A pioneer of British Egyptology, Sir John Gardner Wilkinson (1797 1875) first travelled to Egypt in 1821, the year before Champollion published his breakthrough work on the Rosetta Stone. As public interest in Egypt grew, Wilkinson studied and sketched the country's major archaeological sites, most notably the tombs of Thebes. When published in 1835, the present work was the first major book in English on the subject and the most substantial since the French Description de l'Egypte. The text and plates present a detailed picture of contemporary Egypt in relation to its ancient heritage....

Written by his son John Romney (1757 1832) and published in 1830, nearly three decades after the artist's death, this collection of anecdotes and biographical episodes traces the extraordinary career of George Romney (1734 1802), highlighting his early training as a joiner in the family firm, his artistic education at the hands of the disreputable Christopher Steele, and his eventual fame as a portraitist of fashionable London. Recollections of personal and professional encounters with such influential figures as Laurence Sterne and Richard Payne Knight provide insights into the circumstances...

One of the leading exponents of the nineteenth century's Gothic Revival, the architect Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811 78) most famously designed the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens and the Midland Grand Hotel at St Pancras. In the design and restoration of churches and cathedrals, his work was distinguished by its care, skill and sheer volume: most medieval cathedrals in England and Wales, including Westminster Abbey, benefited from Scott's expertise in some form. Written between 1864 and his death, then edited by his son and fellow architect George Gilbert Scott (1839 97), this 1879...

The Rossettis were one of the most remarkable and talented families in Victorian Britain. Of the two parents and three siblings, Dante Gabriel (1828 82) and Christina (1830 94) stood out, but throughout their lives they remained a tightly-knit unit. William Michael (1829 1919), who published this two-volume work in 1895, was the family record keeper and in the memoir of his brother we have an unmatched account of the family dynamic. He was not always candid about his brother's affairs but his biography is unparalleled for its fresh directness. Unlike all subsequent biographers, William wrote...

The Rossettis were one of the most remarkable and talented families in Victorian Britain. Of the two parents and three siblings, Dante Gabriel (1828 82) and Christina (1830 94) stood out, but throughout their lives they remained a tightly-knit unit. William Michael (1829 1919), who published this two-volume work in 1895, was the family record keeper and in the memoir of his brother we have an unmatched account of the family dynamic. He was not always candid about his brother's affairs but his biography is unparalleled for its fresh directness. Unlike all subsequent biographers, William wrote...

First published in 1913, this highly illustrated two-volume work was intended to give as full an account as possible of the lives and works of painters, sculptors and engravers in Ireland from the earliest times to the nineteenth century. Until then, the history of Irish art had been largely neglected, so this project was an extensive undertaking for Walter George Strickland (1850 1928), who became Director of the National Gallery of Ireland. It took him two decades to compile, and involved accessing private collections, corresponding with experts, meeting with the artists' descendants, and...

Published in 1848, this two-volume work was received with great praise. During a celebrated career, Anna Brownell Jameson (1794 1860) produced Shakespeare criticism, travel writing, biography, and art history, and was admired by contemporaries such as Mary Shelley and Thomas Carlyle. Taking an aesthetic rather than religious approach, the work is a study of the legends represented in Western art of the Middle Ages, ordered taxonomically. Though Jameson is considered the first professional female art critic, this is a reductive label; she was, rather, one of the great art critics of her age...

Published in 1848, this two-volume work was received with great praise. During a celebrated career, Anna Brownell Jameson (1794 1860) produced Shakespeare criticism, travel writing, biography, and art history, and was admired by contemporaries such as Mary Shelley and Thomas Carlyle. Taking an aesthetic rather than religious approach, the work is a study of the legends represented in Western art of the Middle Ages, ordered taxonomically. Though Jameson is considered the first professional female art critic, this is a reductive label; she was, rather, one of the great art critics of her age...

Jane Ellen Panton (1847 1923) was the second daughter of the artist William Powell Frith, and a journalist and author on domestic issues. She grew up in London, where she developed an aesthetic and practical interest in the various homes she lived in, and went on to publish a series of advice guides on buying property, decorating, and running households. Given her family's background and diverse interests, art, literature and theatre were also prominent in her life, as well as law and religion. First published in 1908, this is Panton's revealing autobiography, in which she recalls the places...

Born in Edinburgh, Daniel Wilson (1816 92) initially pursued an artistic career and spent time in Turner's studio. However, in 1846 he became a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and devoted the rest of his life to archaeology, anthropology and university administration. He was active in the Society's attempts to save historic buildings in Edinburgh, and the city's built environment was the subject of this two-volume 1848 work, which is illustrated with engravings after his own drawings. In Volume 1, Wilson begins by tracing the city's history from earliest times. The latter...