Italian Renaissance art is closely intertwined with the development of courts and court culture in much of the Italian territory. The patronage of the ruling families of the small Italian city-states greatly favoured the flourishing of the figurative arts, in architecture, but also in music, literature, and theatre. The initial essay on the political geography of Renaissance Italy is particularly important because it illustrates graphically (with the help of maps) the great territorial fragmentation of the Italian city-states, often very famous in the history of art and culture, but literally very small and with smaller, quasi-independent cities within them. Music and literature — often overlooked in general books on the Italian Renaissance — were a form of sophisticated entertainment but, at the same time, instrumental to increase the perception of magnificence (stately grandeur and lavishness) of the Prince. So, for instance, the chapter on literature begins with the role of the humanists at court, literature and propaganda (with reference to the many histories of ruling families written at court), theatrical representations, the new bucolic poetry and the eclogue, and the advent of print and the birth of the most famous Renaissance books: the 'Libro del Cortegiano' (The book of the Courtier) by Baldassare Castiglione and the 'Orlando Furioso' by Ludovico Ariosto. The second, longer part, is arranged geographically and, bringing together the best of Italian scholarship, covers the entire peninsula, giving attention not only to the major courts, such as Milan, Naples, Mantua, Ferrara, but devoting shorter chapters to some of the minor courts spread around northern and central Italy, from Rimini ruled by the Malatesta family to Carpi under the Pios, Bracciano ruled by the Orsini, etc. Attention is given also to city-states without a proper court, for instance Florence, which was informally ruled by the Medici family but was a republic. Additional text boxes provide detailed information on specific arguments such as cardinals' courts in Rome or Federico da Montefeltro's fortresses. At the end of each chapter a short, annotated bibliography helps the reader to find the most important texts on the topic. A final part includes the genealogies of the ruling families, the general bibliography and a series of indexes (names, places and works of arts, main themes). In the index of names dates and a short definition is given for all historical figures (e.g.: Leto, Pomponio [1425-1498], humanist and founder of the Roman Academy).

For over 180 years, the output of the Belgian luxury goods house Delvaux has met the needs of a clientele living through times of dramatic change and movement. Founded in an era when travel was largely horse-drawn, the company has survived through revolutions and wars, and adapted to the requirements of railways and ocean liners, bicycles, cars and jets. This book follows Delvaux from the manufacture of travel goods for the local nobility in the 19th century, through the rise of the modern handbag in the 20th century, to the company's vision of a new kind of elegance under its artistic director Veronique Branquinho. The exhibition 'Delvaux. 180 years of Belgian Luxury' runs from Thursday September 17th 2009 till Sunday February 22nd 2010 in the Antwerp Fashion Museum. This book is the official catalogue and gives a splendid overview of fashion and the history of this amazing fashion house.

A definitive guide to patternmaking, this accessible book explains the techniques in clear, simple steps, providing the essential know-how for anyone making their first foray into clothes making and fashion design. Using four basic garments (skirts, dresses, jackets and coats), this volume explores contemporary pattern making in detail and explains how to draw, cut and mount patterns. Patternmaking in Practice helps the reader to understand the more complex processes and teaches how to customize and adapt basic models and recreate patterns from pictures. Beginning with an historical introduction to the development of patternmaking, this book describes the traditional methods used and today's advanced body-shaping techniques. A useful visual guide, showing how to take body measurements, the tools to use, how to work with seams and cut fabric, is also included.

This book focuses on two aspects of Khmer ceramics — their beauty and their meaning — and looks at them through the extraordinary private collection of Yothin Tharahirunchot. This book aims to explore the meaning of Khmer ceramics within the context of their function and to call attention to their aesthetics. The largest and most complete in the world, the collection of Yothin Tharahirunchot, comprises some 160 pieces and reflects the owner's knowledgeable eye, keen sensibility, and enduring passion for Khmer ceramics. Yothin Tharahirunchot invited renowned ceramics expert Dawn F. Rooney to research and publish the collection. Furthermore, two Thai scholars, Krisda Pinsri and Pariwat Thammapreechakorn were engaged to research specific aspects of the subject. Their findings are presented for the first time in this book. Both papers are expansive and explore understudied areas of Khmer ceramics. To convey the beauty of the wares, Yothin Tharahirunchot invited Robert McLeod, an internationally renowned photographer, to photograph the collection. His evocative photographs encouraged a single-page format supported by descriptive captions.

