Fifteenth-century painter Jan Van Eyck becomes a pawn in the hands of nefarious plotters in the court of Philip, Duke of Burgundy, but nonetheless manages to create a great masterwork, the Ghent altarpiece

Accompanying a major retrospective of Anders Zorn’s work, this is the first volume in English to explore the Swedish Impressionist’s entire career in depth. Anders Zorn (1860–1920) is one of Sweden’s most accomplished and beloved artists. Renowned for his light, expressive watercolors, he attained mastery of the genre at an early age and later applied his techniques to oil painting. Zorn is often compared with the artists John Singer Sargent and Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida, contemporaries who also were known for their portraits of high-society figures. Taking up residence in London and then in Paris, Zorn established himself as an international portrait painter, depicting fashionable clients in a style both elegant and relaxed. He became a favorite among wealthy American collectors, bankers, and industrialists who sat for him, including art collector Isabella Stewart Gardner and three U.S. presidents. Although perhaps best known for his portraits, Zorn brought equal skill to painting genre scenes and views of nature. This handsome volume provides a thorough introduction to the artist and his works, from portraiture to landscapes and his famous nudes. Four illustrated essays are accompanied by a chronology, selected bibliography, an exhibition checklist, and an index.

A revised and enlarged edition of Painting lessons from the great masters.

Biographies of the main artists and a thematic gallery of the greatest paintings of the period, in one sumptuously illustrated volume.

The life and work of a master painter of the Old West.

Hans Memling was the leading painter in Bruges during the last quarter of the fifteenth century, receiving commissions from patrons in England, Germany and Italy as well as Flanders itself. For the Romantics of the nineteenth century, he ranked even above Jan van Eyck as the greatest of the Flemish primitives. By the middle of the twentieth century, however, his exalted reputation had declined sharply under the shadow of his presumed teacher, Rogier van der Weyden. In 1953, Panofsky labelled Memling a major minor master, leading subsequent writers to consider him unworthy of serious study. It was only in 1994, the five-hundredth anniversary of his death, that the major exhibition on Memling in Bruges launched a veritable flood of publications on his life and work, finally granting him the recognition he deserves.This book contributes to the ongoing reappraisal of Memling by addressing some of the tantalizing problems that remain unresolved despite much recent study of his work. Beginning with the question of his training, the text follows him on his Wanderjahre from his native Germany to Bruges, where he became a citizen in 1465. It then considers his activities as a master painter in Bruges, concentrating on the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, including the work of such major artists as Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael.

Millions of people recognize the religious painting know as Head of Christ, of which an estimated five hundred million prints have been sold. Very few, however, know the artist, Warner E. Sallmann. Sallman's lack of notoriety in professional art circles can be explained by the fact that he made little or no attempt to put himself forward as a Chicago or even a Swedish American artist. He had no exhibitions of his works, and his public life consisted largely of appearances before church and community groups to do chalk drawings. More important was his attitude regarding personal fame. Sallman let the Christ he painted be in the foreground, while the artist remained in the background. "The time has come," argues Jack Lundbom, "for a broader public to know the man who stands behind the painting and the other artwork bearing the Sallman signature." Master Painter is a fascinating story of a gifted man with humble beginnings who overcame disappointment, ill health, and personal limitations in order to live out a vision: that his art serve not only for the enjoyment of humankind, but the practical end of instructing persons in the ways of God. Readers who know the art can now know the artist. It is a story eminently worth telling and one a broad public will be interested to know.

From New York Times Bestseller, Pepper Winters, comes The Master of Trickery Duet. An angsty, secretive romance where the heroine is selfless with her kindness and a hero who does his best to push her away. Set in a world of body paint, lies, and history. "Must be slim, able to stand for long periods of time, and be impervious to the cold.” The headline caught my attention. “Hours are negotiable, pay is minimal, clothing absolutely forbidden.” The second line piqued my curiosity. “Able to hold your bladder and tongue, refrain from opinions or suggestions, and be the perfect living canvas.” The third made me scowl. “Other attributes required: non-ticklish, contortionist, and obedient. Must also enjoy being studied while naked in a crowd.” The fourth made me shudder. “Call or email ‘YOUR SKIN, HIS CANVAS’ if interested in applying.” The final made my heart race. I should’ve kept scrolling past the advertisement. I should’ve applied for the boring receptionist job at minimum wage. I should’ve clicked on any other job where I got to keep my clothes on. But I didn’t. I applied. My interview is tomorrow… Finish this duet with The Living Canvas

Joseph Rodefer DeCamp was one of America's finest painters. Throughout his career he experimented with, and mastered, many techniques, constantly thirsting for new ways to express his artistic skills. DeCamp's first leanings were towards landscape painting, yet it is a tragic irony that so few of his landscapes survive, as a significant proportion of his early work, some several hundred paintings, was destroyed by fire when he was 46. This tragedy was compounded in later years by ill health, which reduced his output. Joseph Rodefer DeCamp was born in 1858 in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he studied at the McMicken School of Design. He left America in 1878 to study in Munich and then lived in Florence and Italy, before returning to the USA in 1883. The following year he settled in Boston. He was a founding member of the Ten American painters in 1897 and visited North Africa, Spain and England in 1909. DeCamp died in 1923 in Boca Grande, Florida. This book examines the artist's life in terms of seven well-defined periods. The book traces how, as a boy in Cincinnati, he showed astonishing early dedication to his talent. It describes how he trained in Europe for five years, studying first at the Royal Academy in Munich and then training under Frank Duveneck while living in Venice and Florence. Author Laurene Buckley examines DeCamp's blossoming career on his return to America in three stages: Cincinnati and teaching in Cleveland; his early years in Boston; and his emergence as a national figure when, in the 1890s, he turned his consummate skills to Impressionism. Experimenting with bright colours, he earned himself an accolade from the New York Times as a painter "in the Monet advance." During the period that Laurene Buckley describes as DeCamp's "maturity", 1900-1917, the artist became well known for his portraiture. Many of his most famous surviving paintings are portraits. This book not only retells the story of DeCamp's varied life, but also examines his seemingly limitless experimentation throughout his career, and discusses his meticulous skills as a draftsman. It is illustrated throughout with many of DeCamp's finest works, including several images of the paintings lost as a result of the fire in his Boston Harcourt Street studio in 1904.