0
Your cart

Your cart is empty

Browse All Departments
Price
  • R50 - R100 (1)
  • R100 - R250 (69)
  • R250 - R500 (117)
  • R500+ (864)
  • -
Status
Format
Author / Contributor
Publisher

Books > Arts & Architecture > History of art / art & design styles > 1600 to 1800

Rosalba Carriera (Hardcover): Angela Oberer Rosalba Carriera (Hardcover)
Angela Oberer
R966 Discovery Miles 9 660 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

This is an accessibly written, illustrated biography of Venetian painter Rosalba Carriera (1673-1757), one of the most famous women artists in 18th-century Europe. It presents an overview of her life and work, considering Carriera's miniatures alongside her better-known, larger-scale works. Focusing on interpretation of her paintings in the historical context of her life as a single woman in Venice, the book offers an easy guide through Carrieras life, the people she met, her clients and her artistic approach. The author's new iconographic analysis of some of Carriera's works reveals that she was an erudite painter, drawing on antiquity as well as the work of Renaissance virtuosos such as Leonardo da Vinci and Paolo Veronese.

Bernini and His World - Sculpture and Sculptors in Early Modern Rome (Hardcover): Livio Pestilli Bernini and His World - Sculpture and Sculptors in Early Modern Rome (Hardcover)
Livio Pestilli
R1,668 Discovery Miles 16 680 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Bernini and His World is a unique exploration of Gian Lorenzo Bernini the sculptor, offering new insights and including discussions of the artist's stylistic innovations and the ways in which he approached sculpture. Placing his life and work within a social, anthropological and historical context, Livio Pestilli gives a fascinating and in-depth account, from the Rome in which Bernini lived and its reception of foreign sculptors to the myth-making narrative of his biographers, and the judgements of his critics. Beautifully illustrated and engagingly written, this book draws on a deep familiarity with both historic and modern Italian culture to give readers a vivid account of sculpture and sculptors in early modern Rome, and of Bernini's lasting legacy.

Patronage and Devotion - A Focus on Six Roman Baroque Paintings (Paperback): Giovan Battista Fidanza, Guendalina Serafinelli Patronage and Devotion - A Focus on Six Roman Baroque Paintings (Paperback)
Giovan Battista Fidanza, Guendalina Serafinelli
R596 Discovery Miles 5 960 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

This fascinating book provides a fresh perspective on the understanding of sacred imagery and its use through selected studies related to seventeenthcentury Roman visual culture. Painting, Patronage and Deovtion: A Focus on Seven Roman Baroque Masterpieces will accompany an exhibition of works by prominent Baroque artists, at the Villa Mondragone, a Renaissance Papal Villa in the countryside of Rome. The highlight of catalogue and exhibition is a group of masterpieces by seven prominent artists of the seventeenth century: six altarpieces by Carlo Saraceni, Valentin de Boulogne, Andrea Sacchi, Andrea Camassei, Pietro da Cortona, and Carlo Maratti, and one easel painting by Guido Reni commissioned for private devotion. Most of the paintings will be on public view for the first time. The publication offers new approaches to the study of the complex processes involved in the making of a work of art. By reconstructing the religious and social dynamics of artistic patronage and the context of worship and devotion in which these paintings - fully documented by primary sources - were executed, the volume explores the visual impact of these works on the viewers. This beautifully illustrated book will feature remarkable new photographs and details of diagnostic analysis of Pietro da Cortona's and Carlo Maratti's altarpieces.

Transculturation in British Art, 1770-1930 (Hardcover, New Ed): Julie F. Codell Transculturation in British Art, 1770-1930 (Hardcover, New Ed)
Julie F. Codell
R4,239 Discovery Miles 42 390 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Examining colonial art through the lens of transculturation, the essays in this collection assess painting, sculpture, photography, illustration and architecture from 1770 to 1930 to map these art works' complex and unresolved meanings illuminated by the concept of transculturation. Authors explore works in which transculturation itself was being defined, formed, negotiated, and represented in the British Empire and in countries subject to British influence (the Congo Free State, Japan, Turkey) through cross-cultural encounters of two kinds: works created in the colonies subject over time to colonial and to postcolonial spectators' receptions, and copies or multiples of works that traveled across space located in several colonies or between a colony and the metropole, thus subject to multiple cultural interpretations.

