S
Satírico
Guest
I'm sure I am not the only peregrino to be saddened by the news of the passing of English art critic Brian Sewell, scourge of contemporary "art" and past participant of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela. Not so long ago, I contributed a thread talking about camino consciousness, when and how we first heard of the road to St James. My earliest source, as far as I know today, was Brian's humorous series The Naked Pilgrim (c.2004). He retraced the camino that he made some 30 years earlier, but latterly in a Mercedes, starting in Paris and taking in Chartres, Poitiers, Orleans, Lourdes, Bordeaux, Roncesvalles, Bilbao, Burgos, Fromista, Léon, and finally riding into Santiago on horseback. Along the way Brian takes (you can get the DVD) pot shots or heaps praise on cathedral architecture, keeps a diary of his spirits as they wax and wane, gets pie-eyed on claret and has his soul flayed by the pilgrims he meets and who challenge his boozy, skeptical view of things. To the casual observer, Brian Sewell might have appeared as a reactionary snob, but a cherished memory is his contribution to a tv show undercutting the pretensions of just such people, and the camino travelogue reveals an emotional man with an unforgettable voice, somewhere between courtier and children's teddy bear.
A real character. The world is a poorer place without him. R.I.P.
A real character. The world is a poorer place without him. R.I.P.