An Artist in Corfu, Sophie Atkinson (1911)

Read the book here (digital copy, with illustrations)

Sophie Atkinson lived in Corfu after the turn of the century (19th-20th). Possibly around 1908 (cf reference to Kaiser's 'recent' purchase of the Achilleion Palace).

"Though large numbers of tourists land during the spring months, they usually make only a short stay, and cannot be said to know the island, glanced at hastily while their steamer waits. The real Corfu, with the tender beauties of its olive woods, the simple friendliness of its peasants, the absorbing loveliness of its light and colour, the fascinating variety and abundance of its flowers- these are known only to a few outside its residents, a handful of faithful lovers who return year after year for the joy of its climate and the beauty of land and sea; for the freedom and simplicity of its life; or for the winter sport in Albania, whose rugged coast-line and ranges of wild snowy peaks, only a few miles across the straits, make so sharp a contrast with the green luxuriance of Corfu, and are so attractive to the Englishman in search of wild fowl, woodcock and wild boar".

Some paintings from the book

Used in a song video