C O N T E X T 1 0 7 : N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 8 43 design sources in this period. This book demonstrates that the craftsmen of the Welsh Marches were no different in their use of these sources. There is evidence from Shropshire inventories that craftsmen possessed such images. The complex relationship of the different forms of wall decoration and covering is addressed. However, the statistical evidence that enabled Pat Hughes to demonstrate the transition from painted hangings to panelling from Worcester probate inventories is lacking for the main area of the study. There are a number of examples of fictive panelling which offer interesting evidence for the painting of panelling, although most historic panelling has been stripped of paint. In its turn, it was probably painted to produce some of the effects shown in the fictive examples. The owners of buildings were content to accept a painted representation of better materials, including fabrics, apparently without much concern for the falsity involved. The most surprising aspect of the study, and in many ways the most puzzling, is the absence of early wall paintings. No domestic paintings from the medieval period are recorded from the core of the study area. Are there really not any? Perhaps the less elaborate schemes have escaped attention? Two late medieval examples come to mind fromWorcestershire: the running vine designs at the Saracen’s Head at King’s Norton in Birmingham (tree-ring dated to 1492), and the red and green paint on mouldings at Battenhall near Worcester, once a part of Prior More’s moated complex (which correlate with the documentary evidence for red and green hangings). There is also evidence for the simple colouring of internal timbers, such as the red ochre in the open hall of the Golden Lion in Worcester. The questions raised by the study, as always, far exceed the number answered and open many avenues for further research. One area which has still not been thoroughly addressed is the question of the external painting of buildings, with early evidence for black and white, the painting of early bricks to make them look as though they were of high quality, and so on. This well-designed book is beautifully produced. Its strongest message is that wall paintings are ephemeral.We need to keep our eyes open for them, and to ensure that they are recorded and published. Nick Molyneux, historic buildings inspector, English Heritage Maker of history Hadrian Empire and Conflict Thorsten Opper, British Museum Press, 2008, 256 pp, 215 colour illustrations, ISBN 978 0 7141 5069 7, £25 Published to accompany the exhibition of the same name, Thorsten Opper gives the curator’s own commentary on the life, love and works of the Emperor Hadrian. Seven chapters provide a short and stimulating introduction to each theme, ranging from the emperor’s family background to his campaigns, great building works, travels (including to Britain), marriage to Vibia Sabina, relations with Antinous and the arrangements made for his burial in the mausoleum now known as Castel Sant’Angelo. Although my Victorian classical dictionary succinctly described the young Antinous as ‘a travelling companion’, in today’s mood Opper opens chapter five with the breezy statement that ‘Hadrian was gay’. Elsewhere, he uses the term ‘first family’ to describe the emperor’s inner circle. Otherwise, the language is more measured and scholarly. The book is highly readable, informative and useful, whether or not you were lucky enough to see the show. There is also the usual apparatus of footnotes, book list and attributions of exhibits. For those who did not see the ‘Hadrian, Empire and Conflict’ exhibition, the photography here is of a high standard and the beauty of the sculptures that made up the most spectacular content of the exhibition is fully evoked. These photographs allow us to see both sides of the items displayed, including the most explicit side of theWarren Cup, an object belonging to the British Museum. Although believed to pre-date Hadrian by a few years, this silver drinking vessel has been included to illustrate ‘the homoerotic culture of the Roman elite’, but was placed in the exhibition to conceal one side. In short, not a boring lot of old stones. To architects and conservationists there is much of use here too. The updates on recent archaeological finds and the studies of numerous buildings all over the empire associated with Hadrian give the non-specialist valuable tools. British sites figure prominently, and the inestimable debt that the art and architecture of Europe (and beyond) owes to the culture of second century Rome is recorded here in a way that makes the book valuable educational reading. Graham Tite is a historic buildings advisor for Chichester District Council. Eloquent space Architectural Voices: listening to old buildings David Littlefield and Saskia Lewis,Wiley, 2007, 240pp, ISBN 978 047 001 6 32, paperback, £24.99 Any of us whose work takes us into old buildings must be touched by the sense of lives having been lived and of traces of past habitation within them. It is this, sometimes elusive, sense that Littlefield and Lewis attempt to pin down in ArchitecturalVoices. The main structure of the book consists of a series of essays by the authors about buildings most of which are in the process of change. These often consist of interviews with architects or others involved in brokering new uses for the buildings in question. The case studies are of great variety, including industrial buildings, churches, a bomb shelter, a theatre, a cinema, a farm
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