A comprehensive, in-depth study of North American waterfowl. This study is covered in three lavishly illustrated volumes. Volume III covers our goose and swan species of North America, plus the nene goose of Hawaii, the barnacle goose of Europe, the beautiful little red-breasted goose and lesser white-fronted goose of Europe and Asia, and the mute swan, a native of Europe.

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610) lived the darkest and most dangerous life of any of the great painters. This commanding biography explores Caravaggio's staggering artistic achievements, his volatile personal trajectory, and his tragic and mysterious death at age thirty-eight. Featuring more than eighty full-color reproductions of the artist's best paintings, Caravaggio is a masterful profile of the mercurial painter.

Many people know that Vincent van Gogh (1853-90) was a 19th-century Dutch artist, a leading light of the Post-Impressionist movement who painted 'Sunflowers' and cut off his own ear. What, perhaps, they don't know is that he sold, in his lifetime, only one of the 2,100 artworks he painted; that, in 1998, his work 'Self- Portrait Without Beard' sold for $71.5 million; that he wrote over 800 letters; and that he sent that famous ear wrapped in brown paper to a brothel. Biographic: Van Gogh presents an instant impression of his life and work, with an array of irresistible facts and figures converted into infographics to reveal the artist behind the pictures.

The magic of painting has been present throughout human history, serving as a faithful narrator and mirror of times past, reflecting society's dreams and concerns. With an infinite number of different techniques and styles, from the purest realism to symbolism, abstraction, and expressionism, painting has allowed artists to create works that will appeal to everyone. Each painting becomes a means of expression in and of itself, we live in a time in which we enjoy total creative freedom and are exposed to a large quantity of visual information. So much so that the multidisciplinary approach, the simplicity of lines, the blend of textures, and experimentation with styles and techniques are constant factors in the work of every artist.This magnificently illustrated book brings together the best works of artists from all over the world, showcasing an extraordinary breadth of talent and creativity.

Explore and create expressive palettes and paintings with Color Harmony for Artists. Watercolor author, artist, and teacher Ana Victoria Calderon guides you through choosing, mixing, and using color with watercolor and mixed media to create the most expressive and appealing combinations and effects for a wide range of moods and subjects. You'll explore a variety of subjects and themes, including flowers, foliage, landscapes, skies, cities, figures, art movements, and historical eras. Begin with a quick overview of the basics of color, color mixing, and mixed media. Explore a variety of color and media combinations, including brilliant brights, muted neutrals, high-contrast complements, and special effects. Find inspiration in evocative photos, abundant palettes, and beautiful paintings. With Color Harmony for Artists, every artist, from beginner to advanced, will be inspired to embrace the creative possibilities of color and paint!

"There is scarcely one letter by Van Gogh which I, who am certainly no expert, do not find fascinating." -W. H. Auden In addition to his many remarkable paintings and drawings, Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) left behind a fascinating and voluminous body of correspondence. This highly accessible book includes a broad selection of 265 letters, from a total of 820 in existence, that focus on Van Gogh's relentless quest to find his destiny, a search that led him to become an artist; the close bond with his brother Theo; his fraught relationship with his father; his innate yearning for recognition; and his great love of art and literature. The correspondence not only offers detailed insights into Van Gogh's complex inner life, but also re-creates the world in which he lived and the artistic avant-garde that was taking hold in Paris. The letters are accompanied by a general introduction, historic family photographs, and reproductions of 87 actual pages of letters that contain sketches by Van Gogh. Selected from the critically acclaimed 6-volume set of letters published by the Van Gogh Museum in 2009, Ever Yours is the essential book on Van Gogh's letters, which every art and literature lover needs to own. Published in association with the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Every painted work that is on display in the Uffizi Gallery, The Pitti Palace, the Accademia, and the Duomo is included in the book, plus many or most of the works from 28 of the city's other magnificent museums and churches. The research and text are by Ross King (best-selling author), Anja Grebe (author or The Louvre and The Vatican), Cristina Acidini (former Superintendent of the public museums of Florence) and Msgr. Timothy Verdon (Director of the artworks for the Archdiocese of Florence).

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.

