One of Britain’s most important and influential painters, Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723 size=1 color=black>–1792) is justly celebrated for his dynamic portraiture, his poignant ‘fancy pictures’, his ambitious history paintings and his role as the first President of Britain’s Royal Academy. Published to accompany a major exhibition at the Wallace Collection, London (12 March size=1 color=black>–7 June 2015), and the result of the four-year research project, this catalogue focuses on Reynolds's innovative, often highly experimental approaches to the practice and materials of painting. It investigates his radical manipulation of pigments, oils, glazes and varnishes, and traces his experiments with colour, tone and handling. It reveals his continual temptation to rework and revise his pictures, illuminates his highly creative responses to the new exhibition culture of his day and explores his continual adaptations of the art of the Old Masters. In doing so, it encourages us to look at the work of this famous eighteenth-century British artist in a new and often surprising light. Technical analysis of some of Reynolds's most important paintings will be revelatory, and close-up photography and detailed examination of a range of pictures size=1 color=black>– at the centre of which are the Wallace Collection’s own outstanding collection of works by the artist size=1 color=black>– will shed light on the fascinating and ongoing process of experimentation that spanned Reynolds’s entire career. The book situates Reynolds’s practice of experimentation, of both technique and of subject, in relation to that conducted at leading societies of science and learning at the time, and specifically to Josiah Wedgwood, one of Enlightenment Britain’s greatest experimentalists in the arts. Finally, it demonstrates how Reynolds’s innovations as a painter were often the product of collaboration size=1 color=black>– in part, with his assistants and his students, but, more importantly, with his patrons and subjects, with whom he continually explored the possibilities of gesture, expression, performance and role-play.

Transform your literacy outcomes and engage your whole school in reading. Inspire and delight your children with contemporary, diverse and engaging texts that will spark a lifelong love of reading for pleasure. Get the most out of best-loved children's books with our bestselling Read & Respond series - the perfect way to explore favourite stories in your classroom. This resource book brings you a wealth of inspiring activities, discussion ideas and guided reading notes based on We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen. Stimulating content mapped to curriculum objectives Phonics section Shared reading and whole-class guided reading section including non-fiction extracts Time-saving lesson plans, activities and assessments Huge variety of speaking, listening and creative activities. Our Read & Respond series now has a dedicated online space containing: Curriculum and teaching overviews with recommendations on books to read for pleasure Classic small-group guided reading notes and resources Teaching reading resources such as ideas for vocabulary and fluency Access to the additional content referenced in the teacher's book. Including media resources and interactive activities (this content was previously available via a CD-ROM, it is an installable desktop program for Windows). Read & Respond helps you build a whole-school literacy programme based on timeless children's stories, chosen to inspire reading for pleasure. Fun-filled activities help children to fully engage with each story, encouraging a love of reading and building a range of skills. Underpinned by a wealth of research the teacher's guides provide activities with a strong focus on all of the 'big five' plus oracy and reading for pleasure, as well as concentration on grammar, punctuation & spelling and writing Foster reading for pleasure with stories from acclaimed and award-winning authors Prepare with confidence with essential teacher's books and supportive resources Save hours of preparation time with ready-to-use print and digital resources Boost guided reading in every year group with detailed teachers notes. PRAISE FOR READ & RESPOND 'The resources are wonderful. I like the fact that it has a mix of fiction and non-fiction activities ... and how material can link to other areas of the curriculum, not just literacy.' Miss North, teacher 'Reading for enjoyment and writing for enjoyment are two of the most powerful ways of getting children interested in books. Read & Respond provides exactly this.' Michael Morpurgo, author '[Read and Respond] makes it easy to explore texts fully and ensure that the children want to keep on reading more.' Chris Flanagan, Primary teacher.

Rubens: The Two Great Landscapes is a handsomely illustrated monograph that examines in depth Rubens's two greatest landscape paintings: A View of Het Steen in the Early Morning and The Rainbow Landscape. Painted as pendants, the pair have been in London since 1803, when they were separated, the former eventually entering the collection of the National Gallery and the latter that of the Wallace Collection. The book puts the creation of these two landscapes into the full context of Rubens's later life and his semi-retirement. It demonstrates how they are the zenith of his achievements as a landscape painter and explores how he drew skilfully on Flemish influences, including Bruegel, in creating two highly original compositions. Written to engage and appeal to the non-specialist reader and academic alike, the book makes an important contribution to scholarship in the field, including original technical research and new photography that show how these complex compositions evolved iteratively as the panels onto which they were painted were expanded. It also presents an updated and almost complete history of the provenance of the two paintings describing their passage through eminent collections from the time of Rubens's death until they reached their respective collections in London, separated by less than a mile.