Perceptions of the Body and Sacred Space in Late Antiquity and Byzantium seeks to reveal Christian understanding of the body and sacred space in the medieval Mediterranean. Case studies examine encounters with the holy through the perspective of the human body and sensory dimensions of sacred space, and discuss the dynamics of perception when experiencing what was constructed, represented, and understood as sacred. The comparative analysis investigates viewers' recognitions of the sacred in specific locations or segments of space with an emphasis on the experiential and conceptual relationships between sacred spaces and human bodies. This volume thus reassesses the empowering aspects of space, time, and human agency in religious contexts. By focusing on investigations of human endeavors towards experiential and visual expressions that shape perceptions of holiness, this study ultimately aims to present a better understanding of the corporeality of sacred art and architecture. The research points to how early Christians and Byzantines teleologically viewed the divine source of the sacred in terms of its ability to bring together - but never fully dissolve - the distinctions between the human and divine realms. The revealed mechanisms of iconic perception and noetic contemplation have the potential to shape knowledge of the meanings of the sacred as well as to improve our understanding of the liminality of the profane and the sacred.

The face of John Wesley (1703-91), the Methodist leader, became one of the most familiar images in the English-speaking and transatlantic worlds through the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. After the dozen or so painted portraits made during his lifetime came numbers of posthumous portraits and moralising 'scene paintings', and hundreds of variations of prints. It was calculated that six million copies were produced of one print alone - an 1827 portrait by John Jackson R.A. as frontispiece for a hymn book. Illustrated by nearly one hundred images, many in colour, with a comprehensive appendix listing known Wesley images, this book offers a much-needed comprehensive and critical survey of one of the most influential religious and public figures of eighteenth-century Britain. Besides chapters on portraits from the life and after, scene paintings and prints, it explores aspects of Wesley's (and Methodism's) attitudes to art, and the personality cult which gathered around Wesley as Methodism expanded globally. It will be of interest to art historians as a treatment of an individual sitter and subject, as well as to scholars engaged in Wesley and Methodist studies. It is also significant for the field of material studies, given the spread and use of the image, on artefacts as well as on paper.

The ancient Greeks perceived the human body as an object of sensory delight and its depiction as the expression of an intelligent mind. This sumptuous photographic book explores ancient Greek sculptures of the body from every angle. With an introduction outlining the use of the body in Greek art from the prehistoric simplicity of Cycladic figurines to the realism of the Hellenistic age, seven thematic sections then feature stunning photographs of close ups taken from the British Museum's outstanding collection of marble, bronze and terracotta sculpture. The gods and heroes of Greek religion and mythology are conceived in the image of mankind, as supermen and superwomen, while other supernatural beings such as centaurs and satyrs combine human with animal parts as symbols of their otherworldliness. Human shape is also given to the inanimate phenomena of nature, such as wind and moon, as well as intangible human experiences such as sleep and death. A salient feature of Greek art is human nudity, which was celebrated rather than considered shameful. The great majority of female nudes that have come down to us are representations of Aphrodite, goddess of erotic love. In the Hellenistic age, Alexander's conquest and Hellenisation of the people formerly included in the Persian empire created a new and cosmopolitan world. Greek artists were made more aware than ever before of the ethnic diversity of humanity and delighted in representing and classifying humankind in all its variety young and old, fat and thin, beautiful and ugly, freeborn and slave, pauper and wealthy, able and disabled, moral and immoral. The Hellenistic period, more than any previous, was also truly an age of portraiture, reflected love in compelling and unusual images.

