John Taylor examines Soane’s cork models, most of which were made in Naples in the early 19th century by Domenico Padiglione. They record archaeological sites as they were at that time – for example, the temples at Paestum, Pompeii, the tomb of the Horatii and Curiati outside Rome, Etruscan tomb excavations – complete with miniature jars and skeletons – and Stonehenge. The collection is set in the context of others in Europe. More
The most individual English architect since Vanbrugh, Sir John Soane was a Romantic classicist, known for his experimental interest in effects of light and space. Dulwich Picture Gallery is one of the few intact creations of his genius, not only remarkably preserved but still serving the function for which it was built, as a picture gallery (as such highly influential ever since). More
Stowe House has been described as "the largest and most completely realised private neo-classical building in the world". The extraordinary family who built and re-built Stowe played a crucial role in the arts and politics of the Georgian age. Four prime ministers came from this or the closely related Pitt family, and with them and their house were associated a roll-call of artistic figures - to mention only Pope and Horace Walpole, Vanbrugh and Kent, Adam and Soane. More
A selection of the finest works from the well-known Willi G. Bosshard collection, the one hundred netsuke are extraordinarily strong in Kyoto school animals, particularly rats and tigers, of which there must surely be enough masterpieces for anyone at all interested. Works by Masanao, Tomotada, Okatomo and virtually every worthwhile follower form a richly varied, comprehensive overview of the period from the mid to late 18th century and of the repertoire of subjects. More
This book is a complete catalogue and commentary on a remarkable series of 130 coloured drawings executed in North Italy, almost certainly Padua, in the 1450s by a group of artists in the circle of Andrea Mantegna. The drawings illustrate subjects from the Tacuinum Sanitatis or Table of Health. Subjects touched on include medicine, sport, farming, animal husbandry, natural history, shopping, cooking and manufacturing – constituting an extraordinary record of everyday life (and life style) in early Renaissance Italy. This manuscript is one of four known series of the kind, and the only one not published. More
The Courtauld’s Adam and Eve is arguably the most beautiful of Cranach’s fifty or more depictions of this subject. It brilliantly combines devotional meaning with pictorial elegance and invention. This exhibition catalogue explores the making and meaning of this Protestant and courtly masterpiece, and the contexts in which it was made and seen. It will incorporate much conservation and technical research. More
The Admiralty Islands, a group of more than twenty islets with approximately 25,000 inhabitants, lie north of New Guinea in the southwest Pacific. This catalogue delineates the main characteristics of the art of the Admiralty Islands. It presents some 100 objects which rank among the best in the world. More
This study examines the hundreds of secular and religious buildings, urban residential and commercial foundations, and public monuments commissioned in Lucknow and Oudh between 1722 and 1856 by the fabulously rich Nawabs of Oudh and their Court, the English East India Company, and others. More
The Museum Rietberg in Zurich possesses an old and important collection of Southeast Asian sculpture, but until now it has never been fully documented and analysed. It includes stone statues from the Cham culture of Vietnam, examples of which can otherwise only be seen in the Cham Museum in Da Nang and the Musée Guimet in Paris; sculptures of the Khmer from Cambodia which are among the earliest artefacts of this culture collected in Europe; and statues from Thailand and Indonesia. More
In the 1930s William Heath Robinson (1872–1944) was known as “The Gadget King” and he is still most widely remembered for his wonderful humorous drawings and illustrations. This book, containing over 100 of his finest, accompanied the first exhibition ever held of William Heath Robinson’s work as illustrator as well as humourist. More