. But a closer look reveals a more nuanced history..

Francesca PeacockNovember 6, 2021
Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, London, June 1974.
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Genius has its limits

Many 20th century rock stars have harboured literary pretensions and written novels and poems. The mercurial quality of their efforts shows that at least some of them should just s..

Francesca PeacockOctober 7, 2021
Edward Dayes, Carisbrooke Castle, Isle of Wight, 1788, watercolor and ink over pencil on paper.
notebook

The countryside captured the novel

From Austen to Alain-Fournier to Proust, the countryside is as much a venue for literary speculation as it is rural world...

Francesca PeacockSeptember 7, 2021
American poet Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) poses for a portrait among magnolia blossoms. Credit: CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images
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Why bittersweet beats SOUR

Early twentieth-century poet Edna St Vincent Millay's laconic verse is an antidote to modern pop's cult of heartbreak...

Francesca PeacockJune 17, 2021
Midsummer's Eve bonfire on Skagen's beach, Denmark. Credit: Fine Art Images / Heritage Images / Getty Images.
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Nothing like a midsummer sacrifice

The summer solstice celebrations are not simply pagan fancies. They embody the centuries-old spirit of the season...

Francesca PeacockJune 5, 2021
A cyanotype photogram made by Anna Atkins, part of her 1843 book, Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions. Credit: Public Domain
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The original women in STEM

Women played a vital role in the early history of botany - let's not reduce their contribution to kitsch romance...

Francesca PeacockMarch 17, 2021
American singer-songwriter and activist Mimi Farina at Newport Folk Festival in 1967. Credit: John Byrne Cooke Estate/Getty Images
portraits

Mimi Baez Fariña – life beyond the 60s

The lost folk singer Mimi Fariña's career shows the story of the 'greatest decade' of the 20th century in a new light...

Francesca PeacockFebruary 15, 2021
Frontispiece for the Female Spectator, 1746.
notebook

Who is the real Lady Whistledown?

Eighteenth century literary ephemera give us an insight into the true identity of Bridgerton's elusive Lady Whistledown...

Francesca PeacockJanuary 27, 2021
Georgia's O'Keeffe's Red Canna, 1924. Credit: Public Domain
notebook

The many meanings of Georgia O’Keeffe

We should take inspiration from Georgia O'Keeffe's high-minded approach to art and morality. Her life story is a lesson in the importance of deeply felt principles. ..

Francesca PeacockJanuary 8, 2021
The song of Byrd
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Singing Byrd in a cage

Tudor composer William Byrd concealed his true faith in music – and his yearning for a return to better times resonates with us today in the chimes of the chapel choir...

Francesca PeacockNovember 27, 2020
The castle of Heidelberg
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Thank goodness for gardens

Throughout history communal spaces have provided refuge and reconnection. We need them more than ever...

Francesca PeacockNovember 14, 2020
george herbert
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Stuck in Herbert’s Temple

George Herbert's architectural approach to poetry is ideal reading when stuck indoors. ..

Francesca PeacockOctober 23, 2020
Seamus Heaney at a turf bog in Bellaghy wearing his father's coat, hat and walking stick and additional shots in the Bellaghy bog, 1986. Bobbie Hanvey, photographer. Image bh002815, Bobbie Hanvey Photographic Archives, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.
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Good poetry in a crisis

Seamus Heaney’s poems are a valuable, moving register of individual intimacy and national pain...

Francesca PeacockOctober 9, 2020
Interior with Mrs Mounter
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These four colourful walls

The Camden Town Group capture both the claustrophobia and possibilities of domestic life. ..

Francesca PeacockSeptember 29, 2020
JOHN-MILTON
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Milton vs the echo chamber

Thought centuries apart, John Milton and George Orwell offer complementary arguments for free speech and a free society...

Francesca PeacockJuly 20, 2020
pub
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First orders please

The great British pub has finally re-opened in England..

Francesca PeacockJuly 6, 2020
Poster of the Rolling Stones for the Paris Olympia.
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Any old way you use it

What is odd is how many politicians are seemingly unable to grasp the meanings of the songs they choose in their campaigns...

Francesca PeacockJune 30, 2020
Stonehenge
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From Neolithic shafts to skyscrapers

Grand Neolithic shafts uncovered near Stonehenge remind us of the fleeting nature of even the most impressive human projects...

Francesca PeacockJune 23, 2020