The Figurative Works of Chen Hongshou (1599-1652) - Authentic Voices/Expanding Markets (Hardcover, New edition): Tamara... The Figurative Works of Chen Hongshou (1599-1652) - Authentic Voices/Expanding Markets (Hardcover, New edition)
Tamara Heimarck Bentley
R4,221 Discovery Miles 42 210 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Despite the importance of Chen Hongshou (1599-1652) as an artist and scholar of the Ming period, until now no full length study in English has focused on his work. Author Tamara H. Bentley takes a broadly interdisciplinary approach, treating Chen's oeuvre in relation to literary themes and economic changes, and linking these larger concerns to visual analyses. Considering Chen's paintings and prints alongside Chen's romance drama commentaries and prefaces and his collected writings (particularly poetry), Bentley sheds new light not only on Chen, but also on an important cultural moment in the first half of the seventeenth century. Through analysis of Chen's figure paintings and print designs, Bentley examines the artist's engagement with the values of "authenticity" and "emotion," which were part of a larger discourse stressing idiosyncrasy, the individual voice, and vernacular literature. She contrasts these values with the commercial aspects of his production, geared at an expanding art market of well-to-do buyers, excavating the apparent contradiction inherent in the two pursuits. In the end, she suggests, the emphasis on the "authentic" voice was marketed to a broad field of anonymous buyers. Though her primary focus is on Chen Hongshou, Bentley's investigation ultimately concerns not only this individual artist, but also the effect of early modern changes on an artist's mode of working and his self-image, in the West as well as the East. The study touches upon expanding international trade and the rise of middle class art markets (including print markets), not only in China but also in the Dutch Republic in circa 1630-1650. Bentley investigates the specific rhetoric of different categories of images, including Chen's non-literal figurative works; literal commemorative portraits; his printed romance-drama illustrations; and his printed playing cards. Bentley's investigation takes in issues of studio practice (including various types of image replicati

Constable's Skies - Paintings and Sketches by John Constable (Hardcover): Mark Evans Constable's Skies - Paintings and Sketches by John Constable (Hardcover)
Mark Evans
R514 R363 Discovery Miles 3 630 Save R151 (29%) Ships in 12 - 17 working days

John Constable is one of the greatest painters of the English weather. His depictions of the sky are essential components of all his landscape paintings, from famous works such as The Hay Wain and Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows to his numerous cloud studies painted on Hampstead Heath, culminating in paintings in which the landscape beneath the ever-changing sky is completely absent. Constable kept a weather diary and was endlessly fascinated by the sky. In a letter written in 1821 to friend John Fisher, Bishop of Salisbury, Constable commented, 'That landscape painter who does not make his skies a very material part of his composition, neglects to avail himself of one of his greatest aids ... It will be difficult to name a class of landscape in which the sky is not the key note, the standard of scale, and the chief organ of sentiment.' Written by Mark Evans, a leading authority on the work of John Constable, Constable's Skies captures the artist's fascination with the sky and brings together his depictions of the English weather from throughout his career. It will appeal to a broad readership of museum visitors and art lovers, as well as practising landscape painters keen to learn new skills by studying the work of one of the most enduringly popular English artists of all time.

Performativity and Performance in Baroque Rome (Hardcover, New Ed): Peter Gillgren Performativity and Performance in Baroque Rome (Hardcover, New Ed)
Peter Gillgren
R4,232 Discovery Miles 42 320 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

A new interest in the study of early modern ritual, ceremony, formations of personal and collective identities, social roles, and the production of meaning inside and outside the arts have made it possible to talk today about a performative turn in the humanities. In Performativity and Performance in Baroque Rome, scholars from different fields of research explore performative aspects of Baroque culture. With examples from the politics of diplomacy and everyday life, from theatre, music and ritual as well as from architecture, painting and sculpture the contributors demonstrate how broadly the concept of performativity has been adopted within different disciplines.

