David Teniers and the Theatre of Painting


Book Description

This is an overdue investigation into one of the most remarkable artistic enterprises of the seventeenth century, David Teniers the Younger's publication in 1660 of the magnificent Theatrum Pictorium or Theatre of Painting, the first illustrated and printed collection catalogue. This book provides a detailed and richly layered account of this extraordinary project. In 1651, David Teniers (1610-1690) was appointed painter to the Brussels court of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, Governor of the Hapsburg Netherlands and owner of one of the finest princely collections in Europe, which now forms the core of the Kunsthistorisches Museum. Teniers first documented this collection in a series of detailed views of the interior of the Archduke's picture gallery. But his far more ambitious project was a lavishly illustrated single-volume catalogue of 243 of the Archduke's Italian paintings. Fundamental to the project was Tenier's production of small copies in oil of each of the selected paintings for use by the Theatrum's engravers, many of which are illustrated in this book.




Watteau, Music, and Theater


Book Description

"Accompanying an exhibition in honor of Philippe de Montebello, Director Emeritus of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, this engaging book examines the influence of music and theater on the art of Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721). Fifteen major paintings and a number of drawings by Watteau that illustrate the connections between painting and the performing arts in Paris are explored. In addition, drawings and prints by other 18th-century artists featuring musical or theatrical subjects and objects and musical instruments are included."--Publisher description.




Absorption and Theatricality


Book Description

With this widely acclaimed work, Michael Fried revised the way in which eighteenth-century French painting and criticism are viewed and understood. Analyzing paintings produced between 1753 and 1781 and the comments of a number of critics who wrote about them, especially Dennis Diderot, Fried discovers a new emphasis in the art of the time, based not on subject matter or style but on values and effects.




Art in History/History in Art


Book Description

Historians and art historians provide a critique of existing methodologies and an interdisciplinary inquiry into seventeenth-century Dutch art and culture.




Seventeenth-Century Flemish Garland Paintings


Book Description

Focusing on three celebrated northern European still life painters?Jan Brueghel, Daniel Seghers, and Jan Davidsz. de Heem?this book examines the emergence of the first garland painting in 1607-1608, and its subsequent transformation into a widely collected type of devotional image, curiosity, and decorative form. The first sustained study of the garland paintings, the book uses contextual and formal analysis to achieve two goals. One, it demonstrates how and why the paintings flourished in a number of contexts, ranging from an ecclesiastical center in Milan, to a Jesuit chapter house and private collections in Antwerp, to the Habsburg court in Vienna. Two, the book shows that when viewed over the course of the century, the images produced by Brueghel, Seghers and de Heem share important similarities, including an interest in self-referentiality and the exploration of pictorial form and materials. Using a range of evidence (inventories, period response, the paintings themselves), Susan Merriam shows how the pictures reconfigured the terms in which the devotional image was understood, and asked the viewer to consider in new ways how pictures are made and experienced.




Display & Art History


Book Description

This richly illustrated book examines the making of one of the earliest modern catalogues--La galerie électorale de Dusseldorff. Published in 1778, the revolutionary two-volume publication showcases one of the most important European painting collections of the eighteenth century, reflecting a pivotal moment in the history of art as well as the history of the art museum. In two essays, the authors analyze the process by which the catalogue was produced and shed light on the historical and cultural context that gave rise to an innovative and didactic way of displaying paintings--and, by extension, to art history as a discipline. The volume accompanies an exhibition of the same name to be held at the Getty Research Institute from May 31 to August 21, 2011.




Displaying Art in the Early Modern Period


Book Description

From aesthetic promenades in noble palaces to the performativity of religious apparatus, this edited volume reconsiders some of the events, habits and spaces that contributed to defining exhibition practices and shaping the imagery of the exhibition space in the early modern period. The contributors encourage connections between art history, exhibition studies, and architectural history, and explore micro-histories and long-term changes in order to open new perspectives for studying these pioneering exhibition-making practices. Aiming to understand what spaces have done and still do to art, the book explores an underdeveloped area in the field that has yet to trace its interdisciplinary nature and understand its place in the history of art. The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, museum studies, exhibition history, and architectural history.




Ways of Seeing


Book Description

Contains seven essays. Three of them use only pictures. Examines the relationship between what we see and what we know.




Jacob Campo Weyerman and His Collection of Artists' Biographies


Book Description

Painted and written genre scenes -- Failed artists -- Portraiture -- Art in the public sphere -- Art criticism -- Pliny, Durand and Weyerman -- Epilogue -- Appendix 1: Biography of Willem de Fouchier -- Appendix 2: Disquisition on the art of the ancients.




Museum and Gallery Publishing


Book Description

Museum and Gallery Publishing examines the theory and practice of general and scholarly publishing associated with museum and art gallery collections. Focusing on the production and reception of these texts, the book explains the relevance of publishing to the cultural, commercial and social contexts of collections and their institutions. Combining theory with case studies from around the world, Sarah Anne Hughes explores how, why and to what effect museums and galleries publish books. Covering a broad range of publishing formats and organisations, including heritage sites, libraries and temporary exhibitions, the book argues that the production and consumption of printed media within the context of collecting institutions occupies a unique and privileged role in the creation and communication of knowledge. Acknowledging that books offer functions beyond communication, Hughes argues that this places books published by museums in a unique relationship to institutions, with staff acting as producers and visitors as consumers.The logistical and ethical dimensions of museum and gallery publishing are also examined in depth, including consideration of issues such as production, the impact of digital technologies, funding and sponsorship, marketing, co-publishing, rights, and curators’ and artists’ agency. Focusing on an important but hitherto neglected topic, Museum and Gallery Publishing is key reading for researchers in the fields of museum, heritage, art and publishing studies. It will also be of interest to curators and other practitioners working in museums, heritage and science centres and art galleries.




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