Enter The Madman's Gallery and discover an extraordinary,
illustrated exhibition of the greatest curiosities from the global
history of art, featuring one hundred magnificently eccentric
antique paintings, engravings, illustrations, and sculptures, each
with a fascinatingly bizarre story to tell. Brought to light from
the depths of libraries, museums, dealers, and galleries around the
world, these forgotten artistic treasures include portraits of
oddballs such as the British explorer with a penchant for riding
crocodiles, and the Italian monk who levitated so often he's
recognized as the patron saint of airplane passengers. Discover
impossible medieval land yachts, floating churches, and
eagle-powered airships. Encounter dog-headed holy men, armies of
German giants, 18th-century stuntmen, human chessboards, screaming
ghost heads, and more marvels of the human imagination. A
captivating odditorium of obscure and engaging characters and
works, each expertly brought to life by historian and curator of
the strange Edward Brooke-Hitching, here is a richly illustrated
and entertaining gallery for lovers of outre art and history. A
GLOBAL SURVEY: Here are European painters who used ground up
Egyptian mummies as pigment, examples of the antique Japanese art
of Gyotaku (fish stone rubbings) using dried fish as printing
plates, a Parisian art hoax featuring paintings actually created by
a chimpanzee, and much more. ODDITIES ABOUND: Depictions of the
demon worms believed to cause toothaches carved into human molars:
Check. A nude version of the Mona Lisa painted by the "bad boy"
apprentice of Leonardo da Vinci: Here it is. The most admiring
portrait of a cannibal likely ever produced: Presented in full
color. EXPERT AUTHOR: Edward Brooke-Hitching is a master of taking
visually driven deep dives into unusual historical subjects, such
as the maps of imaginary geography in The Phantom Atlas or ancient
pathways through the stars in The Sky Atlas, imaginative depictions
of heavens, hells, and afterworlds in The Devil's Atlas, and the
strangest books imaginable in The Madman's Library. Perfect for:
Fans of beautifully illustrated works, art history, and unusual
world atlas collections Readers of quirky history such as Schott's
Miscellany, Atlas Obscura, and the wildly popular QI series (for
which the author is a writer and researcher) Gift for a graduate,
teacher, or student of world history, art history, library science,
archeology, sociology, or any discipline engaged in the exploration
of curiosities and human nature
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