This beautifully designed and illustrated publication is the first comprehensive biography of the portrait painter Johan Zoffany (1733–1810), one of the leading figures of eighteenth-century British art. ALSO AVAILABLE IN HARDBACK. More
The architectural writings, recordings and films of the poet Sir John Betjeman (1906-1984) are here celebrated in this catalogue accompanying a major exhibition at Sir John Soane's Museum. Marking the centenary of Betjeman's birth, the catalogue and exhibitions will bring together rare archive material, both photographic and textual, in celebration of his life-long passion for architecture. More
Kannon, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, is probably Japan’s most popular Buddhist deity. Images of Kannon – who hears the cries for help of all beings in distress – are the main focus of worship in many Japanese temples. This exhibition catalogue presents an exceptional selection of the most beautiful sculptures and paintings from the 7th to the 14th century, some of which have never been seen before outside Japan or which are rarely accessible even to the Japanese public. More
Ken Thomson was no mere trophy gatherer. A man of passionate commitment and of wide-ranging cultural curiosity, the late Lord Thomson of Fleet (1923–2006) began a half-century of collecting in 1953 and continued to the very end of his life. The Thomson Collection has drawn the respect of museum curators worldwide. In terms of quantity and quality, the Collection’s body of Canadian art has no equal; and a number of works, principal among them The Massacre of the Innocents, the masterpiece of Rubens’s early maturity, are of truly international significance. More
The publication Stills from Painting is an exploration into the work and practices British artist Kerry Brewer has been developing over seven years. Dark and sumptuous, these large-scale, heavily glazed canvases respond constantly to changes in light and the movements of the viewer. The book is a journey through these paintings, revealing ‘stills’ from the works up close and almost as if frame by frame. More
The Unesco World Heritage site of Lalibela in Ethiopia is one of the most extraordinary places in the world. It contains thirteen churches, all of them hewn or carved from the native tufa rock in imitation of buildings. This is the first book to consider this extraordinary site in all its many dimensions – historical and cultural, archaeological, architectural, art historical and documentary. It is, not least, a fascinating detective story! More
This book is an exemplary investigation of a series of, so far, poorly documented works that will prove of great interest to those in the field. Most of the 15th- or early 16th-century panels presented here are northern European, a large number German, which have been neglected in English language studies. The panels are all almost unknown and none of them have been subjected to modern techniques of investigation – infrared, x-ray, micro-photography – until now. More
This catalogue presents a rich selection of Victorian drawings and watercolours from the important collection of The Courtauld Gallery, London. It features many previously unpublished works and ranges from informal preparatory drawings for paintings and sculptures to exquisite highly finished exhibition watercolours. More
“Ormond’s narrative is… [a] combination of exhaustive investigation with delicacy of touch—of reserved thoughtfulness with visual sensitivity” – Modern Language Review. When Linley Sambourne died in 1910, a host of obituaries paid tribute to his long career as a cartoonist and his contribution to late Victorian and Edwardian political satire. A hundred years on, the distinguished 19th-century scholar Leonee Ormond has written an illuminating biography, using his own copious records preserved intact in his house at 18 Stafford Terrace, Kensington, London - now a museum. More
Accompanying an exhibition at The Courtauld Gallery, this catalogue explores one of the most important and historically neglected art forms of Renaissance Florence: cassoni – pairs of chests that were lavishly decorated with precious metals and elaborate paintings and were often the most expensive of a whole suite of decorative objects commissioned to celebrate marriage alliances between powerful families. More