Childhood Pleasures - Dutch Children in the Seventeenth Century (Paperback, New): Donna R. Barnes Childhood Pleasures - Dutch Children in the Seventeenth Century (Paperback, New)
Donna R. Barnes
R762 R626 Discovery Miles 6 260 Save R136 (18%) Ships in 10 - 15 working days

Seventeenth-century Netherlands is a time and place that inspires our imagination. This maritime country conjures up images of windmills and dikes, picturesque farms, bustling cities, and harbors filled with ships returning home from far-away lands, their holds packed with spices. The small country enjoyed vibrant economic growth and a remarkably tolerant society that welcomed people of all religious backgrounds. The enormous legacy of this period of the Dutch republic, which artists, writers, and poets celebrated as its Golden Age, has enriched all our lives. As historians search for a fuller understanding of its unique character, they continually return to the central role of the family. Children are an essential part of the story, because how they were raised and taught, how they played, and what they ate and drank offer fundamental insights into Dutch lives. The images in the book are organized around eight themes: Infancy; St. Nicholas: Bringer of Sweets and Toys; Celebrations and Music; Toys and Games; Animals as Pets and Companions; Inventing Fun, Games, and Mischief; Shopping for Food Treats; and Winter Activities: Outdoors. A recipe chapter provides inspiration for cooking projects, allowing children to prepare tastes of the past. Through words and images, we learn that while some pleasures enjoyed by Dutch youngsters 400 years ago have changed, some have remained the same and are sources of fun and excitement for children today.

Flemish and Dutch Artists in Early Modern England - Collaboration and Competition, 1460-1680 (Hardcover, New Ed): Mary Bryan H.... Flemish and Dutch Artists in Early Modern England - Collaboration and Competition, 1460-1680 (Hardcover, New Ed)
Mary Bryan H. Curd
R4,214 Discovery Miles 42 140 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

By examining their production practices in a variety of genres"including manuscript illustration, glass painting and staining, tapestry manufacture, portrait painting, and engraving"this book explores how Netherlandish artists migrating to England in the early modern period overcame difficulties raised by their outsider status. This study examines, for the first time in this context, the challenges of alien status to artistic production and the effectiveness of cooperation as a countermeasure. The author demonstrates that collaboration was chief among the strategies that these foreigners chose to secure a position in London's changing art market. Curd's exploration of these collaborations primarily follows Pierre Bourdieu's model of "establishment and challenger" in which dominance in a field of cultural production depends upon how much cultural, political, and economic capital can be accumulated and the effectiveness of the strategies used to confront competition. The analysis presented here challenges received opinion that a collaborative work is only a joint effort of artists working together on a single monument by demonstrating that the participation of patrons and middlemen can also shape the final appearance of a work of art. Furthermore, this book shows that the strategic use of collaboration served the goal of competition by helping to establish foreign artists in the London art market and suggests that their coping strategies have implications for the study of immigrant behaviors today.

Printed Images in Early Modern Britain - Essays in Interpretation (Hardcover, New Ed): Michael Hunter Printed Images in Early Modern Britain - Essays in Interpretation (Hardcover, New Ed)
Michael Hunter
R4,257 Discovery Miles 42 570 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Printed images were ubiquitous in early modern Britain, and they often convey powerful messages which are all the more important for having circulated widely at the time. Yet, by comparison with printed texts, these images have been neglected, particularly by historians to whom they ought to be of the greatest interest. This volume helps remedy this state of affairs. Complementing the online digital library of British Printed Images to 1700 (www.bpi1700.org.uk), it offers a series of essays which exemplify the many ways in which such visual material can throw light on the history of the period. Ranging from religion to politics, polemic to satire, natural science to consumer culture, the collection explores how printed images need to be read in terms of the visual syntax understood by contemporaries, their full meaning often only becoming clear when they are located in the context in which they were produced and deployed. The result is not only to illustrate the sheer richness of material of this kind, but also to underline the importance of the messages which it conveys, which often come across more strongly in visual form than through textual commentaries. With contributions from many leading exponents of the cultural history of early modern Britain, including experts on religion, politics, science and art, the book's appeal will be equally wide, demonstrating how every facet of British culture in the period can be illuminated through the study of printed images.

