You searched for goats and sheep a portrait farm

“Erudite, while still being fun to read.” — Professor Tim Neild, physiologist and medical educator

“A triumph of Social History in the Georgian period.” — Dr Nigel Cooke FRCP, physician and ceramic historian

This is the first biography and reference book dedicated to Samuel Percy, a modeler who produced an impressive oeuvre of wax portraits and tableaux in the mid-to-late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Based in part on the author’s own substantial collection of Percy waxes, this book follows Percy from his beginnings in Dublin, at the Dublin Society Drawing Schools, working with the famed statuary John Van Nost; to England, where he journeyed from town to town, putting advertisements in regional newspapers. These revealing advertisements have been gathered here for the first time, in order to track his travels. Whether taking the likeness of Princess Charlotte of Wales, or falling victim to a highway robber in Birmingham, these fragments of Percy’s history paint a fascinating picture of his life as a wandering artisan. As well as a chronological narrative of Percy’s life, this book commits an entire chapter to an area of his work that has never been studied before: his miniature tableaux. These portray various subjects, both religious and secular, from Christ on the Cross to playing children. They are catalogued in an appendix, and almost thirty are illustrated. Based entirely on original research, Mr. Percy: Portrait Modeller in Coloured Wax features over a hundred illustrations, celebrating both Percy’s accomplishments and the works of other modellers for comparison.

A slower pace of life, outdoor space and tight-knit communities come hand-in-hand with village living – something many have come to appreciate in recent months. Many city-dwellers are looking for an alternative way of life and are preparing to move, making the dream reality. In this beautifully photographed book, Ben Ashby, the editor-in-chief of Folk Magazine, reflects on the authenticity and charm of life on the farm. Having made the move several years ago from New York to Kentucky, he shares his thoughts on fitting into a small town, living on the farm, learning to celebrate the slow life, and being self-sufficient. For each season, he pilots us to the most inspiring farmhouses and pays tribute to the architecture and interiors of these unique spaces, as well as to the lifestyle and sense of community that goes along with country life. Now might be a perfect time for you to give farming life a try!

“…a significant contribution to the study of Chinese photography.” – The Art Newspaper

From political leaders to celebrities, photographic portraits exert considerable influence over our reaction to public figures. As the first academic publication focused on the Taikang photography collection, this book explores both the mechanics of portraiture and its psychological effects.

Taikang Space is one of the most important non-profit art institutions in China. Based in Beijing, they focus on contemporary art and photography. The Chinese Portrait: 1860 to the Present is based on the framework of the eponymous exhibition, which ran at Taikang Space from March 2017. This book introduces the curator and researchers involved with the exhibition, as well as researchers such as Shi Zhimin, Jin Yongquan, Liu Jianping, Liu Zhangbolong, who deliver their own unique angles on the topic of portrait photography. The Chinese Portrait: 1860 to the Present also features the curator’s interviews with Qia Sijie, Chen Shilin and Zhang Zuo – respectively the personal photographer, standard portrait re-toucher and darkroom technician of Chairman Mao.

“Wow! Just wow! … It’s a really stunning thing. A love letter that is itself a work of art about a work of art that is Grayson. Both playful and deadly serious … these photos are not simply about ‘serving looks’ but about restlessness and identity and transience. That world is full of possibilities because Grayson has given himself the freedom to be whoever he wants to be, to look how he wants. His gift is that he passes that freedom to us. Ansett’s work is mind-blowing … not cosy at all. Just brilliant photography.” – Suzanne Moore

Grayson Perry is an award-winning artist best known in the art world for his ceramic works. To the wider public, he is perhaps equally famous for his cross-dressing alter ego. This book reveals a unique relationship between Perry and renowned portrait photographer Richard Ansett through a previously unseen archive from photoshoots spanning over 10 years.
Ansett astutely captures the wit, style and irreverence of Perry’s many complex personas. Beyond the snazzy outfits and cheeky poses, these thematic portrait collections offer wry social commentaries on current and popular phenomena, including the EU referendum, American pop culture and the existential questions of life and death.
At once glossy, fabulous and cutting-edge, Muse: A Portrait of Grayson Perry offers a complex, fascinating and ultimately affectionate insight into our recently knighted national treasure with anecdotes and narration from Ansett himself, this is a masterpiece of rhetorical observations and quick-thinking camerawork. Perfect for art geeks, style freaks and Perry’s long-devoted following.

