Conversation: Julian Howard and Alleyn Wallace - The Cult of the Beautiful Boys

"Would it be better for you to leave London for a while? Go home to your family, or maybe go back to Italy?"

"I don't know, maybe I do need to escape. But I cannot go to my family... If there's ever anything to make me feel unwell, it is going back to Southampton. And I don't have the money to go to Italy, nor do I think I really wish to... I like being in London, for all its problems. I chose to come here, rather than stay in Rome." I rub at my forehead; I still have the remains of a headache.
"Maybe something does have to change, though." I take a sip of my rather awful tea and stare into the air between his face and the tabletop, trying to think but not coming up with much of anything.

"Would your parents pay for the Royal Academy? Would you even be interested in studying at the Royal Academy? I think you need a better circle of acquaintance than you've so far found here. People rather than Forsytes."

"My grandfather might, but I couldn't say for sure. I have already asked him for so much - he sent me to school, and to Uni, and then to Italy after..." I pause, rephrasing myself, "after I left Oxford."
"I do not know if I truly wish to study there, either, though it is an idea I have entertained. What I want to do, more than anything, is just to hide myself away with my paints and canvases and work and work, without interruption. And yes, I would love to meet people who are not, as you put it, Forsytes." I shake my head. "They are, aren't they? Especially Penelope."

"Penelope is awful, but I think Lowell is worse, and being American is not an excuse. If you had the money, I'd send you to stay with my friends in Paris. They're nearly all musicians, but they understand art. Come to think of it, have you any experience with the Old Masters? At least they did Old Masters twenty years ago, business may have changed since then. I know people who may have contacts at Goupil if you'd consider a rather better job as a means of supporting yourself."

I fear I am gaping at him. "Goupil? I'm not sure I can even let myself believe that, Alleyn. That would be... ideal." I shake my head and fall silent for a long moment. "If... if it isn't too much trouble, I would so appreciate your looking into it." I laugh. "I fear I am getting myself very much into your debt very quickly, Alleyn."

"You are," I smile, "but it's my choice, not your imposition. No promises, mind - Tamara's father worked for them, but he died nearly fifteen years ago, so the business may have changed. David says his uncle would not have approved of anything beyond the Signac, but then most of the business was Old Master drawings, if I remember rightly what David told me. I'll ask Tamara. You'd have a good reference from your current employer?"

(moving left)