Im Frankreich des spaten 17. und wahrend der ersten Halfte des 18. Jahrhunderts erfuhr das portrait historie eine ungekannte Blutezeit. Angehoerige des Hochadels und finanzstarken Burgertums setzten sich auf diesen Bildnissen in mythologischen oder historisierenden Kostumen in Szene. Welche Interessen verfolgten die Auftraggeber? Weshalb wandten sich Kunstler wie Nicolas de Largillierre, Francois de Troy oder Jean-Marc Nattier dem Bildtypus zu? Inwiefern nahmen die Werke Bezug auf den architektonischen Raum, fur den sie geschaffen wurden, und in welchem Verhaltnis standen sie zu den kulturellen Praktiken der Zeit, etwa hoefischen Maskeraden, dem Theater, der galanten Dichtung? Der Band bietet eine grundlegende Untersuchung des bislang unerschlossenen Bildtypus. Neben kunsttheoretischen und kunstkritischen Texten greift die Autorin auf Inventare, Briefe, Beschreibungen von Schloessern und Festen, Dichtung und Theaterlivrets zuruck, ruckt aber vor allem die Kunstwerke selbst als Ausdruck hoefischer Portratkultur in den Vordergrund.

Akademische Aktstudien widmen sich dem vornehmsten Gegenstand der Kunst uberhaupt: dem menschlichen Koerper in Ruhe und Bewegung. Diese grundlegende und normstiftende Kunstpraxis der Fruhen Neuzeit macht die Autorin mittels umfangreichem Material aus Rom, Paris und dem deutschsprachigen Raum in funf Werkgruppen zuganglich. Die Forschungsarbeit beinhaltet die zentralen Themenkreise der Theorie der akademischen Aktstudie: die Kunstlerausbildung, die Theorie der Nachahmung von Kunst und Natur, die experimentelle Praxis im Aktsaal, die Transformation akademischer Vorbilder, die zeichnerische Illusion von Lebendigkeit, das zeitgenoessische Idealbild des Menschen, die Simulation von Bewegung in der Pose sowie die Bedeutung der Posen fur die Kunstpraxis der Zeit.

The Dutch painter Barend Graat lived his entire life in Amsterdam and worked as an artist from 1645 until 1709. He produced drawings and paintings, well over a hundred of which are currently known. He was trained by his uncle Hand Bodt as a landscape and animal painter but developed and a genre and historic painter as well. Also he produced many portraits of wealthy Amsterdam merchants (mostly) and their families. This monograph consist of five chapters and a catalogue raisone. Six appendices contain all relevant documents with regards to Graats life and work. The first three chapters discuss the life and work of the artist. Chapters 4 and 5 present his oeuvre and etchings. The catalogue raisone presents all known artworks in the form of paintings, drawings and etchings. TEXT IN DUTCH

This is the second volume devoted to Italian painting in the The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection. Seventeenth and eighteenth century paintings, especially those of the Venetian School, form a major part of the collection, thanks to the many acquisitions of the past few years. This scholarly book offers a panoramic view of painting in Italy during these two centuries, including the works of 'minor' artists such as Ferrau Fenzoni and Francesco Foschi. The collection begins and ends with two of the greatest paintings of all time - Caravaggio's "St Catherine," and "The Death of Hyacinthus" by Giambattista Tiepolo.

This publication on Flemish painting deals with those elements of the social and intellectual context which played a role in the realisation of any work of art, the concrete steps taken within a workshop in preparing for the production of the work, and the production through to completion of the draft. Part One, Concept, deals with those elements of the social and intellectual context which played a role in the realisation of any work of art. This section therefore examines individual motivations and the intellectual background of artists and their patrons, as also their institutional context and working conditions. Part Two, Design, examines the concrete steps taken within a workshop in preparing for the production of a work of art. These include the use of study materials, such as collections of exempla, as well as the stages of work required to make exploratory sketches, the finished draft and thence its transfer to the definitive medium to be used. Part Three, Execution, focuses on the production through to completion of the draft on its support medium. This may be done by the artist himself, or through one or other method of sharing the work, such as the employing of assistants or specialists. Introduction by Frans Baudouin.

Muriel Butkin has a fine private collection of master drawings, more than 450 in all. She has concentrated on French artists of the 18th and 19th centuries, with particular focus on figure studies, portraits, animals, interiors, mythological subjects, unusual landscapes, and sketchbooks. This volume publishes 59 of the most important drawings, each reproduced in duotone and accompanied by a comprehensive essay. Among them are works by artists such as Coypel, Boucher, Greuze, David, Gericault, Millet, Degas, Carot, Daubigny, Rodin and Puvis de Chavannes, as well as previously unknown rarities.

