Using the formalist conventions of an ironic heritage, William Ludwig Lutgens attains the expression of something sincere. Like the philosophical idiot who did his utmost best to unlearn all the fallacies he was acquitted with since birth and now only knows he knows nothing, the artist made the world into his own theater wherein he can stomp around like a bull in a china shop with the grace of a prima ballerina. Forcing a pathway to possible exits by presenting us with the alloy of his observations, imagination and scattershot references. Not merely asking questions, which seems to be the hype in contemporary art nowadays, he is unraveling the framework wherein these questions originate. The image deconstructed by the story of its creation, alternating between the power and impotence of the theatrical madness at the end of the world as we know it. William Ludwig Lutgens presents with his Comedy of Humours the dysfunctional family of man.

Text in English and Dutch.

A remarkable private collection formed over the last thirty years is the focus of this richly illustrated book that introduces the reader to English silver spanning a century and a half from a little before the Tudor age (1485-1603) to the threshold of the Civil War (1642-51). This was a period when England changed out of all recognition. At the beginning it was still essentially a medieval country dominated by an autocratic king and a rich and powerful Church; by the end of the period the Church had lost virtually all of its power and, with the execution of Charles I in 1649, the monarchy itself was abolished. To a degree, this changing world is mirrored in the styles represented by the silver featuring in the collection. Besides setting the silver against its social and historical background the book examines the wide range of techniques used by silversmiths at the time to shape and adorn silver objects.

The Art of the Architect celebrates the role that drawing and watercolor painting play in architecture. Architectural drawing as we know it dates from the Renaissance, but with the arrival of computer design programs this ancient art—formed of pen, pencil, and brushstrokes on paper—is sometimes regarded as obsolete. The work of Michael G. Imber, whose watercolors and sketches are published for the first time in paperback, shows what a vital contribution they can still make at every stage of an architectural project. His personal example is followed by his colleagues in a visual culture that permeates his practice, Michael G. Imber Architects.

Whatever the place occupied by photographs, simulations, and visual graphics in the design process of today, hand drawing still facilitates a moment of deeper connection between an architect and his environment. Unlike a snap taken on a smart phone, a hand drawing is an active response to its subject: what is understood about a place in sensory terms cannot help but inform the finished design, creating buildings which maintain the balance between the way we live and the natural world around us.

Not only do Michael’s sketches allow him to visualize his environment more clearly, but they provide an immediate visual language with which he can communicate with his team, his craftsmen, and his clients. Pen and wash is a suggestive, selective, and emotive technique. Rich in examples of the art and philosophy that have inspired him over the years, this book is both an ode to a precious art form, and a visual delight to anyone who may turn its pages. Michael’s attention to light, color, line, shape, and space in these “working paintings” reveals a love for the medium that extends from his architectural practice into the time he spends both traveling, and at his summer home on an island in Maine. The beauty of the result will be inspiring to anyone who loves architecture and the attendant arts.

Raphael arrived in Rome in 1508 and remained there until his death in 1520, working as painter and architect for popes Julius II and Leo X and for the most prestigious patrons. Here the artist changed his painting style several times, looking at the works of Michelangelo, Sebastiano del Piombo and the vast repertoire of ancient painting and sculpture. In the Eternal City Raphael practised architecture for the first time, designing buildings that reflected the models of Antiquity such as the Pantheon, the descriptions deriving from written sources such as Vitruvius’ treaty on architecture, and the examples of modern architects like Donato Bramante.

This guide supplies essential and up to date information on all the civil or religious buildings designed or built by Raphael in Rome, and the frescoes and paintings, housed in churches or museums, whether executed in the city or arrived there at a later stage.

The palaces built in Rome in the 17th and 18th centuries are some of the most magnificent buildings in Europe – yet they remain relatively unfamiliar. This is the first stand-alone overview guide ever published. We produce it as a companion volume to our revised edition of Anthony Blunt’s seminal A Guide to Baroque Rome: The Churches.

In this volume, Anthony Langdon draws on an encyclopedic knowledge of the hugely productive scholarship in the field, which he distills with elegance, acumen and wit. Over the last 30 years all aspects of the design, construction, decoration and functions of these great houses have been examined and our understanding of the period has been transformed. Scholars and visitors will find this volume stimulating, concise and eminently readable.

The rich illustrations include over 140 contemporary prints, as well as plans, elevations, and specially taken photographs. Full references and indexes complete this indispensable aid to further research.

