On the whole, when one thinks of seventeenth-century sculpture in Rome, one has in mind the wonderful and famous works of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, such as the Fountain of the Rivers or The Ecstasy of St. Theresa. The very idea of Roman baroque is commonly identified with the century’s great genius. And indeed, the influence of Bernini’s work on the sculpture and art in general of the period was, especially in Rome, decisive. However, this domination spread only during the second half of the seventeenth century, and less unequivocally than one might suppose. Other great sculptors, with personalities that were often very different from Bernini’s, contributed to making the extraordinary proliferation of Roman statuary extremely complex and varied at that time.

This book is aimed especially at students and museum visitors who would like to learn more about the topic and discusses the art in a straightforward and strictly chronological fashion. The narrative begins in the early decades of the seventeenth century with sculpture created by a motley and conspicuously cosmopolitan group of artists. Later, with the growing success of the great masters, commissions began to gravitate around Bernini, Alessandro Algardi, and François Duquesnoy. A new approach to Antiquity went hand in hand with a marked predilection for striking chromatic effects, borrowed from Venetian painting, and a desire to make a strong impact and achieve a particular tone, often with results of surprising originality. Taking the most up-to-date and best founded historiographic observations on the subject we have tried to highlight the workshop relationships between the great masters and the giovani, their pupils or occasional assistants, and in this way put into relief the experimental approach of some of these apprentices, such as Melchirro Caffà or Antonio Raggi, or the ability of certain others, for instance Ercole Ferrata, to fuse the most diverse influences. The book thus aims to show how marble and travertine were used throughout the century to create a whole army of statues that were positioned in the open and in churches, lending modern Rome its truly incomparable new face.

Masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance are in churches and museums throughout Italy. This book follows Leonado da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo and others from place to place – Milan, Florence, the Vatican, Urbino and elsewhere – noting the great works as well as those found in less celebrated locations.
Contents: Introduction; The Spring of the Renaissance; Leonardo in Florence: The Workshop of Verrocchio; Raphael: From the Onset in Urbino to the Early Masterpieces; Leonardo in Milan: the Sforza’s Court; The Wonders of the Codex Atlanticus; The Cenacle, One of the Most Beautiful Paintings in the World; The Triumph of Raphael: the Room of the Segnatura and the First Roman Masterpieces; Raphael Towards the Room of Heliodorus; Michelangelo Painter; Raphael: from the Cartoons for the Sistine Chapel to the Room of the Fire in the Borgo; Raphael: Superintendent of Fine Arts; The Vatican Lodges; The Mystery of the First Caravaggio; Index of the Works and Places of Conservation.

Text in English and Italian.

Using Caravaggio’s The Cardsharps as the focus, we may understand how the three figures depicted are set in contrast: by social class, age and appearance. These differences are underpinned by the clothing that they wear, and on closer examination, it is apparent that the fabrics described in paint are directly comparable to those of the historic collections of Novara. In their insightful and detailed analysis, the authors of this volume present a comprehensive overview of the development of fashion and fabrics, from the sixteenth to the seventeenth century, when Italy’s textile industry was at its peak. Text in English and Italian.

We recognise Mario Botta’s buildings for their strong presence. His architecture is not ephemeral. It shapes the mass firmly and precisely. It touches the ground with self-reliance. A building by Mario Botta is an autonomous object. It comprises an ordered world of its own make. It is standing in dialogue with the urban tissue, but it establishes its own order as if it aims at differentiation instead of integration. Architectural order represents the core of his personal idiom. It is a well structured, compositional order which organises everything into a whole, as an underlying thread that connects and brings together houses on the mountains to museums and churches, banks and commercial buildings to buildings on the ground and buildings underground, different buildings at different places in time. The themes that underlie Mario Botta’s architecture are ties that connect and spines that support, common threads that bind one building to the next. His architecture is one of mass. It is then of no surprise that mass is the first thing to be defined and ordered, in his creative process. The volume of his buildings is mostly composed by one or more primary solids. Volume is thus an a-priori for Botta. It is conceived beforehand, the starting point to the adventure of architectural design. From the Introduction, Thoughts on architectural creativity By Dr. Irena Sakellaridou