This charming book revolves around the two journals Bates produced during his groundbreaking travels in the Amazon, and his classic work The Naturalist on the River Amazons. Alongside specially selected excerpts from his book are facsimile reproductions of the pages from his journals demonstrating his talents as an artist as well as a scientist. Bates, a trusted companion of Alfred Russel Wallace, travelled with him to the Amazon in 1848. There he became fascinated by close similarities in appearance between unrelated butterflies. He found that so-called tasty species - those that are sought after by predators - had evolved to look like toxic species to escape being attacked. This idea became known as Batesian mimicry. Bates spent a total of 11 years in the Amazon, exploring the vast network of largely unvisited major rivers and their tributaries, set in the world's largest area of tropical rain forest in South America. By the time he returned to England in 1859, still only 34 years old, Bates had collected, by his own estimate, some 712 species of mammals, reptiles, birds, fishes and molluscs, and about 14,000 species of insects, of which no less than 8,000 were previously unknown.

Reviewers of a recent exhibition termed Federico Barocci (ca. 1533-1612), 'the greatest artist you've never heard of'. One of the first original iconographers of the Counter Reformation, Barocci was a remarkably inventive religious painter and draftsman, and the first Italian artist to incorporate extensive color into his drawings. The purpose of this volume is to offer new insights into Barocci's work and to accord this artist, the dates of whose career fall between the traditional Renaissance and Baroque periods, the critical attention he deserves. Employing a range of methodologies, the essays include new ideas on Barocci's masterpiece, the Entombment of Christ; fresh thinking about his use of color in his drawings and innovative design methods; insights into his approach to the nude; revelations on a key early patron; a consideration of the reasons behind some of his most original iconography; an analysis of his unusual approach to the marketing of his pictures; an exploration of some little-known aspects of his early production, such as his reliance on Italian majolica and contemporary sculpture in developing his compositions; and an examination of a key Barocci document, the post mortem inventory of his studio. A translated transcription of the inventory is included as an appendix.

After 1500, as Catholic Europe fragmented into warring sects, evidence of a pagan past came newly into view, and travelers to distant places encountered deeply unfamiliar visual cultures, it became ever more pressing to distinguish between the sacred image and its opposite, the 'idol'. Historians and philosophers have long attended to Reformation charges of idolatry - the premise for image-breaking - but only very recently have scholars begun to consider the ways that the idol occasioned the making no less than the destruction. The present book focuses on how idols and ideas about them matter for the history of early modern objects produced around the globe, especially those created in the context of an exchange or confrontation between an 'us' and a 'them'. Ranging widely within the early modern period, the volume contributes to the project of globalizing the study of European art, bringing the continent's commercial, colonial, antiquarian, and religious histories into dialogue. Its studies of crosses, statues on columns, wax ex-votos, ivories, prints, maps, manuscripts, fountains, banners, and New World gold all frame Western 'art' simultaneously as an idea and as a collection of real things, arguing that it was through the idol that object-makers and writers came to terms with what it was that art should be, and do.

Award-winning artist Harriet de Winton shows you how to create contemporary watercolour artworks to treasure and share. Through more than 30 step-by-step projects, discover how to paint individual flowers and foliage, as well as beautiful botanical compositions. Use your new skills to make art for your wall, unique cards, invitations, or simply paint for pleasure.

Guns, knives, swords, bare-handed or bare-assed -- these ladies are lovely and VERY lethal. A cunning collection of deadly divas being showcased by artists Paco Diaz, Rafa Lopez, and Jose Manuel. Non-stop beat-downs and furious fighting, all while looking good doing it is the hallmark of these honeys, with a blending of those two American favourites -- sex and violence in perfect harmony! If you like your blood sport served up raw and delicious, this is the gallery of guns and gals for you! Kick-ass cover art by Dave Dunstan.