The Scottish National Portrait Gallery, part of the National Galleries of Scotland, provides a unique visual history of Scotland, told through portraits of the figures who shaped it: royals and rebels, poets and philosophers, heroes and villains. The Gallery is home to Scotland’s collection of portrait miniatures 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.

“Great to see Grayson in his various guises. He must have more women’s clothes than the average woman!” — Martin Parr

“Some are artists, some are muses — Sir Grayson Perry is both, according to a new coffee table book.” — The Standard
“Muse documents Perry’s Bowie-like range of personae, from his alter-ego Claire, to Madonna and child, to a Dolly Parton-style American country girl.” — Yahoo News UK

The exhibition An Ancient and Honorable Citizen of Florence – The Bargello and Dante, sponsored by the Comitato Nazionale per le Celebrazioni del 700° Anniversario della morte di Dante Alighieri, is the result of the inter-institutional partnership between the Musei del Bargello and the Università di Firenze, and sees the collaboration between the Departments of Literature and Philosophy (DILEF) and of History, Archeology, Geography, Art and Entertainment (SAGAS) of the University of Florence. The Bargello is Dante’s place par excellence in Florence: here you can find the oldest portrait of Dante, painted by Giotto and his work in 1337, a period during which the Divina Commedia was being spread throughout the city. The catalog – rich with essays and extracts by numerous specialists – illustrates the complex link between Dante, his work and Florence, analyzing the dense network of relationships between painters, illuminators, copyists and commentators, engaged in an unprecedented editorial and artistic enterprise. The volume is enriched with illustrations of the works on display and illuminated manuscripts, as well as a precious final photographic atlas of the murals in the Podestà chapel, which houses the poet’s portrait. Dante was very often a frequenter of the different rooms as a prior of the Bargello and in these same rooms he received both his sentence of exile, and his sentence to death (March 10, 1302). The reconstruction of the delicate relationship between the Poet and Florence assumes an importance that goes far beyond city borders, indelibly investing the history of Dante’s fortune and the way in which we still look at him and his work today.

Caravaggio’s Portrait of a Gentleman with a Ruff, which is a recent arrival in the Klesch Collection, has a short critical history. It also has a very limited history as regards the associated bibliography and media coverage, perhaps because the painting came to the fore prior to the social media explosion characteristic of recent years and, above all, at a time when today’s almost obsessive interest in Caravaggio was certainly not so developed. This interest has since expanded to incorporate all levels of communication, even the most widely popular. The Portrait first came to people’s attention in 1992 and despite the fact that the artist already exerted an appeal that few other painters could boast at the time, Caravaggio’s following was far removed from what it is today.

Text in English and Italian.

This book presents sixteen essays exploring the work of two of 17th-century Amsterdam’s most ambitious painters, Govert Flinck and Ferdinand Bol. Museum curators, academic art historians, and conservation scientists from six different countries come together to investigate form, content, and context from a variety of perspectives. Eric Jan Slujter examines how changing patterns of patronage contributed to both artists’ stylistic evolution. Hilbert Lootsma traces the rise and fall of their critical fortunes from their own time until today. Ann Jensen Adams situates their work in the shifting market for portraiture. Jasper Hillegers explores the origins of Flinck’s career in the Leeuwarden studio of Lambert Jacobsz. Other authors present contextual and technical analyzes of individual paintings. Portrait identities are revealed, painterly tricks uncovered, and both artists are shown to be influential teachers and members of an intellectual community in which art and theater were closely linked. Many of these essays originated at an international conference held in preparation for the exhibition, Govert Flinck and Ferdinand Bol. Together, they shed new light on the methods and motivations of two artists who began as Rembrandt’s acolytes but soon became his rivals.

Following the success of their annual competition ‘Portrait of Britain’, 1854 Media have launched an exciting global project in collaboration with Magnum Photos. ‘Portrait of Humanity’ invites photographers of every level to capture the many faces of humanity; to document the universal expressions of life – laughter, courage, moments of reflection, journeys to work, first hellos, last goodbyes, and everything in between. The resulting photobook contains 200 images selected by a panel of experts from around the world that together create a unified, global portrait of humanity.

