What do we mean when we call a work of art "beautiful"? How have artists responded to changing notions of the beautiful? Which works of art have been called beautiful, and why? Fundamental and intriguing questions to artists and art lovers, but ones that are all too often ignored in discussions of art today.
Elizabeth Prettejohn argues that we simply cannot afford to ignore these questions. Charting over two hundred years of western art, she illuminates the vital relationship between our changing notions of beauty and specific works of art, from the works of Kauffman to Whistler, Ingres...

The most famous designs of the twentieth century are not those in museums, but in the marketplace. The Coca-Cola bottle and McDonald's logo are known the world over and may tell us more about our culture than a narrowly-defined canon of classics. One of the world's foremost design historians, Jonathan Woodham takes a fresh look at the wider issues of design and industrial culture throughout Europe, Scandinavia, North America, and the Far East. Drawing on the most up-to-date scholarship, he explores themes such as national identity, the "Americanization" of ideology and business methods, the...

The early middle ages were an exciting period in the history of European architecture, culminating in the development of the Romanesque style. Major architectural innovations were made during this time including the medieval castle, the church spire, and the monastic cloister. By avoiding the traditional emphasis on chronological development, Roger Stalley provides a radically new approach to the subject, exploring issues and themes rather than sequences and dates. In addition to analysing the language of the Romanesque, the book examines the engineering achievements of the builders, focusing...

What is landscape? How does it differ from "land?" Does landscape always imply something to be pictured, a scene? When and why did we begin to cherish images of nature? What is "nature?" Is it everything that isn't art, or artifact? By addressing these and many other questions, Landscape and Western Art explores the myriad ideas and images of the natural world in Western art since the Renaissance.
Implying that land is the raw material, and that art is created by turning land into landscape, which then becomes art, author Malcolm Andrews takes the reader on a thematic tour of the...

The stunning masterpieces of Ancient Greece and Rome are fundamental to the story of art in Western culture and to the origins of art history. The expanding Greek world of Alexander the Great had an enormous impact on the Mediterranean superpower of Rome. Generals, rulers, and artists seized, imitated, and re-thought the stunning legacy of Greek painting and sculpture, culminating in the greatest art-collector the world had ever seen: the Roman emperor Hadrian.
This exciting new look at Classical art starts with the excavation of the buried city of Pompeii, and investigates the grandiose...

This refreshing new look at Medieval art conveys a very real sense of the impact of art on everyday life in Europe from 1000 to 1500. It examines the importance of art in the expression and spread of knowledge and ideas, including notions of the heroism and justice of war, and the dominant view of Christianity.
Taking its starting point from issues of contemporary relevance, such as the environment, the identity of the artist, and the position of women, the book also highlights the attitudes and events specific to the sophisticated visual culture of the Middle Ages, and goes on to link...

A richly illustrated, up-to-date presentation of the early Renaissance period in Italian art, which looks not only at Florence, the traditional focus of such studies, but at several other Italian cities significant in their own right. The social, cultural and political context and significance of works of art are given their proper prominence, and many insights provided into issues such as patronage and production. A vivid and exciting recreation of one of the most important periods in the development of Western art, at an extremely reasonable price.

The Renaissance was a diverse phenomenon, marked by innovation and economic expansion, the rise of powerful rulers, religious reforms, and social change. Encompassing the entire continent, Renaissance Architecture examines the rich variety of buildings that emerged during these seminal centuries of European history.
Although marked by the rise of powerful individuals, both patrons and architects, the Renaissance was equally a time of growing group identities and communities -- and architecture provided the public face to these new identities. Religious reforms in northern Europe, spurred...

A beautifully illustrated, new edition of this pioneering study of art since 1945. Focussing mainly on the relationship between American and European Art, this book offers an up-to-date introduction to the major artists and movements of recent years.

A beautifully illustrated, new edition of the best single-volume guide to Roman and early Christian art. Provides an introduction to the great diversity of artistic styles during the period, and their context.