A beautiful and sumptuously illustrated book that presents the highlights of Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild’s Renaissance court treasures.

This book explores the Waddesdon Bequest, the name given to the Kunstkamer, or cabinet collection of Renaissance treasures which was bequeathed to the British Museum by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild MP in 1898.

The Bequest is named after Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire, a fairy-tale French chateau built by Baron Ferdinand from 1874-83, where the collection was housed during his lifetime.

It was understood at the time that a collection of this quality could never be formed again, given the rarity and expense of the pieces, and the problems of faking and forgery of just this kind of material.

This book will unlock the history and romance of this glorious collection through its exploration of some of its greatest treasures and the stories they tell. It will introduce makers and patrons, virtuoso craftsmanship, faking and the history of collecting from the late medieval to modern periods, as told through the objects. Scholarly catalogues have appeared for parts of this splendid collection, but this book will open up the Bequest for the general reader.

By looking at individual objects in detail, and drawing on new photography and research, the book will enable readers to see and understand the objects in a completely different light.

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This book presents and explores the Waddesdon Bequest, the name given to the Kunstkammer or cabinet collection of Renaissance treasures which was bequeathed to the British Museum by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild, MP in 1898. The Bequest is named after Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire, a fairy tale French chateau built by Baron Ferdinand from 1874 – 83, where the collection was housed during his lifetime. As a major Jewish banking family, the Rothschilds were the greatest collectors of the nineteenth century, seeking not only the finest craftsmanship in their treasures, but also demonstrating great discernment and a keen sense of historical importance in selecting them. Baron Ferdinand’s aim, often working in rivalry with his cousins, was to possess a special room filled with splendid, precious and intricate objects in the tradition of European courts of the Renaissance and Baroque periods. It was understood at the time that a collection of this quality could never be formed again, given the rarity and expense of the pieces, and the problems of faking and forgery of just this kind of material.

The book will unlock the history and romance of this glorious collection through its exploration of some of its greatest treasures and the stories they tell. It will introduce makers and patrons, virtuoso craftsmanship, faking and the history of collecting from the late medieval to modern periods, as told through the objects. Treasures discussed will include masterpieces of goldsmiths’ work in silver; jewellery; hardstones and engraved rock crystal; astonishing microcarvings in boxwood, painted enamel, ceramic and glass; arms and armour and ‘curosities’: exotic treasures incorporating ostrich eggs, Seychelles nut, amber or nautilus shell. Scholarly catalogues have appeared for parts of this splendid collection but this book will open up the Bequest for the general reader. By looking at individual objects in detail, and drawing on new photography and research, the book will enable readers to see and understand the objects in a completely different light.

About the Author:

Dora Thornton is Curator of Renaissance Europe and Curator of the Waddesdon Bequest at the British Museum. She curated the new permanent gallery, funded by the Rothschild Foundation, for the Waddesdon Bequest, a Rothschild Kunstkammer in the British Museum. Her most recent book, A Rothschild Renaissance, was published to accompany the gallery opening in June 2015.

The stained glass collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum is the largest in the world, making it possible to chart the development of the art in detail from the middle of the twelfth century to about 1550.

One hundred colour plates, and selected details, show the collection to full advantage, while commentaries on each of the pieces will reconstruct the original context of the panels, explain the imagery and give details of further reading thus also providing an indispensable introduction to the subject. The text will touch on the techniques of stained glass, the major centres and monuments and the themes depicted in the pieces illustrated. Taken together, images and text illuminate a golden age of stained glass production.

Illustrious turning point - Augsburg as the centre of the German Renaissance.

Hans Holbein the Elder and Hans Burgkmair are regarded alongside Albrecht Dürer as the forerunners of Renaissance painting in Germany. The prosperous Imperial and trading city of Augsburg was an important centre during this artistic golden age. By means of high-quality works this volume presents a comprehensive insight into the epochal revolution from the Middle Ages to the modern age.

Augsburg was influenced by the humanist culture of Italy from an early stage. Thanks to the art-loving trading houses with international operations like the Fuggers, as well as the long sojourns of Emperor Maximilian I and the frequent Imperial diets, the city offered artists like Holbein the Elder and Burgkmair an ideal setting for the development of a new form of art. Together with the works of Dürer, Holbein the Younger and others, many of their most important works bear witness to the highly fertile and yet contrasting ways in which the two artists adopted the Italian Renaissance.

