Edward Hutton (12 April 1875 – 20 August 1969) was a British author of

travel books The genre of travel literature encompasses outdoor literature, guide books, nature writing, and travel memoirs. One early travel memoirist in Western literature was Pausanias, a Greek geographer of the 2nd century CE. In the early modern period ...

and various Italian subjects. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he aided in the protection of Italian historical sites.

Life and Work

Edward Hutton was born in Hampstead, London, his father being a businessman with interests in Sheffield. He was educated at

Highgate School Highgate School, formally Sir Roger Cholmeley's School at Highgate, is an English co-educational, fee-charging, independent day school, founded in 1565 in Highgate, London, England. It educates over 1,400 pupils in three sections – Highgate ...

but on the death of his father in 1890 his mother removed with her six children to Somerset and Edward went as a day boy to

Blundell's School Blundell's School is a co-educational day and boarding independent school in the English public school tradition, located in Tiverton, Devon. It was founded in 1604 under the will of Peter Blundell, one of the richest men in England at the tim ...

, Tiverton. From an early age he applied himself to the study of the Greek and Roman classics. Instead of going up to Oxford, and having decided he was to be a writer, he chose to work in publishing in London. An unrewarding first position gave place to one with John Lane, founder of the

Bodley Head The Bodley Head is an English publishing house, founded in 1887 and existing as an independent entity until the 1970s. The name was used as an imprint of Random House Children's Books from 1987 to 2008. In April 2008, it was revived as an adul ...

, and publisher of the major works of 'the nineties' (which significantly influenced his style). Inheriting £5000 on his coming of age in 1896 he made his first journey to Italy and from then on he spent most of his life getting to know the Italians and their civilization. In 1898 he married Charlotte Miles, daughter of George Miles, a tea merchant in the City of London. From around 1901 they rented the Villa di Boccaccio at

Settignano Settignano is a ''frazione'' on a hillside northeast of Florence, Italy. The little '' borgo'' of Settignano carries a familiar name for having produced three sculptors of the Florentine Renaissance, Desiderio da Settignano and the Gamberini brother ...

above

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

, which city became Hutton's spiritual home. The many English residents there who became his friends included

Bernard Berenson Bernard Berenson (June 26, 1865 – October 6, 1959) was an American art historian specializing in the Renaissance. His book ''The Drawings of the Florentine Painters'' was an international success. His wife Mary is thought to have had a large h ...

and

Norman Douglas George Norman Douglas (8 December 1868 – 7 February 1952) was a British writer, now best known for his 1917 novel ''South Wind''. His travel books, such as ''Old Calabria'' (1915), were also appreciated for the quality of their writing. L ...

while in 1917 he was instrumental with others in establishing the

British Institute of Florence The British Institute of Florence is a cultural institute founded in 1917 in Florence, Italy, with the aim of promoting Anglo-Italian cultural relations, teaching English and Italian languages, and running a library of English books to illustrate B ...

. When he was 27 he published his first books on Italian themes, ''Italy and the Italians'', and ''Studies in the Lives of the Saints''. His love of Italy and the Italian way of life led to his conversion to Roman Catholicism in 1928. In 1905 he published the first of his series of nine illustrated books on different regions of Italy, ''The Cities of Umbria''. His writing was not confined to Italy, however, and there were single books on Greece and Spain and also three in the '' Highways and Byways'' series, on ''Somerset'', ''Wiltshire'' and ''Gloucestershire''. The

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

with its threat to Italy's cultural heritage caused him great distress but he was influential in saving some of this by producing extensive lists for the Allied Intelligence Corps of what it was essential to protect. During these dark days he took on another role as designer of a

cosmatesque Cosmatesque, or Cosmati, is a style of geometric decorative inlay stonework typical of the architecture of Medieval Italy, and especially of Rome and its surroundings. It was used most extensively for the decoration of church floors, but was also u ...

floor for

Westminster Cathedral Westminster Cathedral is the mother church of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. It is the largest Catholic church in the UK and the seat of the Archbishop of Westminster. The site on which the cathedral stands in the City of ...

and another for

Buckfast Abbey Buckfast Abbey forms part of an active Benedictine monastery at Buckfast, near Buckfastleigh, Devon, England. Buckfast first became home to an abbey in 1018. The first Benedictine abbey was followed by a Savignac (later Cistercian) abbey cons ...

. After the war he published a valuable book cataloguing the surviving

Cosmati The Cosmati were a Roman family, seven members of which, for four generations, were skilful architects, sculptors and workers in decorative geometric mosaic, mostly for church floors. Their name is commemorated in the genre of Cosmatesque work, ...

pavements in Italy. During the 1950s he revisited the themes of six of his earlier works. Completely revised and re-written, now with black and white photographs and published by Hollis and Carter, they are essentially new books. Hutton was highly honoured by Italy for his services to that country. In 1917 he was made a Cavaliere of the

Order of the Crown of Italy The Order of the Crown of Italy ( it, Ordine della Corona d'Italia, italic=no or OCI) was founded as a national order in 1868 by King Vittorio Emanuele II, to commemorate the unification of Italy in 1861. It was awarded in five degrees for civi ...

