SHE was Loved, by Josefina de Vasconcellos (Titus Wilson, £11.95).

FAMED sculptor Josefina de Vasconcellos has dipped into her precious store of memories of Beatrix Potter to create a deeply personal record of their friendship.

Now aged 98, Josefina looks back to her first meeting with "the tubby old lady with rosy cheeks and the brightest blue eyes" who was judging at the Eskdale Autumn Sheep Show.

The sculptor was dressed in her usual overalls and clogs, and her attire met with the approval of the children's storyteller and Herdwick sheep breeder. "Come to tea and bring your Painter Husband," she asked a thrilled Josefina.

She recalls the minute details of the visit she and her husband - Delmar Banner, who painted the most famous portrait of Beatrix Potter - paid to Castle Cottage, Sawrey. To Josefina's delight, Beatrix was wearing a knitted tea cosy on her head, and when she laughed she rolled a little and slapped her knee with her small chubby hands.

Josefina defends her friend against the "lie" that she disliked children, saying it was put about by a child who was the ringleader of a group that would disturb Beatrix when she was trying to write quietly.

She told Josefina she kept rabbits because when children were brought to see her, they always thought Peter Rabbit lived with her.

The book is beautifully presented, and illustrated in colour with new sculptures by Josefina and works by Beatrix Potter, including nature drawings from the Armitt collection at Ambleside.

Reproduced are previously unpublished letters from Beatrix to Josefina, from the Victoria and Albert Museum, dating back to 1936.

The writer shares her thoughts on the idea of the Lake District becoming a national park: "I have never been able to fathom what exactly its advocates are aiming at; but I am sure it means interference with other people's property and freedom of buying and selling. And probably an over-visited showplace in another 20 years; it grows more crowded every season."

She offers her artist friends practical advice on finding a house in the Lake District, saying it is wise not to be too remote what about carting coal and getting daily help, not to mention large canvasses, blocks of marble and green slate.

Close to the end of the book is a most poignant moment, when Josefina addresses her old friend directly: "I think you'd smile to see me aged 98 how I grope about, trying to pick up dropped oddments and my back bent over like a crab doing a cake walk but like you Keep smiling'."

For fans of both the sculptor and the storyteller, this is a book to treasure.

May 22, 2003 11:00