Spike Bucklow – författare

The Anatomy of Riches tells the story of one family’s long rise from rags to riches, and their rapid reversal of fortune. It focuses on the life of Sir Robert Paston, who experienced the family’s fall from grace at a time of momentous change, the beginning of the modern world.The Paston wealth had brought luxuries from across the globe to an idyllic retreat in rural Norfolk. The family commissioned Europe’s finest craftsmen to enhance their rarities, and their lavish hospitality was famed throughout England. But the Civil War and plague tore the country apart, and peace-loving Sir Robert was assailed by what he called a ‘whirlpool of misadventures’, although he kept his faith and worked tirelessly to protect his wife and children. Encouraged by his friend Dr Thomas Browne, he even found time to pursue his interests, employing both an alchemist in search of the Philosophers’ Stone and an artist to capture his favourite treasures in an enigmatic still-life, The Paston Treasure.

Children of Mercury is a bold new account of the lives of pre-modern painters, viewed through the lens of the Seven Ages of Man, a widespread belief made famous in the ‘All the world’s a stage’ speech in Shakespeare’s As You Like It. Spike Bucklow follows artists’ lives from infancy through childhood, adolescence and adulthood to maturity, old age and death. He tracks how lives unfolded for both male and female painters, from the famous, like Michelangelo, through Artemisia Gentileschi and Mary Beale, to those who are now forgotten, like Jehan Gillemer. The book draws on historic biographies, artists’ own writings and, uniquely, the physical evidence offered by their paintings.

The Year takes us on a journey exploring how nature transforms across twelve months, each chapter focusing on a specific month’s natural events, from spring’s beginning through to winter’s end. It opens with an overview of our evolving understanding of time and nature, from ancient astronomy to the present, and concludes with a chapter on the impact of climate change. Spike Bucklow draws on both modern ecological studies and historical naturalists such as Aristotle, Gilbert White, Thoreau and Aldo Leopold. Poetic reflections from Ovid, Shakespeare, John Clare and William Wordsworth enrich the narrative, giving further insights into nature’s changes. Blending modern science with traditional wisdom, The Year provides a positive perspective on ecological, global and personal change, appealing to those interested in ecology, astrology and the history of science.