Benjamin West’s The Death of a Stag, a tour de force of pictorial theater and his own unique Scottish masterpiece, has been the focus of high drama for over two centuries. Painted for the Clan Mackenzie in 1786, the gigantic canvas, measuring twelve by seventeen feet, is still the largest in the collection of the National Galleries of Scotland. The painting almost moved to America, but after a successful campaign, it was purchased in 1987. In 2004, the work was conserved in situ in the National Gallery of Scotland and this book tells the story of the picture, both in terms of its history and the conservation process.

Following the success of Portrait of Britain and Portrait of Humanity, this third edition of the latter brings together 200 new portraits taken by photographers of all levels from all over the world, selected from tens of thousands of entries. The publication supports a world-touring exhibition which will visit USA, India, Hungary and among other places, bringing global exposure to the book. The award and exhibition is organized by 1854 Media (British Journal of Photography). Each image in the book is accompanied by a short, telling story from each photographer, bringing home the humanity of those photographed.

This book explores Larry Fink’s recent works, with a selection of pictures taken over the past five years, examining the series of subjects – near and far – that he investigated. Divided into four sections – ‘In Politics,’ ‘Countryside Stories,’ ‘In Town,’ ‘At Home’ – The Polarities offers the chance to follow Fink from Washington, New York, and Panama City to rural Pennsylvania. The portrait of American society that Fink sketches out starting in the 1950s continues. The Polarities narrates modern America, the radical changes between the Obama years and the arrival of Trump, the society of the spectacle – in which ‘the show must go on’ – and the continuing divide between metropolitan and rural areas. Here, Fink’s images recall those of the Farm Security Administration, the great project designed to study American territory between 1935 and 1943.

The Bargue-Gérôme Drawing Course is a complete reprint of a famous, late nineteenth-century drawing course. It contains a set of almost two hundred masterful lithographs of subjects for copying by drawing students before they attempt drawing from life or nature. Consequently it is a book that will interest artists, art students, art historians, and lovers and collectors of drawings. It also introduces us to the work and life of a hitherto neglected master: Charles Bargue.

The Drawing Course consists of three sections. The first consists of plates drawn after casts, usually of antique examples. Different parts of the body are studied in order of difficulty, until full figures are presented. The second section pays homage to the western school of painting, with lithographs after exemplary drawings by Renaissance and modern masters. The third part contains almost 60 académies, or drawings after nude male models, all original inventions by Bargue, the lithographer. With great care, the student is introduced to continually more difficult problems in the close observing and recording of nature.

Charles Bargue started his career as a lithographer of drawings by hack artists for a popular market in comic, sentimental and soft-porn subjects. By working with Gérôme, and in preparing the plates for the course, Bargue was transformed into a spectacular painter of single figures and intimate scenes; a master of precious details that always remain observation and never became self-conscious virtuosity, and color schemes that unified his composition in exquisite tonal harmonies. The last part of the book is a biography of Bargue, along with a preliminary catalogue of his paintings, accompanied by reproductions of all that have been found and of many of those lost.

As soon as Bill Wyman was given a camera as a young boy, he quickly developed a passion for photography. After joining what would become the world’s greatest rock ‘n’ roll band, Wyman continued his hobby. When he didn’t have his bass, he had his camera. The result is an arresting, insightful and often poignant collection of photographs, showing his exclusive inside view of the band.

From traveling to relaxing, backstage and on, Stones From the Inside is a unique view captured by a man who was there, every step of the way. Along with the images of the band at work and play, Wyman includes remarkable images of those along for the ride, from John Lennon, Eric Clapton, David Bowie and Iggy Pop to John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. To accompany his photographs, Wyman offers up wonderful insights, anecdotes and behind-the-photo stories, giving all us a front-row seat and backstage pass to what it was like to be there, as music history was made as a member of The Rolling Stones.

This delightful book presents the history and development of the Auricula to both the casual reader and enthusiast. It sets out both traditional and more recent methods of cultivation, how to exhibit the plants, how they are judged, breeding new varieties and how to deal with pests and diseases. More than 200 varieties both old and new are discussed in some detail and numerous colored illustrations are included.

In writing the book, Allan Guest has drawn on over thirty years experience of growing, showing, breeding and judging the plants. Having known and exchanged views with many of the leading personalities of the time, he is able to provide insights into both plants and breeders. He currently sits on the committees of both the Midlands and West and the Northern Sections of the National Auricula and Primula Society.