Stuart Cohen and Julie Hacker are a multi-award-winning husband-and-wife architectural team whose vast complementary talents are presented in this first monograph of their residential work. Their elegant body of work is mostly concentrated in Chicago's leafy North Shore suburbs. Informed by both modern and classical principles, the traditionally styled homes inhabit these genteel neighbourhoods like fine pieces of furniture. The completed residences seem effortless but the designs behind them tend to be quite complex. Certain elements appear in each of their houses, including classical axial layouts, custom trim that organises spaces, views through glass cabinetry or French doors into other rooms. Cohen and Hacker work with their clients to understand the way they want to live, allowing them to combine the best traditional architectural elements with contemporary living spaces. Kitchens and bathrooms are a particular specialty of this talented duo.

«Living in Paris implies a particular inclination, admirably expressed by the colours and lights of its buildings. And if it is true, as Yves Saint Laurent once famously said, that «Fashion passes, style remains», the interiors illustrated in this publication reflect at the same time the emotional impact and the peculiar character of the Parisian houses; as expressions of ways of living that, whether traditional or innovative, are always capable of combining elegance and grandeur, a love of sophistication and a care for well-being, a taste for entertaining and a domestic dimension.»

The new Home series from Beta-Plus invites you to take a fascinating journey through the most beautiful and inspiring interiors. The thirty volumes in this series are thematically divided by room (living rooms, bathrooms, kitchens and so on), and also by style (including designer homes, country houses and contemporary interiors). The reports in these books combine to create a unique voyage of discovery through modern trends in decoration and architecture, reflecting the lifestyle and outlook of people who live in these beautiful homes. Home series is a unique collection of thirty titles, eclectic and stylish, devoted to interior design and decoration, and presented in a handy format. Every book shows the finest projects by leading architects and interior specialists, in a kaleidoscope of styles and genres, and is packed with ideas for your own home. Apartment-living has become more popular, and this book shows why it can be so desirable. Beautifully illustrated, it also shows the rich variety of apartments and that a sacrifice in space does not have to mean a sacrifice in style and comfort.

The new Home series from Beta-Plus invites you to take a fascinating journey through the most beautiful and inspiring interiors. The thirty volumes in this series are thematically divided by room (living rooms, bathrooms, kitchens and so on), and also by style (including designer homes, country houses and contemporary interiors). The reports in these books combine to create a unique voyage of discovery through modern trends in decoration and architecture, reflecting the lifestyle and outlook of people who live in these beautiful homes. Home series is a unique collection of thirty titles, eclectic and stylish, devoted to interior design and decoration, and presented in a handy format. Every book shows the finest projects by leading architects and interior specialists, in a kaleidoscope of styles and genres, and is packed with ideas for your own home. A stunning, pictorial reference guide for bedroom design. This inspiring book serves to guide professional interior specialists as well as laymen in their choice of techniques, materials and furniture.

The new Home series from Beta-Plus invites you to take a fascinating journey through the most beautiful and inspiring interiors. The thirty volumes in this series are thematically divided by room (living rooms, bathrooms, kitchens and so on), and also by style (including designer homes, country houses and contemporary interiors). The reports in these books combine to create a unique voyage of discovery through modern trends in decoration and architecture, reflecting the lifestyle and outlook of people who live in these beautiful homes. Home series is a unique collection of thirty titles, eclectic and stylish, devoted to interior design and decoration, and presented in a handy format. Every book shows the finest projects by leading architects and interior specialists, in a kaleidoscope of styles and genres, and is packed with ideas for your own home. This volume examines all the ingredients that come together to produce breathtaking interiors — how colours, textures, fittings and much more, contribute to the decor as a whole.

For almost forty years one of Britain's most important photographic archives has remained unseen. Created by the legendary fashion editor Ernestine Carter, the hundreds of images she commissioned for The Sunday Times include some of the finest photo-shoots of the Sixties. Photographing Fashion champions the best of British chosen by her during this incredible decade: photographers John Cowan, Terence Donovan, John French and Patrick Hunt capture the mood, with the clothes of Mary Quant, John Bates, Gina Fratini, Foale & Tuffin, Biba, Jean Muir, and Ossie Clark. The emphasis is on an unswerving eye for style, with a fresh look at everything from ball gowns to beachwear. Unparalleled photographs, groundbreaking fashion, all published for the first time since they appeared in the decade that still defines British style.

