‘Charles Saumarez Smith knows the company of artists well enough to know that artists are an amusing bunch; you tend to get a lot of miscreant with your creant. The major artistic themes of the 18th and 19th centuries are observed and the key players nodded to, but the book is best on the politics and exploded stuffiness of an institution that stands for both creativity and the Establishment. This is well told and beautifully drawn – and it seems that the best way to live in the titular fellowship is to open a bottle of something strong’, Monocle