Using the watercolour pencils and paintbrush included, create unique pieces of Disneyland art

Sir Peter Lely (1618-1680) was Charles II's Principal Painter and the outstanding artistic figure of Restoration England. When Lely arrived in England in the early 1640s his ambition was to be a painter of narrative scenes and not to work as a portraitist. However, the 'subject pictures' did not find favor with many English patrons and he produced less than thirty. As Lely's friend Richard Lovelace explained, all they wanted was "their own dull counterfeits" or portraits of their mistresses. Thus, Lely was obliged to turn to portraiture to make a living. Yet, his poetic pictures of figures in idyllic landscapes are among the most beautiful paintings made in 17th-century England and this catalog will be the first in-depth look at this important chapter of this major painter's career. Lely was born in Westphalia and received his artistic training in Haarlem with Frans Pietersz. De Grebber. He came to England around 1643. Few painters had stayed in London following the move of the Royal Court to Oxford, and Lely was therefore free to establish his reputation in the city. By 1650 he had settled at a house on Covent Garden Plaza (a five-minute walk from Somerset House) where he remained for the rest of his life. His major patrons were the 'Puritan Earls', a group of cultivated noblemen including the Duke of Northumberland and the Earls of Pembroke and Salisbury, as well as the circle surrounding the Countess of Dysart at Ham House. Lely never met Van Dyck (who had died in London in 1641), but he had the opportunity to study his paintings and those of the great Venetian 16th-century artists Giorgione and Titian in the houses of these wealthy aristocratic patrons. He began to buy these works himself and by the end of his life had amassed one of Europe's richest collections of 16th- and 17th-century Italian paintings and drawings. It was probably in response to the pictures of Van Dyck and the Venetian Renaissance that he made his most ambitious works, including The Concert (The Courtauld Gallery) and Nymphs by a Fountain (Dulwich Picture Gallery, London). This group of enigmatic paintings are massive in scale and united by strong lighting, idealized landscape settings and a sense of theatricality and sensuality. Unlike many painters, Lely did not rely on classical mythology, but was able to create his own, highly personal dramas. For instance, it is likely that the man playing the viola da gamba in the center of The Concert is the painter himself. The exhibition Peter Lely: A Lyrical Vision at The Courtauld Gallery, London, is on view from 11 October 2012 to 13 January 2013.

This beautifully illustrated book is the first practical step-by-step guide to using coloured pencils in botanical painting and is written by Ann Swan, one of the top exponents of the genre. Water-soluble and oil-based coloured pencils are becoming increasingly popular for botanical painting as they are easier to use than traditional watercolour and are more forgiving, yet they produce the same stunning effects. They are especially suitable for the accuracy needed to paint in the botanical style of illustration. In this book Ann Swan gives helpful advice on all aspects of working with coloured pencils, including the techniques you will have to master - underpainting, layering and burnishing. She also demontrates how to mix and build up colour, and how to add those finishing touches that will complete your painting successfully. Several full step-by-step demonstrations are included to show how these techniques are put into practice. The book concludes with a gallery of coloured pencil works by the author, students of botanical painting and other professional botanical painters, providing a wonderful source of reference and inspiration.

More than 70 works of Hogarth include musical references, and Jeremy Barlow's book is the first full-length work devoted to this aspect of his imagery. The first two chapters examine the evidence for Hogarth's interest in music and the problems of assessing accuracy, realism and symbolic meaning in his musical representations. Subsequent chapters show how musical details in his works may often be interpreted as part of his satirical weaponry; the starting point seems to have been his illustrations of the clamorous 'rough music' protest in Samuel Butler's immensely popular poem Hudibras. Hogarth's use of music for satirical purposes also has connections with a particular type of burlesque music in 18th-century England. It may be seen too in the roles played by his humiliated fiddlers or abject ballad singers. Each of the final two chapters focuses on a particular Hogarth subject: his paintings of a scene from a theatrical satire of music and society, The Beggar's Opera, and the print The Enraged Musician itself. The latter work draws together uses of musical imagery discussed previously and the book concludes with an analysis of its internal relations from a musical perspective. The book is lavishly illustrated with Hogarth's drawings, prints and paintings. Many other images are reproduced to provide contextual background. Several indices and appendices enhance the book's value as a reference tool: these include an annotated index of Hogarth's instruments, with photographs or other representations of the instruments he depicts; a detailed index of Hogarth's works with musical imagery; the texts and music for broadside ballads and single-sheet songs related to Hogarth's titles; 18th-century texts and street cries related to Hogarth's The Enraged Musician, and other musical examples indicated in the text. Also included is a facsimile of Bonnell Thornton's burlesque Ode on St CA|cilia's Day.

