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Virtu Art Books

Portraiture + Miniatures: Artists and Art

Portraits: A History
This volume presents the history of portrait painting in the Western world, starting with its roots in ancient art and focusing on its flowering as an autonomous genre beginning in the 15th century. Works feature in the book represent all types of portraiture - individual and group portraits, official and casual settings, subjects both famous and anonymous, renderings of friends, family and the artists themselves. Masters of portraiture - including Van Eyck, Leonardo, Raphael, Hals, Rembrandt, Holbein, Gainsborough, Velasquez, Sargent and many others - are all represented, as a more recent practitioners of the genre such as Picasso, Chuck Close and Gerhard Richter. Nearly 300 major paintings from collections throughout the world are presented in full-page reproductions, while informative details highlight certain aspects of the paintings, providing insight into the painters' techniques

The Diary of Frida Kahlo:
An Intimate Self-portrait (Abradale Books)
Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) kept a remarkable diary revealing the passion and strength of the final ten years of her anguished life. This volume is a facsimile which includes her own brightly coloured paintings and drawings.

Heroes and Villains: Scarfe at the National Portrait Gallery
A unique collaboration with the caricaturist Gerald Scarfe, which will also be the subject of a documentary on BBC Four. In the book, portraits of well-known figures, selected from the National Portrait Gallery's collections, are quirkily juxtaposed with caricatures that depict their villainous side. Gerald Scarfe, Britain's best-known caricaturist, provides these artful, glib distortions, many of which have been specially commissioned. They reveal the wit and vision of an exceptional draughtsman at work. Joanna Lumley, Sir Peter Hall and Melvyn Bragg are just a few of the people who argue their views for and against, on subjects as wide ranging as Henry VIII, Oswald Mosley, Virginia Woolf, Princess Diana and David and Victoria Beckham

Posing for Portrait Photography: A Head to Toe Guide
Jeff Smith teaches unbeatable techniques for achieving flattering results, detailing the principles of posing the entire body - head, shoulders, arms, hands, bust, waist, hips, thighs and feet. With an emphasis on creating images that will sell themselves, Smith shows how to correct common figure problems and design poses that look natural, crafting images that clients are sure to love! Understanding the style of poses and determining what will best suit an individual client's needs. Posing all types of portraits - from head-and-shoulders to full-lengths shots; Identifying common problems that ruin otherwise good poses - and how to fix them; Tailoring the pose to each client's figure and personal style; Posing the entire body from head to toe - with specialised tips for men and women; Adjusting the lighting for consistent results as the subject changes poses; Posing couples and larger groups; Coordinating the pose, setting and clothing to create a portrait where all the elements work together visually

The Cult of Elizabeth: Elizabethan Portraiture and Pageantry
No other woman in world history has been of such compulsive interest as Elizabeth Tudor. While the rest of the 16th century Europe was subject to the bloodshed of religious war, Tudor peace brought England its great flowering of the arts. Central to that flowering was the enigmatic legend of the Queen herself, a myth deliberately created and sustained over four decades by public spectacle and courtly chivalry, by private sonnet and official oration

British Portrait Miniatures (Fitzwilliam Museum Handbooks)
For over three hundred years, from the early fifteenth century until the mid-Victorian era, there was a continuously growing demand for portrait miniatures, and an ever expanding number of artists qualified to satisfy that demand. The collection of miniatures in the Fitzwilliam Museum gives a compact and comprehensive survey of the development of this national art. It illustrates the course of its progress through the work of almost every major master in the genre, with works of the highest excellence. This book provides an introduction to the history of portrait miniatures: ninety-six items from the collection are described, and each item is illustrated in full colour, to bring out the subtlety and intimacy of this delicate art form

Portraits of the Masters: Bronze Sculptures of the Tibetan Buddhist Lineages
Oliver Hoare's impressive collection of Tibetan portrait bronzes is presented together with an in-depth history of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition in this sumptuous oversize volume (11x13). The volume contains detailed chapters by six specialists in Tibetan art, religion, and culture describing the successive schools. Color plates of the portrait

Hanging the Head: Portraiture and Social Formation in Eighteenth-century England
Through historical analyses of particular aspects of portrait representation - images of criminals, the fashions and rituals around the masculine culture of hair and wigs, the gendering of childhood in paintings like "Penelope Boothby" or "Pinkie" - Pointon establishes the ways in which portraiture signified 18th-century England. How "the head" was hung was determined by social rules of posture and decorum, by artistic convention and commerical practice, and literally by the ways in which patrons chose to hang in particular arrangements on walls - paintings that served ritual and symbolic as well as decorative functions

Painting the Century: 101 Portrait Masterpieces 1900-2000
From Boldini, Schiele, Grosz and Picasso to Hockney, Freud and the latest wave of new emerging artists, this book celebrates the turbulent history and extraordinary revolutions in styles and attitudes towards the portrait in European and American art throughout the 20th century. One hundred portraits, including cultural icons and some of the most important works of art from the last century, are here presented chronologically to form an overview of portraiture and the portrait from 1900 to 2000. The text places each work in its cultural and artistic context, and gives biographies for all the artists illustrated.