Hidden Malta gives visitors an opportunity to explore the hidden gems of the Maltese archipelago. Beyond the thriving main streets that attract the tourist crowds, there are so many other places waiting to be discovered, including churches, small museums, and places to eat, where you can meet and connect with locals. The guide also covers Malta’s many annual festivals and traditions, with historical re-enactments, wine, beer and music festivals, as well as food fairs held in various parts of the islands throughout the year.
In this alternative guide to Malta, licensed tourist guide Vincent Zammit pays tribute to the islands that he knows intimately, choosing to highlight places that are not well-known or frequented by visitors to Malta, giving them the opportunity to discover these well-kept secrets and the Malta that he loves.
Also available: Hidden Belgium, Hidden Scotland, Hidden Holland, Hidden Brooklyn, Hidden Tenerife. Discover the series: the500hiddensecrets.com

From the ruins of Palmyra in the Syrian desert to the ghost town of Bodie, the painted churches of Sucevita in Romania, and a fire festival in a Japanese village: Michael Webb has ventured far afield in search of the rare and beautiful. He recalls memorable experiences of people and places over eight decades of travel around the world, and some of the buildings and landscapes that have left a lasting impression. It’s getting harder to find places that have not been commercialised and overwhelmed by mass tourism, but they can still be found, even in the most popular destinations. Webb’s recommendations should inspire you to get off the beaten track and make your own discoveries.

Temporality and age are inherent in every object and creature and, depending on one’s outlook, may transcend to infinity. How can this be imagined? What goes beyond it? Swiss filmmaker Christoph Schaub sets out for a personal journey through time and space. He starts in his childhood, when his fascination with sacred buildings began, and also his wondering about beginnings and ends. In dialogue with architects Peter Zumthor, Peter Märkli, and Alvaro Siza, artists James Turell and Cristina Iglesias, and musician Jojo Mayer, Schaub explores the magic of sacred spaces, a term that for him represents much more than just churches.

Architecture of Infinity traces spirituality in architecture and fine arts as well as in nature, and even over and above the limits of thought. The lightly floating camera immerses the viewer in somnambulistic images, taking him on a sensual and sensing journey through vast spaces, guiding his eye towards the star-spangled sky’s infinity and the depths of the ocean. Past and present, primeval times and light years, it is all there.

The running time of the film is 85 minutes, and the DVD is accompanied by a 32-page booklet with text in English and German.

One of Sweden’s most renowned contemporary architects, Johan Celsing has created a diverse body of work that spans from housing to public institutions such as museums, libraries, and churches – all of it united by an intense and realistic engagement with the craft of making buildings.

Johan Celsing: Buildings, Texts is the first book to comprehensively collect Celsing’s designs. It features both built and unrealised projects are featured through working drawings and sketches, watercolours, and images of models, as well as new photographs by London-based photographer Ioana Marinescu. In addition to more than seven hundred illustrations, the buildings are discussed in essays by architects, educators, and critics including Wilfried Wang, Claes Caldenby, Katarina Rundgren, and Elizabeth Hatz. The book also offers a selection of Johan Celsing’s own writings.

Paris… so familiar and yet surprising. In pastel shades and dazzling details like the palette of French Impressionism, Serge Ramelli presents a unique and personal photo homage to the City of Lights. With romance and history in her blood, Paris shows her tender side as never seen before.

Only Paris offers the inimitable stage that can turn every photo into a film still. In its architectural splendor, its wealth of churches, palaces, parks, and grand boulevards, the city is peerless in its beauty and allure. Add to that a long, rich, and influential history, and this coveted capital is art in its purest form.

From the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre, to Montmartre and Saint-Germain-des-Pres, the traces of painters and photographers and echoes of actors and movie directors can be found all over the city. In this exquisite Paris photo book, Serge Ramelli pays tribute to this unique legacy of art and culture, capturing the city’s poetic flair. As in vintage postcards, with glowing street lights or only certain details in colour in a black and white panorama, Ramelli accentuates particular picture elements to create a modern, 3D effect, while retaining a close connection to Parisian history.

Vivid in one’s memory or perhaps imagination, Ramelli collects rapturous moments with his camera — a brilliant firework display in front of the Eiffel Tower or the sight of the Pont Neuf amidst freshly fallen snow. In the beguiling blue hour, or a nuit (the magical light at sunrise and sunset), the photographer shows a kaleidoscope along the Seine that will delight all who have lived and loved in Paris.

Text in English, German and French.

The Franco-Swiss photographer Hélène Binet (b. 1959) is renowned for making images that express an intimate experience of architecture. Using a combination of analogue and digital techniques, her photographs are both a representation and a discovery of her subjects, all of them buildings that break the mould, pushing daringly at the boundaries of their time. 

