“Seldom does a collection of art history essays leave readers yearning for a second volume…”—Barbara Wisch, Renaissance Quarterly

Roman church interiors throughout the Early Modern age were endowed with rich historical and visual significance. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in anticipation of and following the Council of Trent, and in response to the expansion of the Roman Curia, the chapel became a singular arena in which wealthy and powerful Roman families, as well as middle-class citizens, had the opportunity to demonstrate their status and role in Roman society. In most cases the chapels were conceived not as isolated spaces, but as part of a more complex system, which involved the nave and the other chapels within the church, in a dialogue among the arts and the patrons of those other spaces. This volume explores this historical and artistic phenomenon through a number of examples involving the patronage of prominent Roman families such as the Chigis, Spadas, Caetanis, Cybos and important artists and architects such as Federico Zuccari, Giacomo della Porta, Carlo Maderno, Alessandro Algardi, Pietro da Cortona, Carlo Maratta.

The Vatican Museums is one of the most important museum complexes in the world, housing incredible masterpieces from the Egyptian Age to the late Renaissance.

The Vatican Museums hold a treasure trove of art and history, as well as an inestimable patrimony of our culture and our civilisation. This volume focuses on the paintings to be found in the collection – including The Sistine Chapel.

Text in English and Italian.

A Sino-Chinese family find their destiny is inseparably entangled with that of the country they have adopted as a home. Not long before the Communist revolution, Tong, sent by his peasant-parents in impoverished rural China to work with a relative in Siam, has risen to become a rice-trading tycoon in Bangkok’s Chinatown, married a former palace cook and built a large family in the town of Pad Riew. Haunted by the dream of returning to his true home in China, Tong, along with his wife and their five children, are swept along by the torrents of history as World War II breakout and China turns red, while the military strongman in Thailand act out the interminable cycle of power struggle, rebellion and coup d’état.

Memories of the Memories of the Black Rose Cat, the award-winning second novel by Veerapon Nitiprapha, is a generations-spanning family saga that explores the roots of the Chinese diaspora in Siam and how the tragedy of ruined love, maternal betrayal and futile ambition shape the lives of Tong’s clan members, each of them hounded by their own ghosts and burdened by their own sins. All of this is played out against the backdrop of Siam’s mid-century social and political history, the most chaotic period the formation of the nation.

The Story of the America’s Cup 1851-2021 tells the chronological history of 150 years of the most exciting and exhilarating yacht race, open the pages and you can almost feel the wind in the sails and the salt spray.

Full page color illustrations bring the yachts alive, set as they are in their natural element, at sea, on the waves; detailed descriptions give an amazing insider’s view of the construction of individual boats, the routes sailed, the crews, the highs and lows of what was undoubtedly, extremely tough and competitive sailing, the victories and the defeats.

Paintings by Tim Thompson, a leading marine artist are an integral part of the book’s appeal; he has captured the pure essence, the spirit of the race and its place in history.

This is the era of the Smart Ecosystems Economy, where the companies that thrive must be ready to cope with randomness and unexpected events. In this digital world, the traditional boundaries have disappeared, paving the way for new and smarter ecosystems to develop. Companies seeking to transform into future-proof organizations would do well to understand these ecosystems, and get a grasp on how they work.

This book serves as a guide to building smart, competitive ecosystems for both small and large organizations. A timely book that cracks the code of tomorrow’s business models.

There are many reasons to plan a visit to The Hague. It is the international city of peace and justice, the only large Dutch city by the sea, one of the greenest cities of the Netherlands, and it boasts a long and rich history.
For this book, Tal Maes listed her 500 favorite places and tips, presenting them in original and interesting lists such as 5 historic houses of famous Dutchmen, 5 fun boat trips, the 5 best spots for Dutch “maatjes” herring, 5 museums around the Binnenhof, the 5 best lifestyle and concept stores, and much more. This guide encourages you to look further than the usual hotspots. Walk to the far end of the beach to find peace and quiet, try a beer from a hidden monastery, discover cutting-edge art in a former power plant. Of the highlights included, lesser-known aspects are revealed.

From the 2nd century CE to the 19th century, the people of the fertile estuary of the great Mekong River created treasures of sacred art, architecture and accomplished feats of water engineering that are coming to light in Vietnam’s vigorous new archaeological research programmes. The large stilted wooden houses of Oc Eo, the early Venice of the maritime routes of the East in the earliest centuries of the first millennium, drew in ships with precious cargoes from Rome, India and China to trade while waiting for the change of the monsoon wind to continue their voyages.

