The most comprehensive and best-illustrated history of watercolour painting ever published. The term watercolour calls to mind atmosphere, luminosity, and immediacy - qualities that derive directly from the quick-drying, translucent nature of water-based pigments. In Watercolor: A History, Louvre curator Marie-Pierre Sale provides an authoritative and beautifully illustrated account of this versatile and widely beloved artistic medium. Sale's incisive text traces the development of watercolour from the 13th to the 20th century in Europe and the United States, encompassing every type of work - from plein-air sketches to finished studio pieces - and a wide variety of artists. Here are Durer's detailed animal studies, Turner's landscapes, Cezanne's tireless explorations, Sargent's light-dappled sketches, O'Keeffe's pioneering abstractions. This handsome volume features more than 300 full-colour illustrations, specially printed on Munken paper to capture the vibrancy and texture of the original works. It is sure to be welcomed by art historians and art lovers alike.

The charming painter of Endymion's Sleep, Atala's Funeral and Chateaubriand's Portrait was also a poet. Thanks to his classical education, Girodet (1767-1824) was the author of free translations of ancient Greek and Latin poets. In 1808 he tried the to imitate and at the same time illustrate the Odes of Anacreon, whose edition was published posthumously. The Musee du Louvre holds the precious manuscript of this intense and complex work, in which the poetic research and graphic invention - compositions or vignettes - intertwine with the text. Only a facsimile could restore this organic whole in its integrity. This book reconstructs the history of the manuscript, the various stages of the project and the posthumous versions, and analyses the artist's aesthetic sources. Girodet's handwriting is sometimes difficult to decode, but the complete transcription allows the reader to appreciate all the refinements and to rediscover the charm of Anacreontic poetry. Text in French.