In this selection of some ninety of her photographs – ranging from the baroque London churches of Nicholas Hawksmoor and the Jantar Mantar Observatory in Jaipur through to buildings of contemporary architects Le Corbusier, Peter Zumthor, John Hejduk, Daniel Libeskind and Zaha Hadid – her work is revealed in all its subtlety and quiet sensitivity.

Kasos is the southernmost island of the Dodecanese, lying between Carpathos and Crete. Roughly 11 miles long and four miles wide, with a rocky, mountainous landscape, Kasos was famed from antiquity as a centre of shipbuilding, and played a role in the Greek War of Independence. But with the advent of steam, the island’s shipyard closed, and its population dwindled. Today some one thousand people remain on the island, living in five small villages full of historic homes and churches. The islanders produce agricultural products of exceptional quality; preserve their distinctive culinary, musical, and dance traditions; and welcome a small number of adventurous travellers to their sparkling beaches.

Robert A. McCabe’s stunning black-and-white photographs of Kasos, most taken in 1965, offer a unique record of the island’s people, architecture, and natural landscapes. In a stark contrast to the transformation undergone by other Greek islands, many of the scenes depicted in McCabe’s photographs remain almost unchanged today. The text, by a distinguished Greek journalist born on Kasos, brings to life the places and personalities pictured in this book, which will appeal to all travellers off the beaten track.

“…the structure of G. E. Kidder Smith Builds, which traces his career first through books and then with exhibitions, means the book is more bibliographical than biographical… it illuminates many aspects of his life not widely known.” — Archidose

“His life’s work captures an evolutionary era in world history and—as a result—G.E. Kidder Smith Builds is, simply, a book to savor.”— More to Come

George Everard Kidder Smith (1913–1997) was a multidimensional figure within the wide-ranging field of North American architectural professionals in the second half of the twentieth century. Although he trained as an architect, he chose not to practice within the conventional strictures of an architecture office. Instead, Kidder Smith “designed,” researched, wrote, and photographed a remarkably diverse collection of books about architecture and the built environment. His work and life were deeply interwoven and punctuated by travel related to the research, writing, and promotion of books that sought to reveal the genius loci of the countries whose built environments he admired and wished to share with a broader audience. From the early 1940s to the late 1950s his interest in architecture led him to describe visually the architectural and historical identity of many European countries. After his far-flung travels over the decades, with his wife Dorothea, Kidder Smith focused on his own country and produced a series of ambitious books focused on the United States. Kidder Smith’s vision and narrative betray the gaze of the traveller, the scholar, and the architect.

“It is an exhaustive overview of LeCompte’s work and is chock-full of expertly photographed images.” —Princeton Herald

“The book is a magnificent volume. It is as comprehensive as one could hope.” — Anglican and Episcopal History

Rowan LeCompte (1925-2014) was a world-renowned stained-glass artist best known for his work in Washington National Cathedral that spanned an unprecedented 70 years of artistic commission. Rowan LeCompte: Master of Stained Glass celebrates LeCompte’s artistic inspiration, distinctive technique, and unique perspective on a medieval decorative art, which he transformed into a fine art for modern times. The book traces his fascinating trajectory, from a determined teenager to a charming octogenarian with a clear vision of what stained glass can do within and beyond cathedral walls. More than an artist biography, this book illuminates the essence of human nature and its balance of light and darkness.  

Growing up in Baltimore, young Rowan LeCompte was fascinated by colour and light, collecting coloured glass fragments that his older brother – Stuart, a scientist – had discarded from his lab at Johns Hopkins. A visit to the Washington National Cathedral at age 14 would prove transformative for LeCompte, who later described the day as his “second birthday.” At age 15, LeCompte knew what he wanted to do for the rest of his life: combine his love of architecture and painting through the study of stained glass. Just a year later, he earned his first commission in the National Cathedral: the very place that forged his destiny. Rowan LeCompte’s seven decades of work not only fulfilled his teen ambition beyond expectations – it changed the art of stained glass itself. 