Pride and Joy:
Children's Portraits in the Netherlands, 1500-1700
Hardcover
Publisher:
Harry N. Abrams, Inc

The Bloomsbury Group (National Portrait Gallery Insights S.)
The Bloomsbury Group changed British culture with their approach to art, design and society. This circle of artists, writers and intellectuals, who met for discussion in London in the early twentieth century, challenged Victorian conventions and presented new models of behaviour. They recorded one another continually in both words and images, and Frances Spalding explores these portraits against a background of biographies, including Virginia and Leonard Woolf, Vanessa and Clive Bell, Duncan Grant and Dora Carrington

Pontormo, Bronzino, and the Medici: The Transformation of the Renaissance Portrait in Florence
This book accompanies an exhibition held at the Philadelphia Museum of Art upon the completion of conservation of Pontormo's famous portrait of Duke Alessandro de Medici. It will accompany an exhibition to be held at the Philadelphia Museum of Art from November 20, 2004, to February 13, 2005

The Pre-Raphaelite Circle (National Portrait Gallery Insights S.)
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a group of nineteenth-century artists who challenged contemporary art with their commitment to realism and 'truth to nature'. Renowned as much for their social relationships as for their artistic ideals, the lives of the Pre-Raphaelites - Holman Hunt, Rossetti, Millais, Burne-Jones and Morris - illustrate the full range of human experience, from personal tragedy to triumph. Jan Marsh explores both the individual personalities and the artistic force which bound the circle together

Portrait Miniatures in National Trust Houses: Northern Ireland Vol 1
Numbering 1500 individual items and housed at over 80 historic properties across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the collection of portrait miniatures cared for by the National Trust is considered to be one of the most significant in the world. As a whole, the many precious works of art represent the highest standard of artistry and provide a history of miniature painting in Britain. In this comprehensive catalogue of the collection, Richard Walker and Alastair Laing provide entries on every miniature in the National Trust's care. The catalogue is published in volumes, divided by region, and the first considers in detail the 137 works held in four of the Trust's historic houses in Northern Ireland: Castle Coole, Florence Court, Mount Stewary and Springhill. Each work is the subject of an individual entry detailing the artist, subject, description, provenance and other relevant data. There is also an extensive bibliography and indexes of artists, portraits and subjects

Henry VIII Revealed: The Legacy of Holbein's Portraits
Hans Holbein's portrait of Henry VIII perished in fire in 1698, yet has remained the definitive image of the English monarch, through a number of derivations down to modern cinematic portrayals. Written to accompany an exhibition at the National Museums & Galleries on Merseyside (UK)

The Portrait in Clay:
Technical, Artistic and Philosophical Journey Toward Understanding the Dynamic and Creative Forces in Portrait Sculpture
Simulating a workshop studio course, this book provides action-photography sequences that enable the reader to observe every step a master sculptor takes in building a portrait in clay

Old Master Portrait Drawings (Dover Art Library)
Paperback
Publisher:
Dover Publications

Portrait
Paperback
Publisher:
Taschen

Changing Perceptions: Milestones in Twentieth-century British Portraiture
This book examines the extraordinary metamorphosis that has occurred in the presentation of the human face during the twentieth century. A series of essays charts the portraits that are 'Milestones' to that change, while the discussion which follows -- 'Changing Perceptions' -- endeavours to identify its nature, its causes, and to show how the manner in which the artists reveal this transformation when painting their sitters

Once Upon Our Time: Portrait Miniatures by Moyna Flannigan
Considered to be one of Scotland's leading figurative painters, Moyna Flannigan is known for her wry and penetrating observations on society. Her portrait miniatures, a new departure for Flannigan, reflect the styles, manners and culture of contemporary Scotland. In this book Keith Hartley examines Flannigan's paintings and discusses the artistic and social influences on her work. The illustrations are accompanied by a number of fictional cameos by award-winning Scottish writer Dilys Rose, which set up an imaginative dialogue with the miniatures

