The Salvator Mundi is the first Leonardo painting to be discovered for over a century. Following its re-emergence, it played a leading role in the landmark Leonardo exhibition at the National Gallery in London in 2011, after which it was purchased by a Russian oligarch. In 2017 it was auctioned by Christie's in New York, fetching the world record price of $450m, and now forms part of the collection of Louvre Abu Dhabi. The Salvator Mundi may be seen as the devotional coun...

A Globe 100 Best Book of 2024 • A New Yorker Best Book of 2024 • A Kirkus Most Anticipated Book of Fall 2024The first history of the notebook, a simple invention that changed the way the world thinks.We see notebooks everywhere we go. But where did these indispensable implements come from? How did they revolutionize our lives? And how can using a notebook help change the way you think? In this wide-ranging history...

The Dutch artist Hieronymus Bosch is considered one of the most notable representatives of the Early Netherlandish painting school. His work is renowned for its fantastic imagery, ethereal landscapes, original religious concepts and, most famously, his macabre, nightmarish depictions of Hell. Though almost forgotten for centuries, today he is held as an innovative visionary, whose works offer a rare insight into humanity’s desires and deepest fears. Delphi’s Masters of Art Series p...

This stunning eBook is a concise illustrated guide, evaluating the masterpieces that have changed the course of art as we know it. Whether an art novice or a cultivated connoisseur, this eBook offers you an intriguing overview of the world’s most famous and iconic artworks. Illustrated with over 500 full colour images, it builds upon Delphi’s groundbreaking Masters of Art Series — the world’s first digital e-Art books. Through the analysis of 50 famous and innovative paintings, the...

Of all Italian painters, Caravaggio (c. 1565-1609) speaks most intensely to the modern world. His early works suggest a fascination with his own youth and sexuality and the trancience of love and beauty his later religious art speaks of violence, passion, solitude and death. Ugly, almost brutal-looking, Caravaggio was constantly embroiled in fights and entangled with the law; the prototype anti-social artist, he moved between the worlds of powerful patrons and the street life of boys and p...

The Venetian old master Canaletto achieved international fame for his landscapes, ‘vedute’, which were celebrated for their masterful expression of atmosphere. His detailed paintings of Venice, London and English country homes influenced succeeding generations of landscape artists. Delphi’s Masters of Art Series presents the world’s first digital e-Art books, allowing readers to explore the works of great artists in comprehensive detail. This volume presents Canaletto’s collected w...

The fifteenth century artist Piero della Francesca produced works that are characterised by their serene, disciplined exploration, providing a major, though largely unrecognised contribution to the development of the Italian Renaissance. His fervent interest in the theoretical study of perspective and his contemplative approach are apparent in all of his extant paintings. Highlights of Piero’s work include his masterful depiction of light and atmospheric effects, his attention to naturalis...

In 1988, carbon dating of the world's most famous Christian relic revealed that it was a mediaeval or Renaissance forgery. Yet many questions remained. How could a hoaxer of 500 or more years ago have created an image that appears so astonishingly lifelike when seen in photographic negative? How was such an image formed? And who would have dared fake the Holy Shroud of Jesus? Setting out to answer these questions, Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince discovered that the faker was none other than...

Read this book and the world's most famous image will never look the same again. For the world's greatest cultural icon still has secrets to reveal - not the silly secrets that the 'Leonardo loonies' continue to advance, but previously unknown facts about the lives of Leonardo, his father, Lisa Gherardini, the subject of the portrait, and her husband Francesco del Giocondo. From this factual beginning we see how the painting metamorphosed into a 'universal picture' that became the prime ve...

The eighteenth century was an age when not only the aristocracy but a burgeoning middle class could enjoy a remarkable flowering of the arts. But it was a man's world; any woman who wished to succeed as an artist had to overcome numerous obstacles. In a society in which women were required to marry, reproduce, and conform to rigid social conventions a professional artist risked becoming an object of gossip and hostility. Nevertheless, for a woman who had charm and good looks, was ambitious...

This is the biography of 7 painters who, from the 14th to the 19th century changed the history of art forever. The book is not just about their painting but also tells about their lives, their triumphs and their disasters.

This volume is intended for all art-lovers and students of art anywhere in the world. Words are not required to describe the beauty of these drawings, their splendour speaks volumes instead.Herein you will find 49 pen and ink illustrations by the Master of all artists - Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519), including a self portrait. A comprehensive introduction to this volume is provided by Charles Lewis Hind founder and editor of The Studio: An Illustrated Magazine of Fine and App...