The Paper Garden

Mary Delany was born to Colonel Bernard Granville and Mary Granville. She grew up in a moderate home. She learned several different languages and took a liking to paper cutting. It wasn’t until she was married to Mr. Delany that Mary revisiting her artist side and her paper cutting. At this time Mary was seventy-two years old. The artwork Mary produced gained her lots of praise. Mary would cut out fake flowers or other items out of paper and than recreate beautiful artwork. She called her artwork “Paper Mosaiks”.

I did like this book. At times it even read a bit like an instruction manual. This is because the author was detailed in her description of Mary’s artwork. While on one hand, I enjoyed this and on the other hand at times I felt like the book moved at a really slow pace. For me I didn’t read every chapter. I did at first but after a while, I sort of skimmed parts and than picked up again towards the end. I did not feel like I missed anything by doing this. Molly Peacock seemed very enthusiastic in regards to Mary and her artwork. In turn this helped make this book an interesting read versus a dull one. Towards the end of each chapter, the author would interject some of her experiences or inspirations. The portraits displayed throughout this book are beautiful. I wish I could show you some of the pictures but I guess if you really want to see them you will have to pick up a copy of this book for yourself.