Chinese annals record that the early polity they called ‘Funan’ ruled 1,000 km of coastline along the shipping route. Among the earliest Mekong Delta Buddhist icons are a breathtakingly elegant 2.7m tall Buddha carved in hardwood that has survived more than 1000 years in the delta mud and a 29cm bronze Buddha that arrived on a trading ship from the 6th century Chinese Northern Qi dynasty. Very early Vishnu statues wear high, floral mitres and clasp war conch-trumpets on their left hip, and Shiva’s face stares out from stone lingas.

The Ho Chi Minh Museum collection conserves diverse masterpieces of the art from Vietnam, from the prehistoric Dong Son drums of the Red River Delta in the north to the vibrant Hindu and Buddhist statuary of the former kingdoms of Champa in Central Vietnam. In addition, there is an immense array of art and imperial furnishings of the last Vietnamese dynasty, the Nguyen, which was founded in the Mekong Delta at the beginning of the 19th century. There are refined inlaid wooden cabinets, sets of the finest blue and white ceramics and embroidered silken court costumes worn by the royal family, as well as huge wooden and ceramic Buddha statues which played crucial social and political roles in establishing the dynasty and quelling its foes.

‘This is me, Hee-haw. I’m going to tell you a story. Not just any old story – a Christmas story. You’re going to see the most beautiful paintings and drawings in the world too. You’ll probably be surprised to see how many pictures I’m in. Hundreds – no, thousands! And that’s because I, Hee-haw, play a very important part in this story. As you will see.’ Martine Gosselink, director of the Mauritshuis museum, tells the Christmas story through the eyes of Hee-haw the donkey, drawn by Thé Tjong-Khing. ‘How come? Because I was always there!’

Chablis has a distinct identity amongst the wines of Burgundy. The gently sloping vineyards of this small, scenic region produce a remarkably diverse range of wines, even though all are made from just one variety – Chardonnay.

As in other parts of France, it was the Romans who introduced vines and the medieval Church which expanded the vineyard. By the twelfth century the wines of Chablis, were already being celebrated in poetry. However, over the centuries a considerable amount of everyday wine also found its way via the river Yonne to the cafés of Paris. In its heyday of production towards the end of the nineteenth century the region encompassed 40,000 hectares of vines. But that was before phylloxera and oidium ravaged the vineyards and the railways brought competition from further south to the capital’s wine drinkers.

From a low point of 500 hectares just after the Second World War, the vineyard has now expanded more than tenfold, and quality has increased too. Wines in the appellation’s four categories – grand cru, premier cru, Chablis and Petit Chablis – are created by vignerons keen to work with the terroir to produce the elegant, mineral, long-lived wines for which the region earned its reputation. To this end, ever greater care is being taken in the vineyards and the routine use of chemicals is becoming increasingly uncommon.

The region’s history, unique soil, geography and climate are all covered in detail, but it is Rosemary George’s lively and insightful profiles of those who make the region’s wines that form the body of The wines of Chablis and the Grand Auxerrois. Through the lives of these vignerons – from the lows of disastrous weather to their love of the land – she paints a unique picture of a much-admired region.

The National Holocaust Museum tells the story of the Nazi persecution and murder of the Jews of the Netherlands. Before the Second World War, Jews and non-Jews lived side by side. They had the same rights. But during the war, the Nazis and their collaborators killed around six million Jews in Europe. That was the Holocaust or Shoah. This is the first and only museum to relate the history of the persecution of the Jews of the entire Netherlands. Including the day-to-day life of Jews on the eve of the Second World War, the liberation as Jews experienced it, and how the Holocaust has been treated in our national culture of remembrance: all this is examined in the museum and this book.

Text in English and Dutch.

Dismissed by contemporaries as the ravings of a deluded enemy of modernity, The Storm Cloud of the Nineteenth Century is an eerily prescient denunciation of capitalism’s assault on the atmosphere – and the profound danger for the earth but also the spiritual well-being of humanity. It is one of Ruskin’s final writings, conducted with both rigorous scientific observation and a sense of Biblical prophecy.

Ruskin’s call to action is even more urgently needed today. His rallying cry, There is no Wealth but Life, is implicit throughout the Storm Cloud. How his thought developed through a conflicted relationship with the professional science of his day, and what we can take from his writings, are examined by Peter Brimblecombe, Professor of Atmospheric Pollution at the University of Essex, in his Introduction. A foreword by the Master of the Guild of St George, Ruskin’s association for social and spiritual reform, sets out what Ruskinians today can do and are doing.

Albert Dros has a passion for landscape photography. Although he travels the world in search of the most beautiful images, the Netherlands is still his favorite subject. After all these years, Albert has created extremely atmospheric, colorful and almost romantic photographs of the Netherlands. His dream images in this book show everything that makes the Netherlands the Netherlands: from tulips to windmills, from purple moors to vast river landscapes and from picturesque towns to animals in meadows and in the wild. The Beauty of the Netherlands is the result of ten years of craftsmanship by an internationally renowned photographer who captures a Netherlands that few people will ever see with their own eyes.