; at age 83 the Italian government conferred on him the Commendatore of the

Order of Merit of the Italian Republic The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic ( it, Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana) is the senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi. The highest-ranking ...

and at 90 he was awarded the Medaglia culturale d'oro. For fifty years Hutton lived in Clifton Hill,

St John's Wood St John's Wood is a district in the City of Westminster, London, lying 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of Charing Cross. Traditionally the northern part of the ancient parish and Metropolitan Borough of Marylebone, it extends east to west from ...

, London, in a house once occupied by the Victorian painter

William Powell Frith William Powell Frith (9 January 1819 – 2 November 1909) was an English painter specialising in genre subjects and panoramic narrative works of life in the Victorian era. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1853, presenting ''The Sleep ...

(who is commemorated by a blue plaque on the façade). He died on 20 August 1969; his wife had died in 1960.

Works

* ''My Lady's Sonnets'', 1896 * ''Dalliance'' (essays), 1897 * ''Frederic Uvedale: a Romance'', 1901 * ''Studies in the Lives of the Saints'', 1902
''Italy and the Italians''
1903 * ''Perugino'' (The Popular Library of Art series), n.d.
''The Cities of Spain''
1906 * ''Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, Lord of Rimini: A Study of a XV century Italian Despot'', 1906. 2nd edition revised, as ''The Mastiff of Rimini'', 1926

1908 * ''In Unknown Tuscany'', 1909 * ''Memoirs of the Dukes of Urbino'', 1909 (editor) *
Giovanni Boccaccio: a biographical study
', 1910 * ''England of My Heart: Spring'', 1911
''A Book of the Wye''
1911
''Ravenna, a Study''
(Illustrated by Harald Sund), 1913
''Attila and the Huns''
1915 * The uniform 'Cities' series: *
''The Cities of Umbria''
(With twenty illustrations in colour by A. Pisa), 1905 ** ''Florence and Northern Tuscany with Genoa'' (With Sixteen Illustrations In Colour By William Parkinson), 1907 *
''Rome''
(With sixteen illustrations in colour by

Maxwell Armfield Maxwell Ashby Armfield (5 October 1881 – 23 January 1972) was an English artist, illustrator and writer. Life Born to a Quaker family in Ringwood, Hampshire, Armfield was educated at Sidcot School and at Leighton Park School. In 1887 he was ...

), 1909 *
''Siena and Southern Tuscany''
(With sixteen illustrations in colour by O.F.M. Ward), 1910 **''Venice and Venetia'' (With fourteen illustrations in colour by Maxwell Armfield), 1911 *
''The Cities of Lombardy''
(With twelve illustrations in colour by Maxwell Armfield), 1912. 2nd edition revised, as ''Milan and Lombardy'', 1925 ** ''The Cities of Romagna and the Marches'' (With twelve illustrations in colour by Frank Crisp), 1913 ** ''Naples and Southern Italy'' (With twelve illustrations in colour by Frank Crisp), 1915 **''Cities of Sicily'' (With twelve illustrations in colour by

Harry Morley Harry Morley (5 April 1881 – 18 September 1943) was a British painter, etcher and engraver known for his classical and mythological compositions. Early life Morley was born in Leicester where he studied at the Alderman Newton's School and t ...

), 1926
''Some Aspects of the Genius of Boccaccio''
1922; British Academy's Annual Italian Lecture

(with 20 colour plates by Frank Brangwyn), 1922 * ''

Pietro Aretino Pietro Aretino (, ; 19 or 20 April 1492 – 21 October 1556) was an Italian author, playwright, poet, satirist and blackmailer, who wielded influence on contemporary art and politics. He was one of the most influential writers of his time and a ...

: the Scourge of Princes'', 1922 * ''The Sienese School in the National Gallery'', 1925 * ''The Story of Ravenna'', 1926 * ''The Franciscans in England 1224–1538'', 1926 * ''The Valley of Arno: a study of its history, geography and works of art'', 1927 * ''A Glimpse of Greece'', 1928 * The ''Highways and Byways'' series: **''Somerset'', 1912 **''Wiltshire'', 1917 **''Gloucestershire'', 1932 * ''Catholicism and English Literature'', 1942 * ''The Cosmati: The Roman Marble Workers of the XIIth and XIIIth Centuries'', 1950 * ''Rome'', 7th edition revised and enlarged (37 B&W illustrations), 1950 * ''Florence'' (32 B&W illustrations), 1952. Re-issued in 1966 * ''Assisi and Umbria Revisited'' (25 B&W illustrations), 1953 * ''Venice and Venetia'' (33 B&W illustrations), 1954 * ''Siena and Southern Tuscany'', 1955 * ''Naples and Campania Revisited'', (38 B&W illustrations), 1958

References

External links

* *
The Hutton Collection
at the

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hutton, Edward 1875 births 1969 deaths People educated at Blundell's School English travel writers