About the Authors:

Guido Messling is the curator for German Painting in the Gallery of Painting at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Jochen Sander is the deputy director and head of collections for Dutch, Flemish and German Painting before 1800 at the Städel Museum in Frankfurt.

A stunning collection of photographs celebrating the excellence of the Italian Renaissance period through palaces and gardens built between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

The book illustrates nine locations of extraordinary artistic and architectural interest, conceived by prominent Italian families and dynasties as urban villas or country houses centered around the pursuit of entertainment and leisure. These lavishly decorated and frescoed palaces are adorned with handcrafted furniture and works of art and surrounded by gardens that retain their original layout to this day -- a very rare feature.

An historical text introduces each property, giving an overview of its origins. The villas have been specially photographed for this book by Dario Fusaro, with views of both the palace interiors and their grounds, as well as the gardens, glimpses of the halls, details of the furnishings, and a focus on the frescoes, where still preserved. Explanatory text offers insights on the most interesting frescoes, such as those of Veronese at Villa Barbaro. For the first time, Fusaro also employs a drone with the purpose of capturing the architectural structure and elements of each Italian Renaissance garden, from above and as a whole.

This all-access volume is essential for fans and readers interested in Italian art, for those who love to travel through Italy in search of places of artistic interest, and for those seeking out green tourist destinations.

About the Authors:

Lucia Impelluso is an historian of architecture and an expert in the study of historical gardens. Her publications on gardens have been translated into multiple languages and awarded important prizes both in Italy and France. Dario Fusaro is one of the most important photographers of gardens in Italy.

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Julia Morgan was a pioneering woman architect, best known for Hearst Castle, in the vanguard of Beaux-Arts design and style in the first half of the twentieth century.

Julia Morgan was truly a pioneer of her time — among other accomplishments, she was the first woman architect to be licensed in California, in 1904. Through her remarkable life and legacy, this book celebrates the Beaux-Arts architecture of California. Focusing on Morgan’s most famous project in the state, Hearst Castle, to which she devoted more than 30 years of her life, this volume also examines, for the first time, Morgan’s fabulous early buildings in style. Morgan designed more than 700 buildings across California, many of which are designated landmarks today. Deepening the reader’s understanding of California architecture, this book also places into context Morgan’s ambitions, her influences and inspirations, as well as her daily practice and challenges as a woman shaping an extraordinarily prolific and highly successful career in a man’s world.

To better understand the Beaux-Arts training Morgan underwent in Paris, the reader is taken through the challenging, highly arduous Ecole des Beaux-Arts curriculum, which Morgan completed, as a lone woman among men. Also explored, in detail, is the story of how the studio and kilns of California Faience, a Berkeley ceramic artisan’s shop, became the supplier of tens of thousands of tiles designed by Morgan and overseen by Hearst himself to decorate their architectural masterpiece overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

About the Author:

Gordon Fuglie is a guest curator of exhibitions, exhibition juror, art history lecturer, writer, and project developer with a focus on the historical and contemporary legacy of California.

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Пролистать книгу Julia Morgan: The Road to San Simeon, Visionary Architect of the California Renaissance

The Story of Painting provides concise and reliable information on key cultural and historical topics.

Highlights
• Chronological presentation of the most important themes
• More than 150 illustrations with detailed explanations
• Supplementary cards on special related themes and the history of the events
• Timelines, illustrations, and maps
• Index of subjects and names

A luxurious and definitive exploration of how and why the Renaissance flourished in Italy for two centuries

The idea of “renaissance,” or rebirth, arose in Italy as a way of reviving the art, science, and scholarship of the Classical era. It was also powered by a quest to document artistic “reality” according to newly discovered scientific and mathematical principles. By the late 15th century, Italy had become the recognized European leader in the fields of painting, architecture, and sculpture. But why was Florence the center of this burgeoning creativity, and how did it spread to other Italian cities? Brimming with vivid reproductions of works by Leonardo, Michelangelo, Botticelli, Raphael, Titian, and others, this book showcases the creative achievements that traveled from Florence to Rome to Venice.