Aidan Dodson’s British Royal Tombs covers all the burials of the kings, queens (and lords protector) of England, Scotland and the United Kingdom, from the occupant of the great Sutton Hoo ship burial, to George VI, last Emperor of India, including of course the long-lost Richard III. This fully revised edition of a book that became an immediate classic of its kind will be equally interesting to the interested visitor and the student. The career of each ruler is briefly described, followed by what is known about his or her burial arrangements and the subsequent history of the tomb and its contents. Each tomb is illustrated as far as possible by at least one photograph or drawing. The posthumous fate of royal spouses is also included, together with information on each of the cathedrals, churches, chapels and other structures that house or once housed royal tombs; there are detailed diagrams for the major sites. A list of monarchs, family trees and an extensive bibliography complete the book.

Born in 1943 in Bristol, Nigel Hall RA studied at the West of England College of Art in Bristol and at the Royal College of Art in London before winning a Harkness Fellowship to study in America, where he traveled in California and the Mojave Desert.

One of the foremost sculptors of his generation, Hall has created acclaimed works in steel, aluminum and polished wood. As a boy he watched and worked with his grandfather, a stonemason who restored churches and other buildings in the West of England: ‘Experience of carving has affected the way I make sculpture and drawings, which is very much to do with light and shade, and edge.’

In this appealing new volume, Hall’s skill as a draughtsman is revealed, as is the importance of drawing to his sculptural practice. Indeed, his abstract drawings in gouache and charcoal show the same preoccupation with space and balance as his sculptures. Some 80 of Hall’s beautiful works on paper are included, with an intriguing introduction to them by the renowned art writer Andrew Lambirth.

The work of Polhemus Savery DaSilva (PSD) synthesizes ideas from modernism, Shingle Style, and New England vernacular architecture into special homes that are carefully crafted for each different site and client. PSD’s poetic architecture reflects on the joy of living by the New England coast, and this major new monograph, The Art of Creating Houses: Polhemus Savery DaSilva, beautifully presents that work and the ideas embodied within it. This lavishly illustrated and clearly written coverage of PSD’s most recent work features 27 select homes designed and built by the firm. This stunning volume also contains a foreword by Brian Vanden Brink; an introduction by Victor Deupi, PhD; and text by John R. DaSilva, FAIA, the firm’s Design Principal. This new volume is a brilliant companion to the firm’s earlier monographs, namely Living Where Land Meets the Sea, Shingled Houses in the Summer Sun, and Architecture of the Cape Cod Summer.

Miyamoto Musashi (c. 1584-1645) is the most revered and celebrated swordsman in Japanese history; in Japan alone close to a thousand works have taken the ancient warrior as its subject. Unfortunately, our modern portrait of this folk hero is derived mainly from popular books, comics, and film, with little heed paid to the early denki, chronicles recorded by men who, though they had not known Musashi in his lifetime, faithfully recorded what was passed down by those who had. The Bushû Denraiki is the earliest such record still in existence. Completed in 1727 by Tachibana Minehide, the fifth generation master of Musashi’s Niten Ichi school of fencing, it is the most reliable record of Musashi’s life and exploits outside those from the hand of the master swordsman himself. Now, after three centuries, Minehide’s insight into this enigmatic and solitary swordsman are available to the English reader. His text throws a new and refreshing light on many aspects of especially Musashi’s early life-his troubled relations with his father, his first battle experience during Japan’s period of unification, the sad death of his illegitimate child, and of course his legendary duel on Ganryû island.

In this second book in the Dummie the Mummy series, Dummie, Angus and Nick travel to Egypt. It’s Dummie’s great wish to return to his country to visit the grave of his father, Pharaoh Akhnetut. Unfortunately, Egypt has completely changed in four thousand years and Akhnetut’s grave seems untraceable. To make matters even worse, Nick falls ill and Angus and Dummie set off without him. Then something terrible happens – Dummie has to give everything he’s got to save his best friend. Yet he is also determined to find his father’s grave. Fortunately, he remembers more and more about his life long ago and this proves to be very handy!

Scotland has produced an astonishingly high number of men and women whose lives have inspired and changed the world. This book, illustrating just over forty portraits, represents only a few of them, but with Robert Burns and Walter Scott, Eric Liddell and Alex Ferguson, Bonnie Prince Charlie and Queen Victoria, it represents the flavour of the collection at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

The Alice and Louis Koch Collection of finger rings was originally collated by a jeweler from Frankfurt am Main, once described as the German ‘Cartier and Fabergé’. By 1909 the collection comprised 1,722 rings from Antiquity to 1900. Rene Lalique, a contemporary of the time, was included, undoubtedly as a modernizer of the ring form. In the past twenty-five years the fourth generation of the family continued where Louis Koch and his wife Alice left off and expanded the collection to include rings from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

This publication will present the complete collection of contemporary rings, now kept in the Swiss National Museum, Zurich. Nearly 600 rings by artist jewelers from around the world document how these miniature works of art have become modern sculptures showcasing new materials and techniques, daring designs and current themes.