Guercino's Paintings and His Patrons' Politics in Early Modern Italy (Hardcover, New Ed): Daniel. Munger Guercino's Paintings and His Patrons' Politics in Early Modern Italy (Hardcover, New Ed)
Daniel. Munger
R4,207 Discovery Miles 42 070 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Guercino's Paintings and His Patrons' Politics in Early Modern Italy examines how the seventeenth-century Italian painter Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (better known as Il Guercino) instilled the political ideas of his patrons into his paintings. As it focuses on eight works showing religious scenes and scenes taken from Roman history, this volume bridges the gap between social and cultural history and the history of art, untangling the threads of art, politics, and religion during the time of the Thirty Years' War. A prolific painter, Guercino enjoyed the patronage of such luminaries as Pope Gregory XV, Cardinals Serra, Ludovisi, Spada, and Magalotti, and the French secretary of state La Vrilliere. While scholarly research has been devoted to Guercino's oeuvre, this book is the first to place his works squarely in the context of the political and social circumstances of seventeenth-century Italy, stressing the points of view and agendas of his powerful patrons. What were once meanings only apparent to the educated elite"or those familiar with the political affairs of the time"are now scrutinized and clarified for an audience far from the struggles of early modern Europe.

The Art Book - Big Ideas Simply Explained (Hardcover): Dk The Art Book - Big Ideas Simply Explained (Hardcover)
Dk 1
R790 R691 Discovery Miles 6 910 Save R99 (13%) Ships in 9 - 15 working days

Learn about key movements like impressionism, cubism and symbolism in The Art Book. Part of the fascinating Big Ideas series, this book tackles tricky topics and themes in a simple and easy to follow format. Learn about Art in this overview guide to the subject, brilliant for novices looking to find out more and experts wishing to refresh their knowledge alike! The Art Book brings a fresh and vibrant take on the topic through eye-catching graphics and diagrams to immerse yourself in. This captivating book will broaden your understanding of Art, with: - More than 80 of the world's most remarkable artworks - Packed with facts, charts, timelines and graphs to help explain core concepts - A visual approach to big subjects with striking illustrations and graphics throughout - Easy to follow text makes topics accessible for people at any level of understanding The Art Book is a captivating introduction to painting, drawing, printing, sculpture, conceptual art, and performance art - from ancient history to the modern day - aimed at adults with an interest in the subject and students wanting to gain more of an overview. Here you'll discover more than 80 of the world's most groundbreaking artworks by history's most influential painters, sculptors and artists, through exciting text and bold graphics. Your Art Questions, Simply Explained This fresh new guide examines the ideas that inspired masterpieces by Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Klimt, Matisse, Picasso, and dozens more! If you thought it was difficult to learn about the defining movements, The Art Book presents key information in a clear layout. Find out about subject matters, techniques, and materials, and learn about the talented artists behind the great works, through superb mind maps and step-by-step summaries. The Big Ideas Series With millions of copies sold worldwide, The Art Book is part of the award-winning Big Ideas series from DK. The series uses striking graphics along with engaging writing, making big topics easy to understand.

Rubens and the Archaeology of Myth, 1610-1620 - Visual and Poetic Memory (Hardcover, New Ed): Aneta Georgievska-Shine Rubens and the Archaeology of Myth, 1610-1620 - Visual and Poetic Memory (Hardcover, New Ed)
Aneta Georgievska-Shine
R4,216 Discovery Miles 42 160 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Focusing on four Rubens paintings created between 1610 and 1620 - Prometheus Bound, The Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus, Juno and Argus, and The Finding of Erichthonius - this book re-examines the artist's approach to classical mythology. These theoretically-informed readings provide a fuller understanding of the dynamics of Rubens's copious visual language, and can serve as methodological templates for looking at, and reading of, many other of his complex inventions. Even by the standards of erudition commonly applied to Rubens's oeuvre as a whole, these four paintings were created during a period characterized by a particularly intense engagement on his part with questions of artistic originality and ideal style. Furthermore, the learned themes of these images clearly point to a rarefied audience that could appreciate the intertextual qualities of ancient myths. Like the artist himself, these ideal beholders cultivated a mode of viewing steeped in classical and renaissance theories of literary and rhetorical composition. Thus through these close readings, the author illuminates the manner in which the rhetorical and poetic conventions of the period, as well as the growing appreciation for the various allegorical layers of fables, lead to a better understanding of Rubens's pictorial archaeology of classical myths.