In our imaginings of Paris, painter and graphic artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) has no small role to play. In his prints, posters, paintings, and drawings, the artist immortalized the city's Belle Epoque nightlife and put the northern neighborhood of Montmartre on the global map of creative-hedonist hotspots. The son of old French nobility, Toulouse-Lautrec seems to have been drawn early on to visions of a demimonde, centering his attention on the dance halls, cabarets, and brothels of Montmartre and adopting famed dancers and singers as his subjects, most notably Jane Avril. His works include both lively performance scenes and quiet, tender "after-hours" portraits such as The Sofa and In Bed. Stylistically, he mastered both bold graphics, as celebrated in his promotional posters of Jane Avril, and a loose yet evocative sketchwork. Though he died aged just 36, due to complications from alcoholism and syphilis, Toulouse-Lautrec's cultural influence was immense. This introductory book takes a walk through his world of singers, dancers, musicians, and prostitutes to reveal an artist of great humanity, striking figurative skill, and a pronounced sense for the energy and stories of a city. About the series Born back in 1985, the Basic Art Series has evolved into the best-selling art book collection ever published. Each book in TASCHEN's Basic Art series features: a detailed chronological summary of the life and oeuvre of the artist, covering his or her cultural and historical importance a concise biography approximately 100 illustrations with explanatory captions

Hey, let's face facts - it's cold up at the North Pole. If you think hot chocolate and Mrs. Claus in a flannel nightie is all Santa has to keep himself warm - think again! Ol' St Nick keeps those handy lists of who's naughty and nice, but there's a special scrool of the very naughty that he keeps in a secret spot in his sock drawer! No wonder the fat ol' guy's so damned jolly! Ho, ho, ho indeed - here's an-all collection of Christmas-time cuties that might put the X in Xmas and keep it there! Eye-popping gifts of spicy holiday illustrations by such evil elves as Pelaez, Buci, Maraschi, Flores, Danilo, Lencina, and many other Gallery Girl faves! With a cover painting by Dave Nestler, another theory about ice-caps melting might be in order!

This book reveals how art and sex promoted the desire for the genetically perfect body. Its eight chapters demonstrate that before eugenics was stigmatized by the Holocaust and Western histories were sanitized of its prevalence, a vast array of Western politicians, physicians, eugenic societies, family leagues, health associations, laboratories and museums advocated, through verbal and visual cultures, the breeding of 'the master race'. Each chapter illustrates the uncanny resemblances between models of sexual management and the perfect eugenic body in America, Britain, France, Communist Russia and Nazi Germany both before and after the Second World War. Traced back to the eighteenth-century anatomy lesson, the perfect eugenic body is revealed as athletic, hygienic, 'pure-blooded' and sexually potent. This paradigm is shown to have persisted as much during the Bolshevik sexual revolution, as in democratic nations and fascist regimes. Consistently posed naked, these images were unashamedly exhibitionist and voyeuristic. Despite stringent legislation against obscenity, not only were these images commended for soliciting the spectator's gaze but also for motivating the spectator to act out their desire. An examination of the counter-archives of Maori and African Americans also exposes how biologically racist eugenics could be equally challenged by art. Ultimately this book establishes that art inculcated procreative sex with the Corpus Delecti - the delectable body, healthy, wholesome and sanctioned by eugenicists for improving the Western race.

The popularity of the comic performers of late-Georgian and Regency England and their frequent depiction in portraits, caricatures and prints is beyond dispute, yet until now little has been written on the subject. In this unique study Jim Davis considers the representation of English low comic actors, such as Joseph Munden, John Liston, Charles Mathews and John Emery, in the visual arts of the period, the ways in which such representations became part of the visual culture of their time, and the impact of visual representation and art theory on prose descriptions of comic actors. Davis reveals how many of the actors discussed also exhibited or collected paintings and used painterly techniques to evoke the world around them. Drawing particularly on the influence of Hogarth and Wilkie, he goes on to examine portraiture as critique and what the actors themselves represented in terms of notions of national and regional identity.

Catalogue and iconography of the extraordinary wealth of images of Sir Isaac Newton, both before and after his death. Sir Isaac Newton [1642-1727] is rare among figures of the past for the number of authentic paintings, engravings and images of him which survive. He was painted by some nine different artists in the latter part of his life, and after his death both portraits and sculptures continued to proliferate, the amazing demand for representations of his image demonstrating his immense fame. This iconography, lavishly illustrated in both colour and black and white, and involving the disciplines of History of Art and History of Science, catalogues 231 icons in two sections, and is thus an invaluable guide to the images. Part I contains 122 portraits and Part II 109 sculptures, about fifty of which were produced before his death, the rest from then until 1800.

