author
Leader Scott
1837–1902
An English writer on art who published under the pen name Leader Scott, she helped bring the history of Florence and Italian art to a broad readership. Her books blend careful research with an obvious love of place, artists, and architecture.
2 Audiobooks
Fra Bartolommeo
by Leader Scott
The Cathedral Builders: The Story of a Great Masonic Guild
by Leader Scott
About the author
Born Lucy Emily Baxter in Dorchester in 1837, she was the daughter of the poet William Barnes and wrote chiefly under the pseudonym Leader Scott. She began publishing while still young and later made Italy the center of her life and work after marrying Samuel Thomas Baxter in 1867.
Florence became her home for decades, and much of her writing grew out of its artistic and historical world. She was known for books on Italian art, architecture, and artists, and was active enough in the city's cultural life that she was elected an honorary member of the Accademia delle Belle Arti in 1882.
Her pen name came from the surnames of her two grandmothers. Among her best-known works is The Cathedral Builders, and she also wrote on figures such as Fra Bartolommeo as well as on the life of her father, William Barnes. She died in 1902.