Art historian Norbert Wolf explores the influence of secular and religious patronage on artistic development; how the urban structure and way of life allowed for such a rich exchange of ideas; and how ideas of humanism informed artists reaching toward the future while clinging to the ideals of the past. Insightful, ccessible, and fascinating, this thoroughly researched book highlights the connections and mutual influences of Florence, Rome, and Venice as well as their intriguing rivalries and interdependencies.

About the Author:

Norbert Wolf is an art historian and author based in Munich. He has published several books with Prestel, including "Art Nouveau", "Art Deco", "Impressionism", "Spanish Painting", and "The Golden Age of Dutch and Flemish Painting", as well as monographs on Albrecht Dürer and Titian.

The history and art of one of the most important suburban aristocratic residences of the 16th century, among the oldest and most beautiful in the Alps

Illustrated by spectacular images, which are the result of a special photographic campaign conducted by Massimo Listri, this volume documents the architecture and rich artistic treasures of the famous residence, which is the only example in the Trentino region of a suburban villa from the Council period of the mid-16th century characterized by a portico and loggia arrangement, typical of Veronese architecture of the time. Inside the villa, Italian, Flemish, and German artists created frescoed decorations of the highest quality, including the cycle of 12 frescoes dedicated to the victories of Charles V, those depicting episodes from the Old and New Testaments, and those depicting the 12 months of the year.

Alongside these extraordinary frescos, the book presents sculptures and furniture, mainly from the Flemish and German area, and wooden metopes painted with grotesques and male and female portraits that can be traced back to specialists in this type of decoration, influenced by the engraving art of the time.

About the Authors:

Michelangelo Lupo (1948), an architect specializing in art history, was director of the Museo del Castello del Buonconsiglio in Trento from 1978 to 1984. He then went freelance and worked for long periods in the field of architectural restoration in Egypt, Libya, Jordan and Algeria.

Massimo Listri (1953), the master of architectural and environmental photography, has published over seventy books with the most prestigious publishers in Europe and the United States.

Art & War in the Renaissance, published on the occasion of a major traveling exhibition, presents distinctive arms and armor within the rich context of an important tapestry series to highlight the beauty of Renaissance Europe’s war culture.

This significant contribution to art history and military display explores the art of war, from ceremonial armor, arquebuses, and swords to the sumptuous Flemish tapestries depicting the battle of Pavia, the 1525 battle between King François I of France and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V that arguably shaped modern European history.

A vehicle for prestige and propaganda, the unprecedented suite of tapestries from the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte captures the life-size action of the battle of Pavia, as designed by Bernard van Orley, the leading Brussels artist of the time who was famous throughout Renaissance Europe. 

The book showcases sixteenth-century fashions, including fine armor, intricately detailed weapons, and haute couture costumes for men of war from the Armeria Farnese, one of Europe's most significant dynastic armories. Essays by leading scholars delve into the Neapolitan d’Avalos family archive, the conservation efforts to restore the works, as well as their preparatory drawings, now housed at the Louvre. Extensive color plates and many lush details complete this notable volume.

About the Authors:

Sylvain Bellenger is the Director Emeritus of the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte.

Thomas P. Campbell is the Director and CEO of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Graziella Palei is a renowned tapestry conservator working for the Italian public heritage.

Cecilia Paredes is an international scholar and tapestry specialist.

Carmine Romano is Curator and Head of Digitization and Digital Catalogue at the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte.

Antonio Tosini is Conservator of the Farnese and Bourbon Armories at the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte.

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Hailed by The Times as 'a pearl of a book', this new narrative history of the Renaissance by one of the UK’s foremost art critics takes in the whole of Europe and its global context

What was the 'Renaissance'? In the nineteenth century this flowering of creativity and thought was celebrated as the birth of the modern world. Today many historians are sceptical about its very existence. Earthly Delights rekindles the Renaissance as a seismic change in European mentalities, in a panoramic history that encompasses Florence and Bruges, London and Nuremberg. Artists from northern as well as southern Europe, including Leonardo, Bosch, Bruegel and Titian, star in a captivating and beautifully illustrated narrative that sets their lives against a period of convulsive change across a continent that was finding itself as it ‘discovered’ the world.

