William Rothenstein's The Browning Readers (frontispiece) is one painter's tribute to a favorite poet. It also offers a fascinating glimpse of the “idea” of Browning at the turn of the century, a pictorial impression of the atmosphere in which his work was read and of the mood it evoked in his readers. Its original and thoughtful approach to the relationships between reader, writer, artist, and spectator sets it apart from the general run of charming but lightweight variations on the popular theme of women reading and places it, a particularly English example, among the masterpieces of the genre from Corot to Hopper. Together with Rothenstein's other Browning subjects, Porphyria and two paintings from “Parting at Morning,” The Browning Readers contributes to that alternative critical heritage of “paintings from books“ which parallels and supplements the written commentaries of reviewers and literary critics (Altick 248).