Anthony Blunt

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Anthony Blunt : biography

26 September 1907 – 26 March 1983

In 1963 MI5 learned of Blunt’s espionage from an American, Michael Straight, whom he had recruited. Blunt confessed to MI5 on 23 April 1964, and Queen Elizabeth II was informed shortly thereafter.Peter Wright Spycatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer, Melbourne: Heinemann, 1987. He also gave up John Cairncross, Peter Ashby, Brian Symon and Leonard Henry (Leo) Long as spies. Long had also been a member of the Communist Party and an undergraduate at Trinity College, Cambridge. During the war he served in M14 military intelligence in the War Office, with responsibility for assessing German offensive plans. He passed analyses but not original material relating to the Eastern Front to Blunt.Hansard:9 November 1981 vol 12 cc40-2W

In return for Blunt’s full confession, the British government agreed to keep his spying career an official secret for fifteen years, and granted him full immunity from prosecution.Burns, John F. "" The New York Times, 23 July 2009. According to the memoir of MI5 officer Peter Wright, Wright had regular interviews with Blunt from 1964 onwards for six years. Prior to that, he had a briefing with Michael Adeane, the Queen’s private secretary, who told Wright: "From time to time you may find Blunt referring to an assignment he undertook on behalf of the Palace – a visit to Germany at the end of the war. Please do not pursue this matter. Strictly speaking, it is not relevant to considerations of national security."Peter Wright. Spycatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer, 1987, p. 223.

Blunt’s life was little affected. In 1966, two years after his secret confession, Noel Annan, provost of King’s College, Cambridge, held a dinner party for Labour Home Secretary Roy Jenkins, Ann Fleming, widow of James Bond author Ian Fleming, and Victor Rothschild and his wife Tess. The Rothschilds brought their friend and lodger – Blunt. All had had wartime connections with British Intelligence, Jenkins at Bletchley Park.The Daily Mail, newspaper, London 27 June 2009

Works

A festschrift, Studies in Renaissance and Baroque Art presented to Anthony Blunt on his 60th Birthday, Phaidon 1967 (introduction by Ellis Waterhouse), contains a full list of his writings up to 1966.

Major works include:

  • Anthony Blunt, François Mansart and the Origins of French Classical Architecture, 1941.
  • Blunt, Art and Architecture in France, 1500–1700, 1953 and many subsequent editions.
  • Blunt, Nicolas Poussin. A Critical Catalogue, Phaidon 1966
  • Blunt, Nicolas Poussin, Phaidon 1967 (new edition Pallas Athene publishing, London, 1995).
  • Blunt, Sicilian Baroque, 1968 (ed. it. Milano 1968; Milano 1986).
  • Blunt, Picasso’s Guernica, Oxford University Press, 1969.
  • Blunt, Neapolitan Baroque and Rococo Architecture, London 1975 (ed. it. Milano 2006).
  • Blunt, Baroque and Rococo Architecture and Decoration, 1978.
  • Blunt, Borromini, 1979 (ed. it. Roma-Bari 1983).
  • Blunt, L’occhio e la storia. Scritti di critica d’arte (1936–38), a cura di Antonello Negri, Udine 1999.

Important articles after 1966:

  • Anthony Blunt, ‘French Painting, Sculpture and Architecture since 1500,’ in France: A Companion to French Studies, ed. D.G. Charlton (New York, Toronto and London: Pitman, 1972), 439-92.
  • Anthony Blunt, ‘Rubens and architecture,’ Burlington Magazine, 1977, 894, pp. 609–621.
  • Anthony Blunt, ‘Roman Baroque Architecture: the Other Side of the Medal,’ Art history, no. 1, 1980, pp. 61–80 (includes bibliographical references).

Public exposure

Blunt’s role was represented under the name Maurice in Andrew Boyle’s book, Climate of Treason in 1979. Maurice was taken from the E. M. Forster novel of that name. Blunt tried to prevent the book’s publication, which was reported in the magazine Private Eye. This drew attention to Blunt.The Daily Telegraph newspaper, London, 22 July 2009 In the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher revealed Blunt’s wartime role, firstly on Thursday 15 November 1979, and in more detail on 21 November.Margaret Thatcher’s to the House of Commons on Mr Anthony Blunt, Hansard HC [974/402-10] Sir Bernard Ingham, Thatcher’s press secretary, suggested, "I believe she did it because she didn’t see why the system should cover things up. This was early in her prime ministership. I think she wanted to tell the civil service that the politicians decide policy, not the system. She wanted them to know who was boss."