Art critic and writer Jonathan Jones tells the story of Renaissance artists as pioneers, adventurers and ‘geniuses’, a Renaissance concept. Albrecht Dürer gazes with wonder on Aztec art in Brussels in 1520, Leonardo da Vinci tries to perfect a flying machine, Hieronymus Bosch finds inspiration in West African ivory carvings imported by the Portuguese to Antwerp. A then unknown Netherlandish painter, Pieter Bruegel, arrives in 1550s Rome just as Michelangelo is striving in the same city to raise the new St Peter’s Basilica towards heaven. From Atlantic voyages to Germanic woods, Italian palazzi to the royal castle of Prague, this was an age when people dared to experiment with the occult and dabble in utopias: to think and create new worlds.

About the Author:

Jonathan Jones is the art critic for the Guardian newspaper. He is the author of several books including The Lost Battles: Leonardo, Michelangelo and the Artistic Duel that Defined the Renaissance (2010), The Loves of the Artists: Art and Passion in the Renaissance (2013), Sensations: The Story of British Art from Hogarth to Banksy (2019) and Artemisia Gentileschi (2020). Jones was also a member of the jury for the 2009 Turner Prize and has appeared in the BBC series Private Life of a Masterpiece. He was Series Consultant for BBC2’s Civilisations and is a frequent contributor to BBC Radio 4’s Front Row.

Contents List:

Introduction
1. The Arnolfini Nude
2. The Naked Citizen
3. The Triumph of Love
4. Profane Angels
5. Worldly Knowledge
6. Haywain To Hell
7. The Garden of Earthly Delights
8. Render Unto Caesar
9. Melancholia
10. Pulse of Life
11. Judgements
12. Carnival and Lent
13. Curiosities

Tibetan culture revives in hidden Himalayan kingdom.

Photographers Luigi Fieni and Kenneth Parker document the cultural revival of Tibetan Mustang “the hidden kingdom” of the Himalayas. A restoration project of its sacred temple murals directed by Luigi Fieni over more than 20 years has reawakened Buddhist traditions. Included is Mustang’s extraordinary landscape as well as the Lobas’ spiritual and secular way of life.

The kingdom of Mustang, where Tibetan Buddhist tradition continues, is emerging as a beacon of community-directed art conservation and resurgent culture. Sacred temples dominate the medieval capital Lo Monthang. Following centuries of deterioration a mural restoration project has taken place over more then 20 years, directed by conservator/photographer Luigi Fieni. This included training the unskilled Lobas in Western conservation methods. This extraordinary initiative led to a vibrant cultural renaissance in the kingdom.

About the Authors:

Luigi Fieni is the lead art conservator and photographer of the Mustang project. His works restoring ancient Buddhist art across Asia have been published and exhibited worldwide.
Kenneth Parker is a large-format photographer, working principally in remote areas, producing a body of work in traditional film format which have been, widely exhibited and published.
Amy Heller is a Tibetologist and art historian who teaches at University of Bern, Institute for the Science of Religion and who writes on Tibetan art and culture.
HH Sakya Trichen is the revered forty-first throne holder of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism dating back to 1073, one of the four main traditions of Tibetan Buddhism.

Winner of the James A. Porter and David C. Driskell Book Award for African American Art History, I Too Sing America offers a major survey on the visual art and material culture of the groundbreaking movement one hundred years after the Harlem Renaissance emerged as a creative force at the close of World War I.

It illuminates multiple facets of the era--the lives of its people, the art, the literature, the music, and the social history -- through paintings, prints, photography, sculpture, and contemporary documents and ephemera. The lushly illustrated chronicle includes work by cherished artists such as Romare Bearden, Allan Rohan Crite, Palmer Hayden, William Johnson, Jacob Lawrence, Archibald Motley, and James Van Der Zee.