Rowan LeCompte: Master of Stained Glass takes readers behind-the-scenes of LeCompte’s process, hearing from the artist first-hand about his unexpected inspirations – and rejected ideas – for colour and design, and illustrating his work from the first ‘cartoon’ storyboards of windows, to painting the finishing touches on some of his best-known work. This beautiful 4-color photo art book tells of the complete history of Rowan’s life, incorporating brilliant full-colour photos of many of the windows which highlight the details of the imagination and innovation of this modern artist working in an ancient medium. It was his single-minded determination to create works that make the world a more beautiful place that will mark Rowan LeCompte as a great master for years to come. 

Rowan LeCompte: Master of Stained Glass is a companion to Peter Swanson’s two films about Rowan. One of these films, Let There Be Light, documented LeCompte’s final commission for the Washington National Cathedral’s centennial celebration. The film won the Best of Festival award at Washington, D.C.’s Independent Film Festival.

David C. Martin was the third-generation design partner for AC Martin Architects. This is a portfolio of significant projects that were designed during the period of 1970s to the 2010s. It includes a number of unpublished photos of award-winning architecture. The treatise includes many of David’s conceptual sketches, his thoughts about design philosophy and describes working relations with his partner Chris Martin and other team members within the dynamics of a large architectural firm. He describes the culture of the firm and how the practice evolved through the generations. The scale of the work ranges from individual houses to 75-story towers — from houses, churches, aerospace, universities to corporate towers.

What differentiates this monograph from most is that it is a personal expression, illustrated by lush photographs from LA’s best architectural photographers, and includes personal sketches and watercolours that chronical the design process. It deals with teamwork, family, craftsmanship, and the joy of architectural practice.

“An informed and detailed assessment by someone with a deep understanding of art” – Martin Gayford, The Sunday Telegraph
“It has sufficient breadth of content and clarity of purpose to have wide appeal among the uninitiated, and yet would not be out of place on the shelves of the most knowledgeable art pundit” – Frances Spalding, Art Quarterly

This pocket guide to the art of the Western world, covers all the essential places to visit and sets the major works in the collections in their historical and social context. Helen Langdon takes us not only to the best-loved museums around the world but also to a vast selection of minor but equally fascinating galleries, churches, villas and houses, where she draws our attention to outstanding paintings and sculptures. 

Introductory essays to the art of each country, together with extensive indexes and glossaries, and over 200 colour illustrations that range from some of the world’s greatest works of art to unfamiliar treasures, make this a pocket compendium of Western art that will be as useful to the student as the traveller.

“This is a volume that will be informative to specialists, but also a visual delight for the average reader. An indispensable addition to the field.” ― John Wilmerding, Sarofim Professor of American Art, emeritus, Princeton University

“William Morgan offers an overview of the flowering of the collegiate Gothic style in America between the Civil War and the crash of 1929. Here is a splendidly illustrated book full of insight.” ― New Criterion
Explore America’s most breathtaking college campuses ― where Gilded Age wealth found a Gothic inspiration.

The Collegiate Gothic style, which flourished between the Gilded Age and the Jazz Age, was intended to lend an air of dignified history to America’s relatively youthful seats of higher learning. In fact, this mash-up of Oxbridge quaintness with piles of new money gave rise ― at schools like Princeton and Vassar, Yale and Chicago ― to unprecedented architectural fantasies that reshaped the image of the college campus. Today the ivy-covered monuments of Collegiate Gothic still exercise a powerful hold on the public imagination ― as evidenced, for example, by their prominent place in the Dark Academia aesthetic that has swept social media.

In Academia, the noted architectural historian William Morgan traces the entire arc of Collegiate Gothic, from its first emergence at campuses like Kenyon and Bowdoin to its apotheosis in James Gamble Rogers’s intricately detailed confections at Yale. Ever alert to the complicated cultural and social implications of this style, Morgan devotes special sections to its manifestations at prep schools and in the American South, and to contemporary revivals by architects like Robert A. M. Stern.

Illustrated throughout with well-chosen color photographs, Academia offers the ultimate campus tour of our faux-medieval cathedrals of learning.

The most comprehensive anthology of writings by visitors to the eternal city ever compiled – witty, profound and endlessly entertaining.
Drawing on French, Italian, Spanish, English, German, Scandinavian and American sources, Ronald Ridley has compiled a vivid collage-portrait of Rome through the centuries, illustrated with three hundred images and published in three elegant volumes: The Middles Ages to the Seventeenth Century, The Eighteenth Century and The Nineteenth Century. Presented here is the first volume.
How did visitors arrive? Where did they stay? What were their expenses? What did they see of churches, palaces, villas and antiquities? What did they like or dislike of what they saw? What did they think of Rome in all its contemporary facets? What events did they witness? What portraits do they provide of people in Rome at the time of their visit? Excerpts from memoirs by more than two hundred visitors give a myriad fascinating insights and together provide a detailed account of Rome over nearly a millennium.