Text in English and German.

Faith Flowers is a guide to arranging flowers in places of worship. The book starts with the fundamentals of flower arranging and works up to advanced designs for festivals. Step-by-step instructions and photographs clearly show how to create many different arrangements. Flower recipes are included describing what is needed for each design. Lots of inspiration for new ideas and colour combinations. Flower designs are provided for regular services, weddings, funerals, Christmas, Easter and much more. Learn how to create a volunteer group to provide flowers for your worship services. Author Laura Larocci shares her knowledge from 16 years as Flower Guild Chair of one of the largest cathedrals in the country. Over the years she has organized, led and taught hundreds of volunteers at the cathedral and churches across the US. She shares the triumphs and struggles of creating beautiful flowers within budget and volunteer flower guilds. The book has good reference guides with photos of flower varieties, greenery and materials needed, sample ordering forms, budgets and tips for saving money. Sources for flowers and materials are also discussed.

Wedding floristry has always been one of the most important fields of interest for florists all over the world. Time and again floral designers manage to redefine wedding bouquets, churches and table decorations. Florever Wherever presents around 15 complete wedding stories from 15 different countries. All weddings are decorated by world famous, top-class florists, all of them being spokespersons for the floral wedding traditions of their country. This magnificent publication will show every aspect of this unforgettable day: the bridal bouquet, corsages, bridesmaids, car decoration, church/venue decoration, table arrangements and the wedding party. A book that will have you lost in sweet reveries, a romantic feast for the eyes or a source of inspiration and a fountain of ideas for couples dreaming of chiming wedding bells. Featured Florists:
Moniek Vanden Berghe (BE), Daniel Santamaría I Pueyo (ES), Markus Donati (D), Jouni Seppänen (FIN), Robert Koene (GR), Kristin Voreland (N), Damien Koh (SGP), Giordano Simonelli (I), Mark Pampling (AU) and David Beahm (US).

Inspired by poets, draftsmen and printmakers, painters also discovered Haarlem and its beautiful surroundings as rewarding subjects for their work. Jacob van Ruisdael and Gerrit Berckheyde both repeatedly pictured the city – the former with his ‘Haerlempjes’, where heavy cloudy skies dominate the landscape and the unmistakable St Bavo’s Church stands on the horizon. Berckheyde is known for his atmospheric cityscapes: the Grote Markt, with St Bavo’s as the focal point, the Weigh House on the River Spaarne and the city gates.

The Basilica of Saint Mary Major is the only patriarchal basilica of the four in Rome to have retained its paleo-Christian structures and is the resting place of Pope Francis. This elegant guide showcases ultra-high gigapixel photography of the Basilica’s interior and traces its history from 425 AD and tradition has it that the Virgin Mary herself inspired the choice of the Esquiline Hill for the church’s construction. Appearing in a dream to both the Patrician John, the landowner of the Esquiline Hill, and Pope Liberius, she asked that a church be built in her honor on a site she would miraculously indicate. This is the essential and most innovative guide to this important pilgrimage and tourist site in Rome. 

Text in English and Italian. 

In the true heart of London – its fulcrum, where the City of London meets the West End – sits St Paul’s Cathedral, a beacon shining on the crest of Ludgate Hill. In June 2025 the capital’s most loved church celebrated 350 years since Britain’s great architectural visionary, Sir Christopher Wren, laid its foundation stone. A church has stood in this place since 604; the current building is a vibrant place of Christian worship, a treasure house of art and architecture, and a beloved London icon.

For the duration of its 350th year, the Financial Times’s chief photographer was given unprecedented access to observe St Paul’s through the seasons. The photographs in this book document its rhythms and flows, its community of staff, volunteers and visitors, as they, just like in the previous 1,422 years, continued to congregate in this place to sing, pray and reflect.

Scenic Architecture Office always starts with responding to needs from body & mind, nature, and society, and tries to establish a balanced and dynamic relevance among them through ontological orders composed by space-time and tectonics. This collection includes 12 representative works in its 18 years of practice, and each work contains design concept, sketches, tectonic details, and photos. The works are categorized in “Courtyard Settlement”, “Extension of Homes”, and “Free Cell”. “Courtyard Settlement” refers to reconstruction of the spatial formtype of courtyard; “Extension of Homes”, expansion of the traditional house formtype; and “Free Cell” test of the new formtype. Through explorations of the formtype, they hope to bridge the past, present and future to make architecture a carrier of cultural memory and the times’ energy, and a balanced and dynamic connection between human, nature and society.

