Golden Treasury

Francis Turner Palgrave

Francis Turner Palgrave (28 September 1824 – 24 October 1897) was a British critic, anthologist and poet. Palgrave published both criticism and poetry, but his work as a critic was by far the more important. His Visions of England (1880–1881) has dignity and lucidity, but little of the "natural magic" which the greatest of his predecessors in the Oxford chair considered to be the test of inspiration. His last volume of poetry, Amenophis, appeared in 1892. His criticism is considered to demonstrate fine and sensitive tact, quick intuitive perception, and generally sound judgment. His Handbook to the Fine Arts Collection, International Exhibition, 1862, and his Essays on Art (1866), though flawed, were full of striking judgments strikingly expressed. Nonetheless the critic John Ruskin wrote in 1855 on his History of Painting, "I think it is a most valuable contribution. Palgrave was immediately encouraged to write History of Engraving which was completed in quick time, and hailed as a masterpiece.