The most comprehensive anthology of writings by visitors to the eternal city ever compiled – witty, profound and endlessly entertaining.
Drawing on French, Italian, Spanish, English, German, Scandinavian and American sources, Ronald Ridley has compiled a vivid collage-portrait of Rome through the centuries, illustrated with three hundred images and published in three elegant volumes: The Middles Ages to the Seventeenth Century, The Eighteenth Century and The Nineteenth Century. Presented here is the second volume.
How did visitors arrive? Where did they stay? What were their expenses? What did they see of churches, palaces, villas and antiquities? What did they like or dislike of what they saw? What did they think of Rome in all its contemporary facets? What events did they witness? What portraits do they provide of people in Rome at the time of their visit? Excerpts from memoirs by more than two hundred visitors give a myriad fascinating insights and together provide a detailed account of Rome over nearly a millennium.

“Ronald’s detailed and thoroughly enjoyable collection shows how it can take a visitor to appreciate what the residents are so used to, they take for granted.” — Camden New Journal/Islington Tribune/West End Extra
The most comprehensive anthology of writings by visitors to the eternal city ever compiled – witty, profound and endlessly entertaining.
Drawing on French, Italian, Spanish, English, German, Scandinavian and American sources, Ronald Ridley has compiled a vivid collage-portrait of Rome through the centuries, illustrated with three hundred images and published in three elegant volumes: The Middles Ages to the Seventeenth Century, The Eighteenth Century and The Nineteenth Century. Presented here is the third volume.
How did visitors arrive? Where did they stay? What were their expenses? What did they see of churches, palaces, villas and antiquities? What did they like or dislike of what they saw? What did they think of Rome in all its contemporary facets? What events did they witness? What portraits do they provide of people in Rome at the time of their visit? Excerpts from memoirs by more than two hundred visitors give a myriad fascinating insights and together provide a detailed account of Rome over nearly a millennium.

Brutales Luzern presents Brutalism in the Swiss Canton of Lucerne. In recent years, the phenomenon of Brutalism has enjoyed great international attention. The 53 portraits in this publication present the incredible diversity of this expressive architecture in the Lucerne region. It is incredible how much the relatively small region of 1,500 square kilometres has to offer. The most important buildings from the 1960s and 1970s are presented chronologically, including numerous photographs, compact, detailed information and extensively documented plans.
The selection of private and public buildings, such as schools, municipal administrations, homes for the elderly, churches, monasteries, missionary and theological colleges, industrial facilities and infrastructure, is remarkable. It includes outstanding and widely appreciated buildings, as well as lesser known examples. A plan provides an overview of the buildings and an essay locates Swiss Brutalism in an architectural-historical context. The book also serves as a useful travel guide for architecture enthusiasts.

Text in German.

The hidden art of London is for the ever-curious roamer of both the back streets and the familiar places you never quite see – churches, gardens, graveyards, pubs. What little garden finds the poet John Keats sitting in the corner of a bench? Which abandoned building tells the story of a great Roman Road?
There are always marvels hidden in plain view – the back corner of a museum containing great sculptures by Rodin or the naked, street-corner golden boy, who marks where the Great Fire of London finally petered out. A famous literary cat or a painting by Hogarth on the bend of a stairs in an ancient hospital.
This guidebook takes you exploring London beyond its most famous sights to find the art we have never quite noticed before: the hidden statues, paintings, and murals that have escaped from the official museums, and often live unnoticed lives in tucked away places.

Paris is known as the City of Lights, but it is really the City of Museums. Explore iconic centres of fine art with fresh eyes and dig deeper to uncover a world of museums dedicated to art and artists, science and industry, literature and film and curiosities both unusual and fascinating.

Can you identify all the great artists of French impressionism? Do you know about French contributions to early automobiles and airplanes? Are you fascinated by haute couture? Would you like to visit the ateliers of great painters and sculptors? Do you love music and film? Are you an obsessive collector of something truly peculiar? Or do you simply want to learn about new and compelling things in the world around you?

111 Museums in Paris That You Shouldn’t Miss highlights destinations, both well-known and obscure, where you will discover new treasures throughout this magnificent city.