The Late Paintings of Velazquez - Theorizing Painterly Performance (Hardcover, New Ed): Giles Knox The Late Paintings of Velazquez - Theorizing Painterly Performance (Hardcover, New Ed)
Giles Knox
R4,220 Discovery Miles 42 200 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

The startling conclusion of The Late Paintings of Velazquez is that Diego Velazquez painted two of his most famous works, The Spinners and Las Meninas, as theoretically informed manifestos of painterly brushwork. As a pair, Giles Knox argues, the two paintings form a learned retort to the prevailing critical disdain for the painterly. Knox presents a Velazquez who was much more aware of the art theory of his era than previously acknowledged, leading him to reinterpret Las Meninas and The Spinners as representing together a polemically charged celebration of the "handedness" of painting. Knox removes Velazquez from his Iberian isolation and seeks to recover his highly self-conscious attempt to carve out a place for himself within the history of European painting as a whole. The Late Paintings of Velazquez presents an artist who, like Annibale Carracci, Poussin, Rembrandt, and Vermeer was not only aware of contemporary theoretical writings on art, but also able to translate that knowledge and understanding into a distinctive and personal theory of painting. In Las Meninas and The Spinners, Velazquez propounded this theory with paint, not words. Knox's rethinking of the dynamic relationship between text and image presents a case, not of writing influencing painting, or vice versa, but of the two realms being inextricably bound together. Painterly brushwork presented a challenge to writers on art not just because it was connected too intimately with the base actions of the hand; it was also devilishly hard to describe. By reading Velazquez's painterly performance as text, Knox deciphers how Velazquez was able to craft theoretical arguments more compelling and more vivid than any written counterparts.

The Erotics of Looking - Early Modern Netherlandish Art (Paperback): A Vanhaelen The Erotics of Looking - Early Modern Netherlandish Art (Paperback)
A Vanhaelen
R775 Discovery Miles 7 750 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

The Erotics of Looking: Early Modern Netherlandish Art presents a collection of provocative essays that explore the material qualities of early Dutch art to reveal ways new forms of visual imagery solicit a beholder s involvement. * Explores how descriptive pictures during the early modern Dutch art period operated as social things and were designed to pleasurably engage the eye and prompt discussion and debate * Shows how these works potentially raised ethical and political questions about the interconnectedness of engaging with pictures and the material world * Represents a major contribution to the field of early modern Netherlandish art and to general debates about the status and functions of descriptive art * Features essays addressing a variety of aspects of the field, from the historiography of Dutch art to closely attentive readings of particular works * Crafts an original theoretical framework by applying recent insights about the making of early modern publics and the study of material things to the analysis of Netherlandish art

Early Modern Spaces in Motion - Design, Experience and Rhetoric (Hardcover): Kimberley Skelton Early Modern Spaces in Motion - Design, Experience and Rhetoric (Hardcover)
Kimberley Skelton; Contributions by Jocelyn Anderson, Nicole Bensoussan, James Campbell, Chriscinda Henry, …
R3,963 Discovery Miles 39 630 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Stretching back to antiquity, motion had been a key means of designing and describing the physical environment. But during the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries, individuals across Europe increasingly designed, experienced, and described a new world of motion: one characterized by continuous, rather than segmented, movement. New spaces that included vistas along house interiors and uninterrupted library reading rooms offered open expanses for shaping sequences of social behaviour, scientists observed how the Earth rotated around the sun, and philosophers attributed emotions to neural vibrations in the human brain. Early Modern Spaces in Motion examines this increased emphasis on motion with eight essays encompassing a geographical span of Portugal to German-speaking lands and a disciplinary range from architectural history to English. It consequently merges longstanding strands of analysis considering people in motion and buildings in motion to explore the cultural historical attitudes underpinning the varied impacts of motion in early modern Europe.

