Though his father had faced bankruptcy, James Clarke Hook (1819-1907) nevertheless managed to paint himself into country-gentlemanhood, becoming famous for his landscapes of British coastal scenes and his ability to evoke not just the sights but also the sounds and even the smell of the sea. James Clarke Hook, Juliet McMaster's lively biography of the brilliant but underappreciated Victorian painter, brings the reader through Hook's rigorous training at the Royal Academy Schools, his travelling studentship in Florence and Venice, and his work as a historical painter, to the discovery of his m
