«What makes The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck one of the best-known and reproduced works of art in the world? Exactly what mystery do we happen upon when we tiptoe into a houses's most private room, the bridal chamber? One by one, we stumble across hidden, unexpected details, meticulously reproduced thanks to the sensational realism of the painter's lens. Within the modest dimensions of an «intimate» scene, the artist manages to condense a microcosm of the universe and a study of daylight, and invites us almost physically into the room. The convex mirror painted on the back wall, a marvellous contrivance that enlarges the space and the figures, turns us into actors instead of spectators, magically transported into that timeless room. Finally, who are the personages portrayed? Are they really the Arnolfini couple?»

This generously illustrated volume on the work of Caravaggio makes the world's greatest art accessible to readers of every level of appreciation. This monograph explores Caravaggio's entire life and career by focusing on the most important of his works. Readers will learn about his innovated use of light and shadow, his physical and psychological realism, and his radical technique of omitting initial drawings and creating straight onto the canvas. Along the way readers will learn details of the artist's colorful, and often troubled life, as well as the important role he played in the evolution of Western painting. Overflowing with impeccably reproduced images, this book offers full-page spreads of masterpieces as well as highlights of smaller details-allowing the viewer to appreciate every aspect of the artist's technique and oeuvre. Chronologically arranged, the book coveres important biographical and historic events that reflect the latest scholarship. Additional information includes a list of works, timeline, and suggestions for further reading.

This generously illustrated volume on the work of Dürer makes the world's greatest art accessible to readers of every level of appreciation. This monograph explores Dürer's entire life and oeuvre by focusing on the most important of his works. It follows the artist as he traveled throughout Europe, completing commissions for noblemen, kings, emperors, and popes-all the while satisfying his own thirst for knowledge and struggling with the changes brought about by the Reformation. Overflowing with impeccably reproduced images, this book offers full-page spreads of masterpieces as well as highlights of smaller details-allowing the viewer to appreciate every aspect of the artist's technique and output. Chronologically arranged, the book covers important biographical and historic events that reflect the latest scholarship. Additional information includes a list of works, timeline, and suggestions for further reading.

This new series examines several highly regarded masterpieces in an attempt to unravel the mysteries that surround them. Through an innovative concept and a fresh approach, 'Art Mysteries', edited by Marco Carminati and Stefano Zuffi, presents an up-to-date and spectacular reading of famous paintings, investigating key clues that suggest previously unknown background information. 'The Stories of St Matthew' marked a turning point in Caravaggio's career, and in the history of painting itself. Behind their mystery lies an unprecedented creative process, characterised by choices and pentimenti revealed by detailed analyses. At the time, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was an unruly thirty-year-old painter of small to medium-sized works, commissioned privately. Although at first Cardinal Mathieu Cointrel had no intention of involving Caravaggio in the decoration of his family chapel in the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome, fate (a positive fate in the light of art history) offered the painter, through a series of contretemps and coincidences, the chance of a lifetime to become a publicly acclaimed master.

Every color has many aspects, many variations, and many meanings. Red, for instance, can mean passion, or suffering, or anger. How are these aspects represented in works of art from Titian and Bosch to Matisse and Warhol? Painters use colors to convey a message as much as they do for surface appeal. In design and fashion, color is omnipresent as well, but incredibly varied in its significance. This fascinating book focuses on the most important colors in art — red, blue, yellow, black, white, green, and gold — and looks at them through some 200 beautifully printed works.

Celebrated for his penetrating portraits, richly detailed landscapes and evocative narrative paintings, the seventeenth century artist Rembrandt is generally considered one of Europe's greatest painters and printmakers, and the master of the Dutch School. His work is distinguished by broad brushwork, luminous palettes, and a sense of order and movement that recalls the finest Renaissance art. Overflowing with impeccably reproduced images, this book offers full-page spreads of masterpieces as well as highlights of smaller details-allowing the viewer to appreciate every aspect of the artist's technique and oeuvre. Chronologically arranged, the book covers important biographical and historic events that reflect the latest scholarship. Additional information includes a list of works, timeline and suggestions for further reading.

Almost from the beginning of art, humans have portrayed cats. The animal originally domesticated for the humble purpose of catching mice was already a goddess in ancient Egypt and a beloved household pet in ancient Rome. Throughout history, cats have been a beautiful vessel for symbolic meanings, ranging from dark unruly sensuality to perfect domestic tranquillity. In this book, cats inhabit 170 art masterpieces. Sometimes they are the stars of the work and sometimes they are working their magic from the corners of rooms (in which case both the whole work and a detail showing the cat are both illustrated). Here are paintings by Van Eyck, Raphael, Leonardo, Bruegel, Rembrandt, Chardin, Gainsborough, Manet, Renoir, Bonnard, Gauguin, Matisse, Balthus, Picasso, Warhol and many other famous artists. Stefano Zuffi's charming text tells us what it all means. The cats, meanwhile, are beautiful, seductive and mysterious.

Children will learn to count from 1 to 12 while looking at fine art masterpieces in this lively new book. Cats by Gainsborough, boats by Van Gogh, a circle of dancers by Matisse, a king and queen sculpted by Henry Moore—they’re all here to encourage counting and to introduce the fascinating world of art. A short rhyme perfect for reading aloud accompanies each illustration, helping children find the objects to count. Art 123 is a great book for all art lovers.