Great Portrait Drawings and Prints
This specially chosen, original collection contains 115 stunning portraits by a select group of world-famous artists. Fifteen handsome works are in colour, among them Peter Paul Reubens' Young Woman with Crossed Hands, Dante Gabriel Rossetti's Aurea Catena (Portrait of Mrs Morris) and Toulouse-Lautrec's Portrait of Jane Avril. Equally striking are 100 black-and-white plates, including The Plumed Hat (Henri Matisse), Head of an Old Man (Giovanni Bellini), L'Arlesienne (Paul Gauguin), as well as portraits by Eugene Delacroix, Vincent Van Gogh, Egon Schiele, Edgar Degas and other masters

Eye Contact: Modern American Portrait Drawings from the National Portrait Gallery
Fifty graphic masterpieces representing the American artistic tradition from 1880 to the present day are showcased in Eye Contact. Reproduced as full-page color images, they range from portraits of Theodore Roosevelt by Charles Dana Gibson and W. C. Fields by Thomas Hart Benton, to Robert F. Kennedy by Roy Lichtenstein, and self-portraits by artists Mary Cassatt, Edward Hopper, Joseph Stella, and Jacob Lawrence. Among the other subjects of portraits are Alice B. Toklas, Paul Robeson, Igor Stravinsky, and James Baldwin. Essays discuss the nature and change of portrait drawings in the twentieth century and the external cultural changes that influenced artists' conceptualization of the figure. Wendy Wick Reaves is curator of prints and drawings at the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. Bernard F. Reilly Jr. is former director of research and access at the Chicago Historical Society

Van Gogh:
Face to Face - The Portraits
This work brings together the great portraits from the many stages of Van Gogh's life and career. They are accompanied by six original essays by leading art historians

Miniatures: Dictionary and Guide
This volume combines the author's two previous books "Collecting Miniatures" and "A Dictionary of British Miniature Painters". She aims to answer difficult questions arising for the collector, including such topics as dating by costume, artistic idiosyncrasies, and the delicate matter of forgery.

The Irish Face: Redefining the Irish Portrait 1700-2000
The relationship between art and national identity is a recurring theme in modern history. Is it possible to define a "national" school of art? How far does culture inspire or reflect social and political change? "The Irish Face" tackles these questions head-on with a bold and original analysis of three centuries of portraiture. Starting with a discussion of what makes a portrait particular to one country or region, Fintan Cullen explores the contradictions within existing definitions of national art. Politics, geography, religion, commerce, class, gender and the affiliations of artists and sitters all play a part in how we read and respond to portraiture. But the history of Ireland and the experience of the Irish diaspora present the need for a redefinition of Irish portraiture. "The Irish Face" includes chapters on the production of portraiture both in and about Ireland, the political portrait, the family and the biographical portrait, and the relationship between portraiture and success. Featuring over 100 illustrations, from Jonathan Swift, Charles Stewart Parnell and Seamus Heaney, to Bono and Mary Robinson, this ambitious study by Fintan Cullen brings a refreshing and important perspective to our understanding of art, history and national culture

Matisse Portraits
Hardcover
Publisher:
Yale University Press

The Worlds of Jacob Eichholtz: Portrait Painter of the Early Republic
Exploring the life and times of an oft-overlooked figure in early American art, this title begins with four essays that examine Eichholtz's life and work and concludes with a visual essay that brings together more than 100 colour reproductions of his work

The Art Gallery: Faces
Paperback
Publisher:
Higher Education

National Portrait Gallery: Mid-Georgian Portraits 1760-1790
This catalogue includes such famous figures as David Garrick and Dr Samuel Johnson, Sarah Siddons and Emma Hamilton, and the work of such celebrated artists as Gainsborough, Reynolds and Romney. It has been compiled by one of the leading authorities on 18th-century English portraiture, John Ingamells. A brief biographical note accompanies each sitter, followed by a detailed examination of each of the Gallery's portraits and an account of authentic portraits in other collections. Works from the Gallery collection have been re-examined in the studio, sometimes for the first time in many years, with interesting results. X-rays of the Reynolds portrait of Sir William Chambers, for example, reveal considerable changes of mind on the part of the young artist, while William Hoare's portrait of Lord Egremont, usually on loan to the House of Commons, has proved to be by Hoare himself, rather than his studio