Portrait of a Patron - The Patronage and Collecting of James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos (1674-1744) (Hardcover, New edition):... Portrait of a Patron - The Patronage and Collecting of James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos (1674-1744) (Hardcover, New edition)
Susan Jenkins
R4,213 Discovery Miles 42 130 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Once described as 'England's Apollo' James Brydges, first Duke of Chandos (1674-1744) was an outstanding patron of the arts during the first half of the eighteenth century. Having acquired great wealth and influence as Paymaster-General of Queen Anne's forces abroad, Chandos commissioned work from leading artists, architects, poets and composers including Godfrey Kneller, William Talman, Sir John Vanbrugh, Sir James Thornhill, John Gay and George Frederick Handel. Despite his associations with such renowned figures, Chandos soon gained a reputation for tasteless extravagance. This reputation was not helped by the publication in 1731 of Alexander Pope's poem 'Of Taste' which was widely regarded as a satire upon Chandos and Cannons, the new house he was building near Edgware. The poem destroyed Chandos's reputation as a patron of the arts and ensured that he was remembered as a man lacking in taste. Yet, as this book shows, such a judgement is plainly unfair when the Duke's patronage is considered in more depth and understood within the artistic context of his age. By investigating the patronage and collections of the Duke, through an examination of documentary sources and contemporary accounts, it is possible to paint a very different picture of the man. Rather than the epitome of bad taste described by his enemies, it is clear that Chandos was an enlightened patron who embraced new ideas, and strove to establish a taste for the Palladian in England, which was to define the Georgian era.

Ottoman Women Builders - The Architectural Patronage of Hadice Turhan Sultan (Hardcover, New Ed): Lucienne Thys-Senocak Ottoman Women Builders - The Architectural Patronage of Hadice Turhan Sultan (Hardcover, New Ed)
Lucienne Thys-Senocak
R4,227 Discovery Miles 42 270 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Examined here is the historical figure and architectural patronage of Hadice Turhan Sultan, the young mother of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed IV, who for most of the latter half of the seventeenth century shaped the political and cultural agenda of the Ottoman court. Captured in Russia at the age of twelve, she first served the reigning sultan's mother in Istanbul. She gradually rose through the ranks of the Ottoman harem, bore a male child to Sultan Ibrahim, and came to power as a valide sultan, or queen mother, in 1648. It was through her generous patronage of architectural works-including a large mosque, a tomb, a market complex in the city of Istanbul and two fortresses at the entrance to the Dardanelles-that she legitimated her new political authority as a valide and then attempted to support that of her son. Central to this narrative is the question of how architecture was used by an imperial woman of the Ottoman court who, because of customary and religious restrictions, was unable to present her physical self before her subjects' gaze. In lieu of displaying an iconic image of herself, as Queen Elizabeth and Catherine de Medici were able to do, Turhan Sultan expressed her political authority and religious piety through the works of architecture she commissioned. Traditionally historians have portrayed the role of seventeenth-century royal Ottoman women in the politics of the empire as negative and de-stabilizing. But Thys-Senocak, through her examination of these architectural works as concrete expressions of legitimate power and piety, shows the traditional framework to be both sexist and based on an outdated paradigm of decline. Thys-Senocak's research on Hadice Turhan Sultan's two Ottoman fortresses of SeddA1/4lbahir and Kumkale improves in a significant way our understanding of early modern fortifications in the eastern Mediterranean region and will spark further research on many of the Ottoman fortifications built in the area. Plans and elevations of the fortresses are published and analysed here for the first time. Based on archival research, including letters written by the queen mother, many of which are published here for the first time, and archaeological fieldwork, her work is also informed by recent theoretical debates in the fields of art history, cultural history and gender studies.

The Beholder - The Experience of Art in Early Modern Europe (Hardcover, New Ed): Robert Williams The Beholder - The Experience of Art in Early Modern Europe (Hardcover, New Ed)
Robert Williams
R4,214 Discovery Miles 42 140 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

One of the most significant developments in the study of works of art over the past generation has been a shift in focus from the works themselves to the viewer's experience of them and the relation of that experience both to the works in question and to other aspects of cultural life. The ten essays written for this volume address the experience of art in early modern Europe and approach it from a variety of methodological perspectives: concerns range from the relation between its perceptual and significative dimensions to the ways in which its discursive formation anticipates but does not exactly correspond to later notions of 'aesthetic' experience. The modes of engagement vary from careful empirical studies that explore the complex complementary relationship between works of art and textual evidence of different kinds to ambitious efforts to mobilize the powerful interpretative tools of psychoanalysis and phenomenology. This diversity testifies to the vitality of current interest in the experience of beholding and the urgency of the challenge it poses to contemporary art-historical practice.