The project is the culmination of decades of reflection, research, and scholarship by Wil Haygood, acclaimed biographer and preeminent historian on Harlem and its cultural roots. In thematic chapters, the author captures the range and breadth of the Harlem Reniassance, a sweeping movement which saw an astonishing array of black writers and artists and musicians gather over a period of a few intense years, expanding far beyond its roots in Harlem to unleashing a myriad of talents upon the nation. The book is published in conjunction with a major exhibition at the Columbus Museum of Art.

About the Author:

Wil Haygood, guest curator for the Columbus Museum of Art's I Too Sing America: Harlem Renaissance at 100, is a Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow. Haygood has written 4 biographies of major Harlem figures who were all touched by the Harlem Renaissance. His King of the Cats: The Life and Times of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis, Jr., won the Richard Wright-Zora Neale Hurston Literary Award, the Deems Taylor Biography Award, and the Non-Fiction Book of the Year Award from the Black Caucus of the ALA His Sweet Thunder: The Life and Times of Sugar Ray Robinson, was a PEN/ESPN Book Award Finalist. Showdown: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court Nomination that Changed America received the Scribes Book Award, the Ohioana Book Award, and the Honor Book Award from the Black Caucus of the ALA.
At the Columbus Museum of Art, Carole Genshaft is Curator at Large, Anastasia Kinigopoulo is Assistant Curator, Nannette V. Maciejunes is the Executive Director, Drew Sawyer is Head of Exhibitions and William J. and Sarah Ross Soter Associate Curator of Photography.

On the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther's 95 Theses, this opulent book presents a colorful introduction to Renaissance art and history.

Featuring more than a hundred outstanding paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, and treasures of the Age of the Reformation, this publication comprises masterpieces by Albrecht Durer, Lucas Cranach the Elder and Lucas Cranach the Younger, Hans Holbein the Elder and Hans Holbein the Younger, Matthias Grunewald, and Tilman Riemenschneider, among others. By placing these works in their historical context, this beautifully illustrated book uses art as a prism through which to consider the religious, social and political upheavals of the time.

The volume includes insightful texts that discuss pivotal subjects such as traditional imagery and devotion, Reformation and polemics, court life and culture, humanism and reality, as well as portraiture and representation. Biographies of the artists, an extensive bibliography and a glossary of central terms concerning the German Reformation make this a comprehensive study of a fascinating period in European art history.

With a freshness and breadth of approach that sets Italian Renaissance art in its context, this book explores why works were created and who commissioned the palaces, cathedrals, paintings and sculptures. It covers Rome, Florence, Venice and the Veneto, Assisi, Siena, Milan, Pavia, Genoa, Padua, Mantua, Verona, Ferrara, Urbino and Naples. Chapters are grouped into four chronological parts, allowing for sustained examination of individual cities in different periods. 'Contemporary Scene' boxes provide fascinating glimpses of daily life and 'Contemporary Voice' boxes quote from painters and writers of the time. Accessible and beautifully presented with over 700 mostly colour images, this book is a definitive work on a key period of western art and culture.

This stunning book explores Donatello's extraordinary creativity and practical skills within the vibrant artistic and cultural context of fifteenth-century Italy.

Arguably the greatest sculptor of all time, Donatello (c.1386-1466) was at the vanguard of a revolution in sculptural practice in the early Renaissance. Combining ideas from classical and medieval sculpture to create innovative sculptural forms, Donatello had an unparalleled ability to portray emotions in works intended to inspire spiritual devotion. Pieces such as the penitent St Mary Magdalene and the bronze of David remain deeply affecting to audiences today. Working in marble, bronze, wood, terracotta and stucco, he contributed to major commissions of church and state; was an intimate of the Medici family and their circle in Florence, and highly sought after in other Italian cities.

This book explores Donatello's extraordinary creativity within the vibrant artistic and cultural context of fifteenth-century Italy, surveying his early connection with goldsmiths' work and the collaborative nature of his workshop and processes. It also reflects on Donatello's legacy, reviewing how his sculpture inspired subsequent generations in the later Renaissance and beyond.

About the Author:

Peta Motture is the author and editor of numerous books including Creating Sculpture: Renaissance Drawings and Models (2022), The Culture of Bronze: Making and Meaning in Renaissance Sculpture (2019), and Carvings, Casts and Collectors: The Art of Renaissance Sculpture (2013).