Experience the joy of painting with this innovative workbook where contemporary design meets the paint-by-number method you know and love from your childhood. All 30 numbered outlines are printed on high-quality, smooth, thick, single-sided art paper that's ideal for acrylic paint. Ranging from lovely garden flowers such as peonies, dahlias, sunflowers, and roses to lush orange blossom branches and monstera leaves, each botanical painting features soft color palettes to soothe your mind with the beauty of nature. The method is simple: Just tear out the numbered design along the perforated edging, follow the colour map included, and feel your stress melt away as a masterpiece blooms effortlessly beneath your brush.

As one of the first books to treat portraits of early modern women as a discrete subject, this volume considers the possibilities and limits of agency and identity for women in history and, with particular attention to gender, as categories of analysis for women's images. Its nine original essays on Italy, the Low Countries, Germany, France, and England deepen the usefulness of these analytical tools for portraiture. Among the book's broad contributions: it dispels false assumptions about agency's possibilities and limits, showing how agency can be located outside of conventional understanding, and, conversely, how it can be stretched too far. It demonstrates that agency is compatible with relational gender analysis, especially when alternative agencies such as spectatorship are taken into account. It also makes evident the importance of aesthetics for the study of identity and agency. The individual essays reveal, among other things, how portraits broadened the traditional parameters of portraiture, explored transvestism and same-sex eroticism, appropriated aspects of male portraiture to claim those values for their sitters, and, as sites for gender negotiation, resistance, and debate, invoked considerable relational anxiety. Richly layered in method, the book offers an array of provocative insights into its subject.

When your name becomes a way to describe a style of pin-up, you know you're arrived! Dave Nestler's unique portraits of stunning young ladies in perfect poses has made this former commericial artist a colossal success! Taking the plunge from steady/safe work in advertising, Dave's approach and appeal in the art market has made him a bit of a rock-star, complete with an adoring fan base and a delightful collection of top-flight models/muses! In this latest showcase of Dave's work, we get a gallery viewing of his latest pencils, studies, and most delightfully - his full color paintings. His airbrushed angels fairly float off the page - fantasy never looked this real! Nestler Girls 1 is a deluxe oversized presentation.

Artistic representations of landscape are studied widely in areas ranging from art history to geography to sociology, yet there has been little consensus about how to understand the relationship between landscape and art. This book brings together more than fifty scholars from these multiple disciplines to establish new ways of thinking about landscape in art.

Now she turns her attention to our mysterious, playful and surprisingly wise feline friends. Every page of this full colour gift book pairs a charming photograph with just the right sentiment, offering an inspiring life lesson we can learn from cats. 'Rub people the right way.' 'Be fearless...but have an escape plan.' 'Stay a little wild.' Whether they are hunting, snoozing, playfully wreaking havoc, or showering us with affection, cats have a lot to teach us about living a full life (after all, with nine lives, they have a lot of experience!). As Copeland reminds us, all we have to do is observe with an open heart and mind. Tender, funny, and warm, Really Important Stuff My Cat Has Taught Me is a loving tribute to the feline spirit.

This study provides an historical context for the origin and evolution of the Spanish tradition of Apocalpyse imagery. The volumes in this series include an introductory text and catalogue raisonnee in chronological sequence in which concise codicological descriptions of each item are given, as well as critical discussions of date and orgin. All the illustrations of each manuscript are reproduced forming a corpus of nearly 2000 illustrations.;This volume introduces the textual and visual tradition of manuscripts containing the Spanish monk Beatus's "Commentary on the Apocalypse". It examines the origins and the sources for Beatus's textual commentaries and the formation and evolution of particular iconographic traditions.