The Look of Van Dyck - The Self-Portrait with a Sunflower and the Vision of the Painter (Hardcover, New Ed): John Peacock The Look of Van Dyck - The Self-Portrait with a Sunflower and the Vision of the Painter (Hardcover, New Ed)
John Peacock
R4,224 Discovery Miles 42 240 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Based on a close study of Van Dyck's Self-portrait with a Sunflower, this book examines the picture's context in the symbolic discourses of the period and in the artist's oeuvre. The portrait is interpreted as a programmatic statement, made in the ambience of the Caroline court after Van Dyck's appointment as 'Principal Painter', of his view of the art of painting. This statement, formulated in appropriately visual terms, characterizes painting as a way of looking and seeing, a mode of vision. In making such a claim, the artist steps aside from the familiar debate about whether painting was a manual or an intellectual discipline, and moves beyond any idea of it as simply a means of representing the external world: the painter's definitive faculty of vision can reach further than those realities which present themselves to the eye. John Peacock analyses the motif of looking - the ways in which figures regard or disregard each other - throughout Van Dyck's work, and the images of the sunflower and the gold chain in this particular portrait, to reveal what is essentially an idealist conception of pictorial art. He contradicts previous opinions that the artist was pedestrian in his thinking, by showing him to be familiar with a range of ideas current in contemporary Europe about painting and the role of the painter.

Impressionists Handbook (Paperback): Katz Robert & Dars Celestine Impressionists Handbook (Paperback)
Katz Robert & Dars Celestine
R281 R222 Discovery Miles 2 220 Save R59 (21%) Ships in 12 - 17 working days

No group of artists or period of art history has inspired as much admiration as the Impressionist school that flourished from 1874 to 1886. This book tells the story of these revolutionary painters and the dramatic times that shaped their vision. It features all the most important Impressionist artists, providing a greater understanding of the movement and explaining why Impressionism continues to be one of the most popular of artistic styles. The expert analysis is accessible and fascinating, and is augmented by over 350 illustrations, including the immediately recognizable images that are central to the movement, as well as rare paintings seldom seen in print.

Baroque Self-Invention and Historical Truth - Hercules at the Crossroads (Hardcover, New Ed): Christopher Braider Baroque Self-Invention and Historical Truth - Hercules at the Crossroads (Hardcover, New Ed)
Christopher Braider
R3,761 Discovery Miles 37 610 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

In his monumental study, Christopher Braider explores the dialectical contest between history and truth that defines the period of cultural transition called the 'baroque'. For example, Annibale Carracci's portrayal of the Stoic legend of Hercules at the Crossroads departs from earlier, more static representations that depict an emblematic demigod who has already rejected the fallen path of worldly Pleasure for the upward road of heroic Virtue. Braider argues that, in breaking with tradition in order to portray a tragic soliloquist whose dominant trait is agonized indecision, Carracci joins other baroque artists, poets and philosophers in rehearsing the historical dilemma of choice itself. Carracci's picture thus becomes a framing device that illuminates phenomena as diverse as the construction of gender in baroque painting and science, the Pauline ontology of art in Caravaggio and Rembrandt, the metaphysics of baroque soliloquy and the dismantling of Cartesian dualism in Cyrano de Bergerac and Pascal.

William Blake (Paperback, New Edition): Kathleen Raine William Blake (Paperback, New Edition)
Kathleen Raine; Preface by Colin Trodd
R370 Discovery Miles 3 700 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Prophet, poet, painter, engraver - William Blake (1757-1827) was an artist of uniquely powerful imagination and far-reaching creative gifts. His work expresses the spiritual drama of the English national being, integrating poetry and visual art in a sustained work of visionary creativity unparalleled in English art history. Revealing Blake to be far more than a revolutionary social radical, this classic study reshapes our understanding of the artist's achievement. Kathleen Raine details the enriching effect of mystical, alchemical and gnostic philosophy on Blake's art. She unravels the complex, deeply felt symbolism expressed in his paintings and prints, and describes the powerful impact of his reading of Dante, Milton and the Bible. Raine's compelling text guides the reader through the life and thought of this extraordinary artist. Fully alive to the uniqueness of Blake's art - which has 'a reality, a coherence, a climate' all its own - she introduces famous work such as Jerusalem, Songs of Innocence and of Experience, The Four Zoas and The Book of Job, relating them to Blake's world view and explaining their prophetic qualities, their fierce energy, and their central place in British Romantic art. With 185 illustrations in colour

