Books

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Vasari: the artist who overshadowed himself

He is famous for his Lives, but his drawings deserve attention, too

High-profile patron Tiqui Atencio turns the spotlight on her fellow collectors with new book

Publication includes interviews with almost 100 art-world figures such as Maja Hoffmann and Damien Hirst<br> <br>

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How bright the sunlight: on Lee Friedlander and the Western landscape

Richard Benson reflects on his travels with the photographer

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Always the same eyes: on Robert Mapplethorpe

The artist combined provocative sex and pristine classicism in his photographs, but no one followed his lead

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Looking in the dark: on artificial darkness in art and theatre

A new book by Noam Elcott unearths the role of mediated darkness in cultural history

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After Caravaggio: Michael Fried on the painter's enormous influence

The art historian examines the long legacy of the Baroque painter

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Undermined by silence: lack of provenance is devastating flaw of al-Sabah collection catalogue

Scholarly assessment is greatly hampered by the lack of detail on where and how the objects were acquired

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All together now: on the Francis Bacon catalogue raisonné

The complete collection of Francis Bacon’s paintings is published—at last

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From marriage bed to painted pottery: on Geothe's collection

The writer seriously collected maiolica—and enjoyed its light relief and eroticism

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Polyvalent plates

The multipurpose imagery of 16th-century Italian maiolica

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The sedulous Stanleys: power at Knowsley Hall

The cultural intersection of power, patronage and politics

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Very sharp, but not long enough

This account of Islamic arms and armour is superb, but a complete catalogue would have been better

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Atmosphere, thought and feeling: on Giorgione and his contemporaries

The mastery of his art and that of his Venetian contemporaries

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A monument to the living and the dead: on the Queen's arms and armour

Long in the making, the catalogue of her collection has been worth the wait

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Loose language: on Liam Gillick's Industry and Intelligence

The artist's new book is confused and lacking in rigour

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A sickly flower of Decadent London: on the work of Aubrey Beardsley

The complete works of the illustrator, presented in all their “corrupting” glory

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The stones cry out: on Medieval art in war-torn Syria

The Ayyubid glories of Syria, now mostly in ruins

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‘Utterly abolished, eradicated and erased out’—but never forgotten

The iconoclasms of the English Reformation may shed light on today’s cultural destructions

Badlands Unlimited launches series of e-books by artists

Rachel Rose and Howie Chen are among the first artists to work on the new project

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Where did it come from? On developments in icon painting

The source of a major change in icon painting may have been discovered

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The false Gods of Dada: on Dada Presentism by Maria Stavrinaki

A new book on the movement draws lessons on the dangers of eclecticism

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More royalty required: on the al-Sabah Collection

The non-courtly manuscripts and miniatures of the al-Sabah Collection come together in a new publication

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The power of the imagination: on Bernini's drawings

His drawings in the collection of the Vatican Library are the subject of a new book

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The Divine Comedy, a German classic: on Dante's German debut

After Schlegel, Dante was loosed from the Romantic moorings and entered the mainstream of German letters

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Deutschland über alles? On the early Renaissance art market

Contrary to popular opinion, the Early Renaissance German art market developed simultaneously with, not later than, those in Italy and the Low Countries