The handbag has long been a symbol of status and style — it dominates the fashion scene, adds that all important finishing touch to the outfit, and is the portable accessory that no woman can live without. So, while some may say that diamonds are a girl's best friend, it's not just diamonds that make a girl shine — it's also the handbag she carries. This book celebrates some of the most fantastic and desirable handbags of the 1950s and 60s. All are constructed of lucite — a transparent, acrylic plastic — considered to be a radical and innovative substance at the time. Still highly desirable and collected today, they command high sums on the vintage fashion scene. Unrivalled for their beauty, influential because of their unusual designs, without exception they truly sparkle like diamonds. This book is packed with stunning examples shown in all their glory in over 100 fantastic photographs.

The new Home series from Beta-Plus invites you to take a fascinating journey through the most beautiful and inspiring interiors. The thirty volumes in this series are thematically divided by room (living rooms, bathrooms, kitchens and so on), and also by style (including designer homes, country houses and contemporary interiors). The reports in these books combine to create a unique voyage of discovery through modern trends in decoration and architecture, reflecting the lifestyle and outlook of people who live in these beautiful homes. Home series is a unique collection of thirty titles, eclectic and stylish, devoted to interior design and decoration, and presented in a handy format. Every book shows the finest projects by leading architects and interior specialists, in a kaleidoscope of styles and genres, and is packed with ideas for your own home. Compact Spaces is magnificently illustrated with over 100 colour photographs that show how to maximise your space through use of colour as well as the most efficient use of existing space.

The new Home series from Beta-Plus invites you to take a fascinating journey through the most beautiful and inspiring interiors. The thirty volumes in this series are thematically divided by room (living rooms, bathrooms, kitchens and so on), and also by style (including designer homes, country houses and contemporary interiors). The reports in these books combine to create a unique voyage of discovery through modern trends in decoration and architecture, reflecting the lifestyle and outlook of people who live in these beautiful homes. Home series is a unique collection of thirty titles, eclectic and stylish, devoted to interior design and decoration, and presented in a handy format. Every book shows the finest projects by leading architects and interior specialists, in a kaleidoscope of styles and genres, and is packed with ideas for your own home. This book is dedicated exclusively to streamlined, minimalist kitchens. It features all aspects of such kitchens, including kitchen design, cooking surfaces and a selection of materials for the worktops and floors.

From Rembrandt to Vermeer deals with the most outstanding works of the Golden Age of Flemish and Dutch art and offers a splendid selection of pictures belonging to the most important collection of seventeenth-century Flemish and Dutch paintings in the world, that in the Gemaldegalerie in Berlin. It includes such masterpieces as The Money Changer and the Portrait of Hendrickje Stoffels by Rembrandt, Jan Vermeer's Woman with a Pearl Necklace; The Mother, the Woman Weighing Gold by Pieter de Hooch, Rubens' Landscape with a Hanged Man, an extraordinarily beautiful landscape painting, with its oppressive and disquieting atmosphere; Prince Tommaso Francesco of Savoy-Carignano and the Portrait of a Genoese Noblewoman by Anton van Dyck, Rubens' favourite disciple and a painter who was loved and sought after by the great families of Europe because of his notable skill as a portraitist.

Australian photographer Robyn Beeche discovered a new world when she went to London in the late 1970s. From catwalk shows to clubs, Beeche captured the leading designers and artists of the time, becoming an important photographer of the fashion world and working extensively with designers such as Zandra Rhodes, Vivienne Westwood, Bill Gibb and Mary Quant. Working with legendary make-up artists such as Richard Sharah and Phyllis Cohen, Beeche took fashion photography to a new level, creating surrealistic masterpieces. While the Blitz club was the place to be at the start of the 1980s, a few years later Beeche discovered the beauty of India, particularly the region of Vraj, which she visited on many occasions to document local festivals and culture. She moved to Vrindavan permanently in 1992. Through Beeche's superb photography, this book conveys the vibrancy of London and the richness of India, beautifully capturing the tapestry of life in both countries.

