What made Picasso insatiable? Why did Van Gogh present his severed ear to a prostitute? What did Chopin mean when he referred to his mistress's "D flat major?" Nigel Cawthorne is tireless in his search for sleazy details of the private lives of these great artists, and claims that his books illuminate the great works they produced. Don't be fooled, this is soft porn of a particularly repetitive, not to say repellent, variety, and it illuminates nothing. Mozart's exuberant attitude to sex may seem healthy when you read about it as part of a full-scale biography, but here - sandwiched between Nocturnal Emissions (Chopin - geddit?) and Lie Back and Think of Britten - well, it gives a whole new meaning to The Magic Flute, know what I mean? I wish I'd never read these books, but I'll tell you this: after reading the chapter Grainger was Stranger, I'm never listening to a Percy Grainger song again.