Despite the increased visibility of Victorian women artists in museum exhibitions and historical studies, the art produced by Victorian women has been viewed through a restrictive lens. Scholars have focused on works produced for the marketplace, but have overlooked art created and displayed outside of established venues and institutions of higher learning. Drawing upon sketches, paintings, and photographs, Intrepid Women: Victorian Artists Travel is a groundbreaking study that examines the art that women produced whilst traveling, as well as the circumstances that took these artists - both amateurs and professionals - far beyond the reaches of the traditional Grand Tour. Traveling throughout the British Empire, including the Middle East, India, Canada, and North Africa, and even to the Americas, the artists adapted to new climes and foreign cultures partially by documenting the unfamiliar through their art, sometimes at great physical risk. This volume of essays offers fresh evidence that through their travel and art, women extended both geographic and social boundaries. Each author presents evidence that women overcame institutional as well as cultural obstacles to improve their artistic skills and to use their art to convey worlds most British citizens would never see for themselves.

The Princeton University Art Museum' s collection of American drawings and watercolors is impressive in both scope and quality, providing a comprehensive overview of the nation' s artistic traditions. This lavishly illustrated book highlights seventy-seven master drawings and watercolors chosen from the museum' s extensive collection. The selections, which range from the eighteenth century to the present, are by such eminent American artists as Benjamin West, Winslow Homer, Thomas Eakins, Mary Cassatt, Andrew Wyeth, Georgia O' Keeffe, Lee Bontecou, and Tom Wesselmann. A group of outstanding works by Hudson River School and Ash Can artists also distinguishes the collection.

Each of the selected drawings and watercolors is reproduced in full color and is accompanied by an in-depth catalogue entry. The book also features an introduction by John Wilmerding describing Princeton' s history of collecting American art, as well as an essay by Kathleen A. Foster on the historiography of American drawings and watercolors. A useful checklist of the Museum' s entire collection of over 1,300 American drawings and watercolors, selectively illustrated in color, concludes the book.

This beautiful and informative volume clearly demonstrates that the holdings of the Princeton University Art Museum represent an extraordinary resource for students, scholars, and those with a love of American art and art history.

First Published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This is the first modern scholarly edition of the letters and memoirs of Joseph Severn, English painter and deathbed companion of John Keats. It includes letters from a remarkable collection of never-before-published correspondence held by descendants of the Severn family. Scott's unprecedented access to hundreds of new letters has resulted in a major revisionist work that challenges traditional ideas about Severn's life and character. The edition includes new information about Severn's early artistic success in Italy, an extraordinarily thorough record of his day-to-day activities as a working artist in England, and surprising details about his experience as British Consul in Rome. The volume represents a significant work of recovery, printing in full three important memoirs that have until now appeared only in inaccurate excerpts and offering thirty-three illustrations that demonstrate the range of Severn's talents as a painter. Scott makes a compelling case for a revaluation of Severn, whose friends also included Charles Eastlake, William Gladstone, Leigh Hunt, John Ruskin, and Mary Shelley. This collection will prove valuable not only to literary biographers and Keats scholars, but also to art and cultural historians of the Romantic and Victorian eras. Adding significantly to the volume's usefulness are a detailed chronology of Severn's life and artwork, and appendices containing an index of the newly discovered letters and a ledger of Severn's patrons, paintings and commissions.

Leng Bingchuan: Master of Chinese Black and White Painting is the most comprehensive collection of ink paintings he has created so far, containing his 256 works from 1980 to 2000. Through these works, we can see the author's self-conscious pursuit of the theme, his straightforward, pure, strong and distinct characteristics, reflecting the spirit and charm of oriental art. With its unique cover design, Leng Bingchuan: Master of Chinese printmaking and Engraving also implies the design concept of minimalism.

Explore the deserts, mountains and souks of the Middle East, with best-selling author and artist David Bellamy. Following on from David's highly acclaimed Arctic Light, this book provides an intriguing and often entertaining insight into South Arabia and the Swahili Coast, Jordan, Lebanon and Oman. It describes the history, culture, customs and geography of the region and the daily life of its inhabitants, as viewed through the eyes of a world-renowned watercolour artist and life-long adventurer. Filled with personal anecdotes and humour, David Bellamy's unique account shines a light on the Middle East and highlights the incredible beauty and fascinating culture of this much-neglected region. David's stunning artwork, that he painted during his various expeditions, features throughout the book and captures perfectly the diverse and majestic nature of the region. Watercolourists will be inspired by the author's awe-inspiring ability to depict sweeping vistas and create a sense of space in his paintings, and to capture the very essence of a place through his art.