Muzharul Islam (1923–2012) has left behind an outstanding architectural legacy in Bangladesh, with a significance reaching far beyond the temporal and geographical horizons of its creation. Yet until now, his work has remained relatively unknown despite its relevance and singularity. This monograph presents numerous photographs and reproductions of detailed original drawings to introduce a series of unique buildings to an international audience, highlighting the Bengali architect’s way of thinking and actions, as well as his engagement in cross-cultural dialogue.

Contributions by practising architects from different continents present multifaceted perspectives on Islam’s work, placing him within a historical context and global interconnections. Muzharul Islam’s pioneering and timeless works address burning issues that are currently shaping the global architectural debate: climate-sensitive and self-sufficient construction, social engagement and overcoming colonial mindsets are all fields that the architect pursued relentlessly since the beginning of his career in the 1950s.  

What was the meaning of the extraordinary collection of texts, sketches and graphic prints that Edvard Munch called The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil? Get a glimpse into the artist’s world of ideas through one of the greatest mysteries he left behind. In this book you can experience The Tree of Knowledge as it was found in Munch’s home, with both loose, bound and blank pages. An essay by art historian Nora Ceciliedatter Nerdrum provides new perspectives on Munch’s most enigmatic project. No one knows why he created this album. Was it a book proposal? Or was it an attempt to organise his ideas?

What we do know is that he worked on the album for several decades, and that it was probably never completed. The most astonishing part of its content is perhaps Munch’s own texts about love, jealousy, life and death, composed in large, colorful lettering.

Books of Hours were the bestsellers of the late Middle Ages. Books of Hours, Books of Hope provides unambiguous and accessible answers to the most intriguing questions about the use and significance of these devotional books: what were they about, who were the makers and readers, where did people learn to read, did they use reading glasses or lamps, what do the humorous figures in the margins symbolize, and why do Books of Hours feature so frequently in portraits by, for example, the Flemish Primitives?

From sumptuous masterpieces embellished with gold leaf to modest, well-thumbed copies dotted with candle-wax stains or personal notes – each one has a story to tell. Books of Hours were popular among all levels of society, from dukes and countesses to bricklayers and maids. Not only as showpieces, but above all as their owners’ faithful companions, cherished and used intensively.

Lavishly illustrated with masterpieces from the collections of the Bruges Public Library and Musea Brugge, this publication is a must-have for those who wish to immerse themselves in the fascinating book culture of the medieval era.

Publication accompanying the exhibition Pride and Solace: medieval Books of Hours and their readers at the Groeningemuseum in Bruges from 4 April until 7 October 2025.

The catalog brings all the paintings in the Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze together for the first time. It is a straightforward, convenient tool, aimed at all types of users, particularly suitable for educational use, for a first approach to the museum’s paintings or for quick searches by experts or those who would like to become one.

Arranging the paintings in alphabetical order by the names of the artists seemed to us to be the simplest and most natural criterion for anyone who was not already an expert. The catalog includes the various names of the painters, and a brief biography introduces each artist. This is followed by the entry or, if there is more than one, the entries on the works by this artist in the museum collections, in alphabetical order by title. Each work is reproduced with a recent photograph.

This volume constitutes an invaluable collection of data, essential for future studies and discussions regarding the paintings. The book is introduced by an exhaustive essay by Cecilie Hollberg, the Director of the Galleria.

William Blake’s engraved illustrations of the Book of Job are masterpieces of intaglio art. Dated 1825 in the plate and published the following year, they were based on his watercolors of the same subject from 1806 (Morgan Library, New York) and 1821 (Fogg Museum of Art, Harvard). Unlike the watercolors, the prints have complex marginal decorations that comment upon the biblical text. They are among the most inspired and sublime artistic achievements of this visionary artist and poet of the British Romantic period. 

This handsome volume reproduces the Royal Academy’s copy of John Linnell’s 1874 printing, which comprised 100 copies on India paper laid on unmarked heavy paper. Katharine Dell, Professor of Old Testament Literature and Theology at the University of Cambridge, introduces the biblical text, and Joseph Viscomi, Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and co-editor of the Blake Archive, gives an account of the creation of Blake’s engravings. The 22 illustrations are reproduced at actual size from new photographs especially taken for this publication and are accompanied by a series of magnificent details of the prints.