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.

Maria Lai always had a special relationship with fairy tales. She considered them a metaphor for art and a way of communicating with the public in a simple, straightforward way. Starting in the 1980s, fairy tales became central to her art. Tenendo per mano il sole, Tenendo per mano l’ombra, Curiosape and Maria Pietra, are her most famous “sewn fairy tales” – books created by the artist using castoff textiles.

Maria Lai’s fairy tales are not merely children’s stories, but profound reflections on life and what it means to be a human being. They are often inspired by Sardinian myths and legends, to which the artist gives a personal twist, adding autobiographical details and philosophical reflections.
This edition of Tenendo per mano l’ombra is a printed version of Maria Lai’s 1987 tale. The original consists of fabric pages sewn together and collages of dyed textiles, on which the artist has embroidered geometric figures, yarn and other materials. The fairy tale tells the story of a human being (and his double) who must learn to accept shadows, the dark part of the world and of himself. The figure’s shadow, in Maria Lai’s fairy tale, is not a negative element to be rejected, but an integral part of his personality. To live an untroubled and complete life, one must learn to accept and live with it.

Elena Pontiggia’s concluding essay accompanies the reader in a fascinating page by page interpretation of the fable, and discusses Lai’s artistic and stylistic approach in the context of an extensive network of philosophical, literary and artistic references: from Kant and Manzoni to Klee and Malevič.

Text in English and Italian.

Male nudes have always been an expression of strength, beauty, and desire. Today, the naked male body is often viewed as a symbol of homosexual desire and is subject to a similar objectification within the community as the heterosexual female body — despite the social narrative of diversity and body positivity.

This raises important questions: which bodies are worthy of representation, which poses stimulate desire — and whose desire is being aroused? We are exposed to a non-stop, endlessly repetitive production of images in everyday life. This has long since led to a standardization of the masculine body image, but only few people can identify with the ideal of a slim, muscular, and angular figure.

In his work the beauty & the boys, Martin de Crignis displays his own photographs of the bare male body in the context of historical nude depictions. He sets his own visual language against these archive photos: while it imitates the aesthetics of a reality format in which the portrayed persons seem to openly present themselves in a domestic setting, the staged poses contradict both the genre and the masculine body ideal.

With this special juxtaposition of images and their conflicting aesthetics, de Crignis subtly touches on issues of body cult, naturalness, and masculinity in his exceptional artist’s book.

During the German occupation, a Jewish Dutch couple had to sell a painting to go into hiding. Their daughters were placed in a children’s home, but were rounded up in early 1944 and deported to Auschwitz, where they died. The parents survived the war and did not discover their children’s fate until 1946. The search for the painting also remained fruitless for a long time, until Origins Unknown Agency discovered that it had ended up in a German museum. The museum had previously tried unsuccessfully to trace its provenance. Thanks to the Origins Unknown Agency, the heirs of the original owner were found. The German museum and the heirs agreed that the painting, an 1882 work by Camille Pissarro, would remain at the museum. As part of the compensation, the painting will be kept on display from November 2024 to February 2025 at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

The Gardens of the Hamptons is an awe-inspiring collection of vibrant, luxurious, full-color photography amid personal profiles of individuals who have shared the story behind their private garden with lifestyle writer and photographer Blue Carreon, who is also the author of bestseller Equestrian Life in the Hamptons.

The Hamptons is a well-known destination for sunshine, luxury, and fun, especially during the summer. This book embraces the well-established, beloved, and aesthetic qualities of the glorious Hamptons communities by showcasing over 50 wonderful examples of lush gardens, ranging from bespoke private oases to public offerings and also larger garden estates, inspired by renowned gardens overseas.

Each individual speaks of their personal interest and purpose when envisioning and designing the garden of their dreams. Blue effortlessly conveys each gardener’s sense of pride and the reasons behind the choices of landscape design and architecture, as well as color scheme and flora selection—whether the garden be the source of an intimate escape or a space to activate family laughter and glee.

Blue captures the heart of the Hamptons by showcasing the friendly people and elegant portraits of nature at its best.

John Ruskin wrote this fable for a teenage family friend, Effie, and later he married her. The marriage was famously disastrous, but before it fell apart the Ruskins allowed The King of the Golden River to be published. It became one of the most popular works for children of its time. Richard Doyle contributed over 25 full-page illustrations and vignettes.

The King of the Golden River is the first literary fairy tale in English (as opposed to collected folk tales). Ruskin himself said it was ‘a fairly good imitation of Grimm and Dickens, mixed with some true Alpine feeling of my own’. Later he spoke of the capacity of the traditional tales ‘to fortify children against the glacial cold of selfish science’.