Portrait Miniatures from the National Galleries of Scotland
The Scottish National Portrait Gallery is home to Scotland's national collection of portrait miniatures and comprises works, which date from the mid-sixteenth century to the present day. This book illustrates a selection of works by key miniaturists and features portraits of many important Scottish historical figures such as: James Hepburn 4th Earl of Bothwell, the third husband of Mary, Queen of Scots; James VI and I and Robert Burns who was depicted in the last year of his life. A complete list of all the works in the collection is also included

Horst Janssen - The Portrait: A Selection from 1945 to 1994
Horst Janssen was a draftsman and a graphic artist who used varied techniques, especially etching, though woodcuts, lithography and watercolours which all feature in this exhibition catalogue. Produced in conjunction with the Germanisches Nationalmuseum of Nuremburg, the book is principally concerned with portraits that show a piece of cultural history. They portray writers, composers, philosophers, artists and historical figures, encompassing people as diverse as Goya and Charles Laughton. ALso includes biographical notes to the portraits

The Moment of Self-portraiture in German Renaissance Art
In this groundbreaking and elegantly written study, Joseph Koerner establishes the character of Renaissance art in Germany. Opening up new modes of inquiry for historians of art and early modern Europe, Koerner examines how artists such as Albrecht Durer and Hans Baldung Grien reflected in their masterworks the changing status of the self in sixteenth-century Germany. "[A] dazzling book...He has turned out one of the most powerful, as well as one of the most ambitious, art-historical works of the last decade." --Anthony Grafton, New Republic "Rich and splendid...Joseph Koerner's book is a dazzling display of scholarship, enfolding Durer's artistic achievement within the broader issues of self and salvation, and like [Durer's] great Self- Portrait it holds up a mirror to the modern fable of identity."

English Portrait Miniatures
In a thoroughly revised edition, published by the Press in 1988, the author entirlely re-wrote the early chapters to take account of recent research and has made revisions and corrections throughout. This edition is now published in paperback for the first time. '...a most judicious assessment of prevalent opinion in the light of a lifetime's experience.' -- Times Literary Supplement 'This painstakingly researched book provides an excellent resource for anyone interested in the miniaturists. The quantity and quality of the illustrations add greatly to the value of this text.' -- Antiques and Auction News '...bound to become once again the standard work on the subject.' -- Susan Foister, National Portrait Gallery, Burlington Magazine

Facing the Public: Portraiture in the Aftermath of the French Revolution (Barber Institute's Critical Perspectives in Art History S.)
This work examines the effect of the French Revolution on portrait painting. Portraits were the most widely commissioned paintings in 18th-century France. But most portraits were produced for private consumptions, and were therefore seen as inferior to art designed for public exhibition. The Revolution endowed private values with an inprecedented significance, and the way people responded to portraits changed as a result. Art historians have traditionally concentrated on art associated with the public events of the Revolution. Ironically, it was public art whose production was most disrupted by political developments. Seen from the perspective of portrait production, this history of art during the Revolution looks very different, and the significance of the Revolution for attitudes to art and artists in the 19th century and beyond becomes clearer

Worshipping the Ancestors: Chinese Commemorative Portraits
Despite their compelling presence and often exquisite quality, Chinese ancestor portraits have never been studied as a genre. This richly illustrated book (85 portraits in full color, 81 in black and white) is the first to explore in depth the artistic, historical, and religious significance of these remarkable paintings and to place them in context with other types of commemorative portraiture. Since the sixteenth century, portraits were commissioned in China in great number and variety. Depictions of individual men and women range from formal, iconic poses to the very casual, offer fascinating glimpses of Chinese life and culture. The riveting, realistic ancestor portraits supremely powerful likenesses were important objects of veneration, and the practice of making memorial portraits continued into the twentieth century, when paintings were gradually replaced by photographs

Faces:
National Gallery Pocket Guide (Pocket Guide Series)
Paperback
Publisher:
National Gallery London

Retratos: 2000 Years of Latin American Portraits
Retratos (portraits) presents an engaging variety of works by such well-known figures as Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Fernando Botero, and José Campeche as well as stunning examples by anonymous and obscure artists. Distinguished contributors discuss the significance of portraits in ancient Mayan civilizations, in the world of colonial Iberians, in the political struggles of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and in a remarkable range of other times and locations. With a wealth of informative details and exquisite colour illustrations, Retratos invites readers to appreciate Latin American portraits and their many meanings as never before

Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Miniatures:
In the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen (Royal Collection)
Hardcover
Publisher:
Royal Collection

Shakespeare's Face:
A Biography of the Man and His Portrait
Hardcover
Publisher:
Free Press