Within our family I always knew my relative and god-mother (and in later adult years close friend) Rosemary Sutcliff as ‘Romie’ and spelled it like that. But just today I realise she spelled it Romey (sic), as I used a brief note she wrote me and my family when she gave me a copy of The Shining Company. The letter itself reveals her preference for the American edition of the book.
A new post on Twitter by the ‘husband of an artist’, set me thinking about Rosemary Sutcliff’s life as an artist. She started out as a painter, trained at Bideford Art School. Her miniatures were exhibited, including at the Royal Academy.
Sadly, I do not know where most of them are. This I found in the records of an auction site.
She was a member of the Royal Society of Miniaturists, but they have none of her pictures. They do have pictures by Edwin Morgan, who she studied with.
Her start as a painter influenced her writing: she once said she found she needed to work on a bigger canvas—hence novels, but she retained a painter’s eye for detail and creating a picture in the reader’s eye. She also took a great interest in the illustrators of her books , such as Charles Keeping.
In earlier times The Carnegie Medal used to have “commended” and “highly commended” books each year, as well as a winner—I do not think it does now.
Rosemary Sutcliff was awarded the medal in 1959 for The Lantern Bearers. But she was several times commended too. In:
1954 for The Eagle of the Ninth
1956 for The Shield Ring
1957 for The Silver Branch
And highly commended in:
1971 for Tristan and Iseult
In the week of the Queen’s Birthday honours in the UK, I am reminded of Rosemary Sutcliff’s splendid outfit when she went to Buckingham Palace in 1992—shortly before her death—to be invested CBE.
Various people have been citing their favourite Sutcliff reads on Twitter. Thus
From Australia:
and
In Yorkshire, a teacher (and Labour councillor):
https://twitter.com/Efrogwraig/status/479604317830545409
In fact Warrior Scarlet is often a favourite:
ROSEMARY SUTCLIFF (1920-92) 