The definitive monograph on the iconoclastic painter George Condo. With his arresting, unsettling style, George Condo emerged out of the dynamism of the New York art scene in the early 1980s, and he has been restlessly painting, drawing and sculpting - bringing forms into the world in one way or another - ever since. With his 'fake' Old Masters, reconfigured Manets, impossibly intricate paintings that seem abstract only from a distance, fractured and multifaceted 'psychologically Cubist' portraits, and the orgiastic misdemeanours of a host of butlers, bankers and priests, Condo has invented, mastered and expanded not just one painterly language but an entire lexicon. Working closely with Condo, Simon Baker has combined biographical, chronological and thematic approaches to survey the artist's work and career to date. An introductory essay on Condo's contradictory nature and a chapter exploring his phenomenal early career are followed by three thematic chapters that look at the years from 1984 to the present, tracing Condo's systematic reconstruction of the techniques of painting, exploring his relationship to the concept of abstraction, and probing the darker side of his psychological iconography in drawing, painting, sculpture and writing. George Condo is the definitive monograph about a unique artist that will appeal to artists, art students and those with a general interest in art.

The trendy duo: watercolor & hand lettering. The trendy combination of sayings, light motifs, and elements in a watercolor look. This is a book of several blogger projects. The bloggers show their watercolor projects and the connection of watercolor paints, brush pen, and fineliner. With many step-by-step instructions for watercolor motifs, it is the perfect way to get to know the world of flowing colors. The basics of watercolor painting such as glaze, wash, and wet on wet are explained right at the beginning. The project book for beautiful watercolor letterings.

Try your hands at these historically and culturally important methods, and create some beautiful paintings of your own. Chinese painting is an ancient art that has evolved and become refined over many centuries. Artists brush ink and color pigments onto silk or paper using a variety of techniques, with two main approaches: gongbi a traditional and realistic style based on line drawing, and xieyi style, a freehand method that uses fewer strokes to suggest objects in a less literal way. Painting themes generally fall into three categories: figure, landscaping, and bird-and-flower. Chinese brush painting is mainly presented in lines, shades and white space to express the feelings about nature, social phenomena, and the very essence of the universe. The framework for this expression is often traditional: certain subjects carry cultural connotations that are well-known and imbue the painting with a layer of meaning beyond face value of objects shown. The traditional subjects such as mandarin ducks, butterflies, and the 'Four Gentlemen' (plum blossoms, orchids, bamboos, and chrysanthemum) are examples that contain this rich cultural meaning. Readers will learn first about the tools and materials, then painting techniques. Early pages explore the very basic painting methods and subjects—perfect for beginning painters—but continue to build skills for painting plants and animals of increasing complexity. Chinese Brush Painting illustrates several Chinese brush painting techniques with the use of different tools, brushwork and color mixing. With the step-by-step projects, you can first follow the introductory lessons to learn the necessary skills of brushwork, usage of paper, and characteristics of water, ink and colors; then follow the advanced lessons to learn the compositions and more complicated color applications.

This is the first book to survey the work of painter and printmaker Tom Hammick (b.1963). It sets Hammick's art within the context of contemporary debates about painting while relating it to the two-centuries-old Romantic tradition. Julian Bell explores in depth the artist's working processes, imagery and career to date, arguing that Hammick's work constitutes one of the richest imaginative achievements in late 20th- and early 21st-century British art. Many of Hammick's pictures respond to the landscape of South-East England, where he has spent much of his life. Others are inspired by his encounter with the wilderness of Canada's remote maritime provinces, a regularly revisited imaginative resource that has given his work much of its distinctive flavour. Hammick has spent three periods in Canada: as both a student and later visiting lecturer in Painting and Printmaking at Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax between 1989 and 2002, and in 2005 after being awarded a residency at the Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador, now called the Rooms. Informed by the author's sustained contact with Hammick over many years, illustrated with over 120 carefully selected images, and produced in close collaboration with the artist, Tom Hammick: Wall, Window, World will appeal to the artist's collectors and wide popular audience, as well as students, art-world professionals and painting enthusiasts. It is available also in a special edition incorporating the three-part colour etching Fallout, created by the artist specially for this publication in an edition of 60.