Zar Peter der Grosse legte 1714 nahe St. Petersburg den Grundstein zu Schloss Peterhof, dem "russischen Versailles", das zwei Jahrhunderte lang als Sommerresidenz der Zaren diente. Wahrend die Schlossbauten im Zweiten Weltkrieg beinahe vollstandig zerstoert wurden und bis heute aufwendig rekonstruiert werden, gelang es, viele der Kunst- und Ausstattungsgegenstande des Palastkomplexes zu evakuieren. Der Katalog stellt mit zahlreichen Abbildungen und Textbeitragen die im Augsburger Schaezlerpalais erstmals in Deutschland gezeigte Auswahl von weit uber 100 original erhaltenen Objekten russischer und westeuropaischer Provenienz aus Schloss Peterhof vor. Sie umfasst samtliche Gattungen der Kunst und des Kunsthandwerks und spiegelt damit die hoefische Kunst und Wohnkultur des 18. Jahrhunderts.

Der geburtige Mailander Camillo Rusconi (1658-1728) gilt als der bedeutendste roemische Bildhauer des Spatbarock. In dieser Studie widmet sich Frank Martin erstmalig grundlegend Rusconis beachtlichem OEuvre. Seine grossen Werkkomplexe, darunter die beruhmten Apostelstatuen in der Lateranbasilika in Rom, werden detailliert erlautert und in ihrem Entstehungskontext gedeutet. Die Schilderung von Rusconis kunstlerischer Karriere, die der einflussreiche Maler Carlo Maratti massgeblich befoerderte, gewahrt Einblick in die Mechanismen des roemischen Kunstbetriebs. Camillo Rusconi etablierte ein klassisch orientiertes Stilideal in der Skulptur, das in den Arbeiten seiner Schuler Filippo della Valle, Giovanni Battista Maini, Pietro Bracci sowie Giuseppe Rusconi fortlebte und sich vom hochbarocken Pathos Gian Lorenzo Berninis signifikant abhob. Das langst uberfallige kritische Werkverzeichnis sowie die Auswertung zahlreicher Quellen und Dokumente runden die Monographie ab. Damit erweist sich der Band als Standardwerk fur die Erforschung der Skulptur im 18. Jahrhundert.

This work, the fruit of more than ten years of research, consists of a systematic cataloguing of all Florentine painters, and of all the painters active over many years in the Tuscan city, between the early 17 th and the end of the 18 th Centuries. Alongside artists who have already won renown and about whom various monographic studies already exist, this publication shines a collateral light on relatively unknown personages who are worthy of more than a little interest. In some cases these are artists otherwise unknown to contemporary criticism. The intention is to make a significant contribution to art history and the work is in some cases decisive in its attributions of uncertain works that have hitherto been habitually associated only with the better-known names. The three volumes are accompanied by biographies and lists of paintings along with, as is to be expected, an ample selection of approximately 1,800 colour and monochrome photographic reproductions. Volume I (312 pages) Presentation and introduction by Mina Gregori Colour plates I-CVI Biographies of the artists and index of works Bibliography, index of artists in the catalogue, of names and place names Volume II (376 pages) Plates 1-824 (Allori - Guiducci) Volume III (392 pages) Plates 825-1,698 (Hugford - Zocchi)

Imposing and famous sailing ships are the subject of countless Dutch paintings of the 17th Century. But the works not only bear witness to the skills of their creator; they are documents of historical, topographical and meteorological events. Visibly billowing sails, glorious and proud sailing ships, a ship heeled in the swell and the salvation of banks never to be reached: Many of the paintings of Dutch painters from the mid-17th Century give impressions of maritime affairs that never occurred. These images thus open a wide horizon of interpretations from different areas of knowledge from the period. They document the range and richness of Holland's marine culture in the 17th Century. The works stimulate multiple interpretations: the ship as a metaphor for life, as a symbol of the state, for the exploration of distant lands, as a demonstration of foreign and trade policy in the 17th Century. This book explains the various interpretations in selected examples while at the same time laying bare the picturesque characteristics of eachwork. In cooperation with the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London, the exhibition brings together masterpieces from the leading marine painters of the Golden Age, and show alongside unique, large-scale seascapes the subtle drawings from the Print Room of the Hamburg Kunsthalle. German text.

During the first half of the 17th century, Haarlem was a flourishing center of the arts and Frans Hals was its preeminent artist. This catalog demonstrates the variety of topics and genres painted, as well as the leading role of Haarlem artists in innovations in Dutch painting. German text.

This comprehensive study of the sculptures of Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) follows in twelve chapters his development as an artist and the area in which he excelled: portraits, the likeness of which astonished his contemporaries; the sculptures for St Peter in Rome; his extraordinary fountains; the timeless beauty of his renderings of mythological figures. German text. Die umfassende Monographie ueber die Skulpturen Gianlorenzo Berninis (1598-1680) beleuchtet in zwolf Kapiteln die Stationen seiner Entwicklung und die Gebiete, in denen er brillierte: die Portrats, deren -sprechende- Ahnlichkeit die Zeitgenossen verblueffte, die Werke fuer den Petersdom, die grandiosen Brunnen und seine Heiligen und zeitlos schonen Gestalten der antiken Mythologie. Den ausgefuehrten Werken gegenuebergestellte Vorzeichnungen, Tonskizzen und Modelle erlauben einen faszinierenden Einblick in den kuenstlerischen Schaffensprozea.

The age of the Baroque--a time when great strides were made in science and mathematics--witnessed the construction of some of the world's most magnificent buildings. What did the work of great architects such as Bernini, Blondel, Guarini, and Wren have to do with Descartes, Galileo, Kepler, Desargues, and Newton? Here, George Hersey explores the ways in which Baroque architecture, with its dramatic shapes and playful experimentation with classical forms, reflects the scientific thinking of the time. He introduces us to a concept of geometry that encompassed much more than the science we know today, one that included geometrics (number and shape games), as well as the art of geomancy, or magic and prophecy using shapes and numbers.
Hersey first concentrates on specific problems in geometry and architectural design. He then explores the affinities between musical chords and several types of architectural form. He turns to advances in optics, such as artificial lenses and magic lanterns, to show how architects incorporated light, a heavenly emanation, into their impressive domes. With ample illustrations and lucid, witty language, Hersey shows how abstract ideas were transformed into visual, tactile form--the epicycles of the cosmos, the sexual mystique surrounding the cube, and the imperfections of heavenly bodies. Some two centuries later, he finds that the geometric principles of the Baroque resonate, often unexpectedly, in the work of architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier. A discussion of these surprising links to the past rounds out this brilliant reexamination of some of the long-forgotten beliefs and practices that helped produce some of Europe's greatestmasterpieces.