The most gifted textile designer of her generation, Shirley Craven won a string of awards during the 1960s. This book celebrates her remarkable achievements at Hull Traders and documents her arresting hand screen-printed furnishing fabrics in full.

«Deanna Farneti Cera first glimpsed the jewels of Coppola e Toppo in 1987 at an auction house in Milan. Instantly fascinated by their diversity, the evocative power of the colours, the wealth of shapes and motifs and the multitude of materials used, she soon developed an overwhelming passion for the stunning creations. This book, researched over the last twenty years, is the culmination of that passion and a reconstruction of the creative path of Coppola e Toppo, charting their inspiring partnership from their first appearance in «VOGUE» in 1948, through to Lyda's death in 1986.»

Czech-born Jacqueline Groag (1903-1985) was an incredibly adept textile designer who trained at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna during the 1920s under Franz Cisek and Josef Hoffmann. She produced textile designs for the Wiener Werkstatte and some of the Parisian fashion houses while she lived in Vienna. She married the architect and interior designer Jacques Groag — they made a successful team. However, in 1939 they were compelled to emigrate to the UK. Jacqueline Groag continued to produce textile design work for the British market, and after the war her designs could be seen at numerous outlets such as David Whitehead, Grafton, John Lewis and Liberty. For more than 20 years she worked as a freelance designer, supplying designs for carpets, greetings cards, laminates, plastics, textiles, wallpapers and wrapping papers to many firms including Bond-Worth Carpets, British European Airways, the British Overseas Airways Corporation, Dunlop, ICI and London Transport. In 1984 she became a Fellow of the Faculty of Royal Designers for Industry. She was a prodigious and successful designer to the end of her life. Along with Lucienne Day and Marian Mahler she is seen as central to a new and exciting development in textile design in the 1950s. Together their work is featured in a major exhibition Designing Women which begins in Colorado Springs in September 2008. This is a ground breaking publication on the work of this highly important and influential designer.

The new Home series from Beta-Plus invites you to take a fascinating journey through the most beautiful and inspiring interiors. The thirty volumes in this series are thematically divided by room (living rooms, bathrooms, kitchens and so on), and also by style (including designer homes, country houses and contemporary interiors). The reports in these books combine to create a unique voyage of discovery through modern trends in decoration and architecture, reflecting the lifestyle and outlook of people who live in these beautiful homes. Home series is a unique collection of thirty titles, eclectic and stylish, devoted to interior design and decoration, and presented in a handy format. Every book shows the finest projects by leading architects and interior specialists, in a kaleidoscope of styles and genres, and is packed with ideas for your own home. This volume is concerned with what many would consider the central room of the home: the living room. With over 100 gorgeous colour photographs, this book explores the layouts and trends in contemporary living room design.

Marion Foale and Sally Tuffin were two bolshy girls who just did it. After meeting at Walthamstow Art School in 1955 and then studying together at the Royal College of Art, they embarked on a trailblazing career in fashion lasting throughout the 1960s, until their partnership came to an end in 1972. Quirky, youthful creativity, acute sensitivity to the latest moods and trends, expert craftsmanship, and a little Swinging Sixties good fortune placed them at the hub of the cultural explosion in London that defined the era. Their boutique off Carnaby Street was at the epicentre of the new fashion scene. Suddenly, David Bailey was photographing their outfits for Vogue, Cathy MacGowan was wearing them on Ready, Steady, Go!, and they were jetting around America as part of the ground-breaking Youthquake tour. Through detailed interviews with Foale and Tuffin themselves, exclusive access to their personal archives, and contributions from an extraordinary array of figures from the fashion, art and cultural scenes of the 1960s, 70s and beyond, Iain R. Webb builds a fascinating picture of the time, throwing new light on how fashion and business underwent a period of unprecedented change. It was a period of cross-pollination in art, music and fashion, of entrepreneurial and cultural innovation. Contributors include Manolo Blahnik, Sir Terence Conran, Felicity Green, Barbara Hulanicki, Caterine Milinaire, Janet Street Porter, Mary Quant and Jean Shrimpton. The narrative of the Foale and Tuffin story perfectly traces the decade from its groovy, optimistic beginnings, when the two embryonic fashion designers blithely set up shop in 1961, to its crash-and-burn finale, as Sixties sanguinity melted away into a hangover of Seventies cynicism, masked as it was with the distraction of fancy-dress escapism.