Intimate Interiors - Sex, Politics, and Material Culture in the Eighteenth-Century Bedroom and Boudoir (Hardcover): Tara... Intimate Interiors - Sex, Politics, and Material Culture in the Eighteenth-Century Bedroom and Boudoir (Hardcover)
Tara Zanardi, Christopher M.S. Johns
R2,925 Discovery Miles 29 250 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

A desire for intimacy in domestic spaces - motivated by a growing sense of individualistic expression, an incentive to conceal the labor or enslavement taking place, and an appetite for solace and comfort - led to interiors taking on more specific roles in the eighteenth century. By examining the architectural, visual, and material culture of eighteenth-century spaces, Intimate Interiors foregrounds the interrelated concepts of intimacy, privacy, informality, and sociability in order to show how these ideas played an increasingly integral role in the period's architectural and material design. Across eleven innovative chapters that explore issues of gender, politics, travel, exoticism, imperialism, sensorial experiences, identity, interiority, and modernity, this volume demonstrates how intimacy was a fundamental goal in the planning of private quarters. In doing so, the political nature of private spaces is uncovered, whilst highlighting the contradictions and complexities of these highly performative "private" interiors. Employing distinct methodological perspectives across various geographical sites, from Turkey to Versailles, Britain to Benin, Intimate Interiors draws as-yet untraced connections between Enlightenment Europe, imperial outposts, and major metropolitan centers across the globe.

Rembrandt - Masters of Art (Paperback): Stefano Zuffi Rembrandt - Masters of Art (Paperback)
Stefano Zuffi
R327 R252 Discovery Miles 2 520 Save R75 (23%) Ships in 12 - 17 working days

This generously illustrated volume on the work of Rembrandt makes the world's greatest art accessible to readers of every level of appreciation. Celebrated for his penetrating portraits, richly detailed landscapes, and evocative narrative paintings, the seventeenth century artist Rembrandt is generally considered one of Europe's greatest painters and printmakers, and the master of the Dutch School. His work is distinguished by broad brushwork, luminous palettes, and a sense of order and movement that recalls the finest Renaissance art. Overflowing with impeccably reproduced images, this book offers fullpage spreads of masterpieces as well as highlights of smaller details--allowing the viewer to appreciate every aspect of the artist's technique and oeuvre. Chronologically arranged, the book covers important biographical and historic events that reflect the latest scholarship. Additional information includes a list of works, timeline, and suggestions for further reading.

Free Delivery
Pinterest Twitter Facebook Google+
You may like...
The Genius in the Design - Bernini…
Jake Morrissey Paperback R423 R351 Discovery Miles 3 510
Theories of Art - 2. From Winckelmann to…
Moshe Barasch Paperback R1,266 Discovery Miles 12 660
Charles-Joseph Natoire and the Academie…
Reed Benhamou Paperback R2,927 Discovery Miles 29 270
Rococo Echo - Art, History and…
Melissa Lee Hyde, Katie Scott Paperback R3,020 Discovery Miles 30 200
Seeing Satire in the Eighteenth Century
Elizabeth C. Mansfield, Kelly Malone Paperback R2,925 Discovery Miles 29 250
Lives of Rubens
Giovanni Baglione, Joachim Sandrart, … Paperback R230 Discovery Miles 2 300
Lives of Velazquez
Francisco Pacheco, Antonio Palomino Paperback R303 R258 Discovery Miles 2 580
The Saint-Aubin 'Livre De Caricatures…
Colin Jones, Juliet Carey, … Paperback R2,956 Discovery Miles 29 560
Lives of Rembrandt
Filippo Baldinucci, Joachim Sandrart, … Paperback R268 R230 Discovery Miles 2 300
Lives of Gainsborough
Philip Thicknesse, William Jackson, … Paperback R271 R233 Discovery Miles 2 330

 

Partners