The Later Flemish Pictures in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen


Book Description

The catalog opens with a detailed account of the growth of the collection from the early Stuarts to the reign of Queen Victoria. Particular attention is given to Charles I's close relations with Rubens, and since later members of the royal family also made important acquisitions, the full range of Rubens' practice is covered by the catalog: there are works entirely by his hand as well as works carried out with known collaborators or with the help of his studio. An outstanding group of genre paintings by David Teniers the Younger is examined and illustrated, and paintings by Jan Brueghel, Gonzalez Coques, Frans Francken, Frans Snyders, Karl Philips Spierincks and Jan Wildens round out the collection.













The Art Collector in Early Modern Italy


Book Description

Lorenzo Lotto's Portrait of Andrea Odoni is one of the most famous paintings of the Italian Renaissance. Son of an immigrant and a member of the non-noble citizen class, Odoni understood how the power of art could make a name for himself and his family in his adopted homeland. Far from emulating Venetian patricians, however, he set himself apart through the works he collected and the way he displayed them. In this book, Monika Schmitter imaginatively reconstructs Odoni's house – essentially a 'portrait' of Odoni through his surroundings and possessions. Schmitter's detailed analysis of Odoni's life and portrait reveals how sixteenth-century individuals drew on contemporary ideas about spirituality, history, and science to forge their own theories about the power of things and the agency of object. She shows how Lotto's painting served as a meta-commentary on the practice of collecting and on the ability of material things to transform the self.




The Paintings in the Royal Collection


Book Description

Gathered over the centuries by successive British monarchs, the Royal Collection contains some 7000 paintings. This book describes the formation of the collection by three successive connoisseur sovereigns, Charles I, George IV and Queen Victoria. Adopting a thematic and wide-ranging approach, it presents the paintings from five different angles: the effect of the Reformation on English painting and the importance of the Grand Tour; animal and landscape painting; state visits, diplomacy and warfare; informal pictures of monarchs and their families; and state portraits and large-scale ceremonial paintings including the coronation of Queen Victoria.







The Medici: Portraits and Politics 1512–1570


Book Description

Between 1512 and 1570, Florence underwent dramatic political transformations. As citizens jockeyed for prominence, portraits became an essential means not only of recording a likeness but also of conveying a sitter’s character, social position, and cultural ambitions. This fascinating book explores the ways that painters (including Jacopo Pontormo, Agnolo Bronzino, and Francesco Salviati), sculptors (such as Benvenuto Cellini), and artists in other media endowed their works with an erudite and self-consciously stylish character that made Florentine portraiture distinctive. The Medici family had ruled Florence without interruption between 1434 and 1494. Following their return to power in 1512, Cosimo I de’ Medici, who became the second Duke of Florence in 1537, demonstrated a particularly shrewd ability to wield culture as a political tool in order to transform Florence into a dynastic duchy and give Florentine art the central position it has held ever since. Featuring more than ninety remarkable paintings, sculptures, works on paper, and medals, this volume is written by a team of leading international authors and presents a sweeping, penetrating exploration of a crucial and vibrant period in Italian art.




The Georgian London Town House


Book Description

For every great country house of the Georgian period, there was usually also a town house. Chatsworth, for example, the home of the Devonshires, has officially been recognised as one of the country's favourite national treasures - but most of its visitors know little of Devonshire House, which the family once owned in the capital. In part, this is because town houses were often leased, rather than being passed down through generations as country estates were. But, most crucially, many London town houses, including Devonshire House, no longer exist, having been demolished in the early twentieth century. This book seeks to place centre-stage the hugely important yet hitherto overlooked town houses of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, exploring the prime position they once occupied in the lives of families and the nation as a whole. It explores the owners, how they furnished and used these properties, and how their houses were judged by the various types of visitor who gained access.