This title includes a book and 4 CDs. A century in words, pictures and music - lucid, informative and entertaining. The earBOOKS "Masterpieces" series provides a compact overview of music and painting through the centuries. The "1600-1700" volume presents the most important artworks and musical compositions of the 17th century. Background detail and points of interest in relation to each painting or piece of music are conveyed through concise and illuminating commentaries. A comprehensive introduction sets the scene, expanding on the century's historical connection to the art of the period. Music CDs: A wealth of musical highlights from the 17th century can be enjoyed on the four CDs accompanying the book. Performers like Britta Schwarz, Christoph Genz, Ludwig Guttler, the Dresdner Kreuzchor, The Harp Consort with Andrew Lawrence King and the Schutz Akademie, directed by Howard Arman guarantee top-class performances.

In the past decade, there has been a surge of Anglophone scholarship regarding Spain in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which has led to a reframing of the discourses around Spanish culture of this period. Despite this new interest-in which painting, in particular, has been singled out for treatment-a comprehensive study of sculpture collections and the status of sculpture in Spain has yet to be produced. Sculpture Collections in Early Modern Spain is the first book to assess the phenomenon of sculpture collecting and in doing so, it alters the previously held notion that Spanish society placed little value in this art form. Di Dio and Coppel reveal that, due to the problems and expense of their transport from Italy, sculptures were in fact status symbols in the culture. Thus they were an important component of the collections formed by the royal family, cultivated noble collectors, humanists, and artists who had pretensions of high status. This book is especially useful to specialists for its discussion of the typologies of collections and objects, and of the mechanics of state gifts, transport, and collection display in this period. An appendix presents extensive archival documentation, most of which has never before been published. The authors have uncovered hundreds of new documents about sculpture in Spain; and new documentary evidence allows them to propose several new identifications and attributions. Firmly grounded in extensive archival research, Sculpture Collections in Early Modern Spain redefines the socio-political and art historical importance of sculpture in early modern Spain. Most importantly, it entirely transforms our knowledge regarding the presence of sculpture in a wide range of Spanish collections of the period, which until now has been erroneously characterized as close to non-existent.

This book accompanies an exhibition at the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, on the role of photography in Central Africa. This is the first book to link two related themes: the role of photographic images in constructing and circulating fantasies, ideas, and sentiments in Europe and the US relating to the peoples of Central Africa; and the role of photography in enabling Africans to project images of themselves by becoming familiar with photographic technology. Broad in thematic and temporal scope, the book focuses on several time periods, especially on the years before and between the two world wars.
This is also the first publication devoted to the important holdings of the Eliot Elisofen Photographic Archives, a department of the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution and a unique repository with more than 200,000 historical and contemporary images from all over Africa.
This book raises important issues associated with photographic practice in Africa, the distribution of images, the circulation of ideas in Europe and the US, and African responses to photography through several poignant case studies. This book also advances the scholarly discourse on colonial/anthropological photography, and contributes to a better understanding of African responses to photography.

Rembrandt's Bathsheba Reading King David's Letter is unusual both as a history painting and as a portrayal of a nude. Instead of displaying a sumptuous body for the viewer's delectation, Bathsheba elicits our empathy. This collection of essays by six Rembrandt scholars examines its qualities from perspectives ranging from changing perceptions of female beauty and the nude, technical analysis, and biographical and psychological analysis of the artist, the subject, and the viewer. The juxtaposition of these different approaches to a single work highlights how both the artist and his art are constructed through the questions we ask, and facilitates a comparison of some of the different approaches practised by art historians today.

This title offers a fascinating look at the rediscovery of Derby's spectacular "View of Gibraltar". In 1785, British painter Joseph Wright of Derby (1734-1797) exhibited a large painting representing his country's defence of the Rock of Gibraltar against Spanish attack in 1782. A specialist in the use of chiaroscuro, Wright hoped this would be the pinnacle of his career, and although it was purchased for a substantial sum at the time, it subsequently slipped into obscurity. In 2001, the Agnes Etherington Art Centre acquired a painting representing the same theme which has since been the subject of intense debate: was this picture, now in poor condition, a copy of Wright's lost painting or the missing masterpiece itself? This publication presents the result of eight years' research by specialists in conservation and archival/documentary science authenticating the painting and returning it to its proper place in the canon of British 18th century art.

From the critically acclaimed and best-selling author of "Son of the Morning Star and "Deus Lo Volt! comes a biography that breaks the mold--recounting with stunning immediacy the uncommon genius behind the renowned Spanish painter. Darkly brilliant and casually masterful in turn, Francisco Goya changed art forever. During the days of the Spanish Inquisition, Goya painted royalty, street urchins, and demons with the same brush, bringing his own distinctive touch to each. This unusual man and his ghastly times are the perfect subject for Evan S. Connell, one of our greatest and least conventional writers. Introducing a wealth of detail and a cast of comic characters--a motley group of dukes, queens, and artists, as lewd and incorrigible a crew as history has ever produced--Connell has conjured Goya's life with wit, erudition, and a sparkling imagination.