The Kitty McCall Toucan Paint By Number Kit from Galison includes line-drawing floral art on canvas from Nigerian-born, UK-based artist, Kitty McCall. This paint by numbers piece is designed for anyone to replicate McCall's stunning artwork. Influenced by the natural world around her, along with the vibrant landscape of her early childhood in Nigeria, Kitty McCall has developed a signature style of bold colors, overlaid patterns, and shapes to create geometric designs and floral landscapes for interiors, and accessories. * Box Size: 8.25 x 10.25 x 1.75", 210 x 260 x 45 mm * One Canvas: 8 x 10", 203 x 254 mm * Color guide / Instruction Sheet * One Wooden Easel, Two Paint Brushes * 6 Acrylic Paints

The rise of the mendicant orders in the later Middle Ages coincided with rapid and dramatic shifts in the visual arts. The mendicants were prolific patrons, relying on artworks to instruct and impress their diverse lay congregations. Churches and chapels were built, and new images and iconographies developed to propagate mendicant cults. But how should the two phenomena be related? How much were these orders actively responsible for artistic change, and how much did they simply benefit from it? To explore these questions, Art and the Augustinian Order in Early Renaissance Italy looks at art in the formative period of the Augustinian Hermits, an order with a particularly difficult relation to art. As a first detailed study of visual culture in the Augustinian order, this book will be a basic resource, making available previously inaccessible material, discussing both well-known and more neglected artworks, and engaging with fundamental methodological questions for pre-modern art and church history, from the creation of religious iconographies to the role of gender in art.

In Neo-Impressionism and Anarchism in Fin-de-Siecle France, Robyn Roslak examines for the first time the close relationship between neo-impressionist landscapes and cityscapes and the anarchist sympathies of the movement's artists. She focuses in particular on paintings produced between 1886 and 1905 by Paul Signac and Maximilien Luce, the neo-impressionists whose fidelity to anarchism, to the art of landscape and to a belief in the social potential of art was strongest. Although the neo-impressionists are best known for their rational and scientific technique, they also heeded the era's call for art surpassing the mundane realities of everyday life. By tempering their modern subjects with a decorative style, they hoped to lead their viewers toward moral and social improvement. Roslak's ground-breaking analysis shows how the anarchist theories of Elisee Reclus, Pierre Kropotkin and Jean Grave both inspired and coincided with these ideals. Anarchism attracted the neo-impressionists because its standards for social justice were grounded, like neo-impressionism itself, in scientific exactitude and aesthetic idealism. Anarchists claimed humanity would reach its highest level of social and moral development only in the presence of a decorative variety of nature, and called upon progressive thinkers to help create and maintain such environments. The neo-impressionists, who primarily painted decorative landscapes, therefore discovered in anarchism a political theory consistent with their belief that decorative harmony should be the basis for socially responsible art.

Drawing and painting realistic flowers is achievable! Create a wide variety of blooms and greenery using an easy step-by-step method, then add watercolor for gorgeous effects. In Drawing and Painting Beautiful Flowers, discover how to draw flowers such as cosmos, hibiscus, canola, lily of the valley, hydrangea, foxglove, and more from various angles, and learn about perspective and shading. Once you have the skills to draw a single flower, learn how to draw groupings and wreaths. Mix in leaves and smaller flowers to create a variety of looks. Then, learn simple techniques to add luscious watercolor, using shading, blending, and gradient techniques for eye-catching results. Popular Instagram artist Kyehyun Park shares her secrets for capturing realistic flower, leaf, and plant shapes. Artists of all levels love drawing and painting nature, and with these techniques they'll confidently render lifelike botanicals in an array of lovely palettes. The book also includes: Ideas and techniques for drawing and painting charming potted plants Instructions for drawing and painting smaller flowers, buds, and branches Watercolor techniques showing how to expertly blend colors, use brush strokes and brush pressure to create various shapes, and how to use color to shade and highlight Warm-up exercises that help develop skills Simple methods for understanding perspective and composition, making it effortless to draw flowers from different angles Add these striking florals to sketchbooks, stationery, journals, and more. With Drawing and Painting Beautiful Flowers, creating true-to-life florals and plants is within your reach!

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.