It remains a powerful fable about humanity’s dual capacity for destructiveness and redeeming love, with as strange fairy-tale creatures as one could hope to meet.

An essay by Simon Cooke explains the book’s importance.

The Age of Johnson in the Library of Loren and Frances Rothschild brings together the most comprehensive collection of rare books and autograph works in private hands of the 18th-century literary giant Samuel Johnson, together with extensive collections of the works of the other principal authors of the period long-known as the Age of Johnson— including James Boswell, Edmund Burke, Frances Burney, Oliver Goldsmith, Hester (Thrale) Piozzi, Alexander Pope, and Jonathan Swift.

An introduction to each of these authors provides information placing the author in his or her historical and literary context, and the descriptive entries for each of the over 900 individual manuscripts, letters, and rare books records bibliographical information, significant facts, and critical information about the work recorded.    
The individual entries, when viewed in the aggregate, survey and illuminate the breadth and depth of the literary and intellectual canon of the authors of the Age of Johnson, illuminate their relationships and their works to one another. The text taken as a whole demonstrates why Samuel Johnson, as an individual and as an author, defined the era long named for him.

For the 550th anniversary of the birth of Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564) the Muscarelle Museum (Williamsburg, Virginia) hosted the exhibition Michelangelo: The Genesis of the Sistine, running from March to June, 2025.

The exhibition was an extraordinary account of the master’s preparatory drawings for the Sistine Chapel frescoes, never before exhibited in America.
Before his death, Michelangelo destroyed many of his sketches, including numerous studies for the Sistine Chapel. Those that have been saved remain significant and iconic, providing a window into his creative process, highlighting his initial plans and his extraordinary vision for the frescoes of the Sistine ceiling.

They range from what may be considered the first schematic study for the Sistine ceiling, to the numerous sketches of faces, limbs, and whole figures depicted in various positions, appearing as preparation for the figures later frescoed.

Thanks to rigorous scholarly research, this catalogue provides new insights into Michelangelo’s legacy, giving the reader an enriching and compelling experience.

The largest surviving portion of the first major collection of Classical antiquities in Britain – the sculptures and inscriptions collected in the early 17th century by Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel for his London house and garden – is in the Antiquities Department of the Ashmolean Museum. This handbook tracks their eventful history.

Dante (the seventh centenary of whose death is being marked in 2021), the author of one of the greatest works of European literature, has also inspired a wealth of images which, themselves, continue to shape our perceptions of the poet as visionary; of romantic love and political corruption; and of hell and salvation, whether understood in the context of this world or another. At the core of the Comedy and of its related visual images is the emblematic significance of the lives of individual persons.

Dante may be considered the inventor of our modern ideas of fame and celebrity. He was the first person who, though of no particular distinction in the world – a mere poet – became a celebrity in his own lifetime. And in the Comedy, Dante made famous individuals about whom we should otherwise know nothing. For the first time, poetry turned obscurities into household names – the doomed adulterous lovers, Paolo and Francesca; Ciacco the glutton; the gentle personality of La Pia. The radical democracy of Dante’s perspective had no precedent. 

Dante also questioned the significance and value of worldly fame. His reflection on the human desire for notoriety is paradigmatic for our own society of spectacle, in which (as Andy Warhol predicted) ‘everyone will be world-famous for five minutes’. Dante himself was keenly aware of religious warnings about the futility of worldly vanity; yet he arrived at a personal conviction that the earthly fame of the poet could none the less be a force for good. 

Insurgency and the Artist explores not merely how Indian printmakers and artists responded to the freedom struggle but also how the art they fashioned invoked their own conception of the nation, their sense of the past, and the contors of the movement for India’s emancipation from the yoke of colonial oppression. Recent scholarly work has been almost entirely riveted on nationalist prints, and much of it has focused on the idea of Bharat Mata, but this book seeks to furnish a more rounded account of the artwork — including etchings, paintings, woodblocks prints, and cartoons — contemporary to the freedom struggle and also highlights the work of neglected artists such as Babuji Shilpi, S.L. Parasher, Zainul Abedin, and M.V. Dhurandhar, among others. The author considers how the Indian past was rendered as one of martial resistance to ‘foreign’ rule, the manner in which artists worked with mythic material, and, of course, the treatment of the larger-than-life figures of Gandhi, Bhagat Singh, Subhas Bose, and other patriots in nationalist art. This gloriously illustrated work simultaneously offers a narrative history of the freedom struggle and the rich interplay of text and images is designed to offer insights that neither conventional histories nor images can offer in isolation. Insurgency and the Artist is also an inquiry into how ideas travel across borders, the porousness of culture, and the relationship of art to politics.