“If you want to grow, show or know the great range of auriculas now available you have to have Guest’s fine book.” Robin Lane Fox, Financial Times

The names of those early orchid hunters are preserved today in the Latin names by which the orchids they discovered are still known. In the last two decades orchids have been subject to extensive hybridization in the search for novelty and ever more fantastic colors and shapes; indeed thousands upon thousands of hybrids have appeared.

Jack Kramer concentrates on the original botanical orchids as they appeared in nature and their habitats. These orchids had waned in popularity with the introduction of the new hybrids and were also at risk in many cases of extinction as their natural habitats were despoiled and ravaged by man. Fortunately, new cloning techniques have rescued such endangered species from oblivion.

This book addresses the technical needs of the novice orchid enthusiast in choosing species appropriate to the climate and facilities available, as well as guiding the beginner in the basics of orchid cultivation. ‘The lesson to be learned is that you can successfully raise orchids as long as you select the species appropriate to your growing environment, whether that is a conservatory, greenhouse, garden room or window-silI in your home.‘ A major feature of the book is the Gallery of Orchids which covers over 350 different botanical orchids, many of them illustrated.

Botanical Orchids contains practical advice, history and easy to use reference material and will be a welcome addition to the gardener’s library.

With this book, Kate McBride invites us to journey with her as armchair travelers through eighty-four poems and more than two-hundred Polaroids. The milkiness, the painterly, almost ethereal look of the images and the poetic record of a place and time create what McBride describes as “dreamscapes”. The lines, with the rhythmic flow of her words, and the snapshots, crisp and impressionist-like, evoke the cities and places, the colours, the smells and the people, from Paris to Florence, from the Pacific Ocean to Andalusia. The poems are sketches, notes jotted down on the spot to seize the moment, and the photos – taken with a Spectra – encapsulate fragments of life that everyone, albeit through different eyes, has had a chance to experience at one time or another. Thus poetry ceases to be the private pursuit of its author and enters the world of readers, stirring up their own memories and feelings.

Contents: Random places; Andalusia; Tuscany; Pacific waters; Bay of Naples, Giglio & Camogli; Venice; Provence; Colliure, Saint-Tropez & Cote d’Azur; Rome; Paris; Florence.

As the most important Danish history painter, Nicolai Abildgaard (1743-1809) worked in a century that saw marked shifts in the styles of painting, from the late Baroque via Rococo to Neoclassicism, as well as the emergence of art academies throughout Europe as the prevalent factor in the training of young artists.

This book presents results of a paint technical study of his oeuvre, from early student paintings to mature works from his late years. As a result of the composite nature of his training in Copenhagen as well as in Rome in the 1760s and 70s, a number of factors in Abildgaard s formative years were influential in shaping his painting methods and choice of materials. Though his practice may at times appear unorthodox and inconsistent, most of its separate components are found in works by his contemporaries, making his technique a reflection of different characteristic currents in eighteenth-century painting.

The papers published in this collection (supported by a generous donation from Abegg-Stiftung), all presented at Dyes in History and Archaeology meetings, demonstrate how dyes were used through the centuries. If one century is chosen – the 17th century, for example – a fascinating comparison can be made between the dyes and dyeing methods used in Europe, in Turkey, in South America and in Japan, not only on textiles, but also in the pigments used for painting.

Taking a different approach, chemical analysis has assisted detective work enabling a distinction to be made between rather similar 18th-century textiles with chinoiserie motifs, not all of which were Chinese in origin.

Over the long time scale covered in this book, many developments took place and are described in its pages. One of the most exotic of dyes, shellfish purple, was used in Late Bronze Age wall paintings dated to the 17th century BC at Akrotiri, while over 3000 years later the brilliantly colored, but sometimes impermanent synthetic dyes, devised by chemists, appeared on the market: the azo dyes, fluorescein, the eosins and others. A long and distinguished history of the use of color, a glorious variety of dyes revealed – the diversity of dyes in history and archaeology.

The papers in this volume discuss the situation of artists during the early age of industrialization in several European countries, the benefits and challenges that the new materials brought to artistic practice and their effect on the ways in which techniques were taught in the art academies. For innovative artists the new materials were significant, but others were skeptical of the new industrial products and there was a struggle towards the standardization and documentation of working processes, paints and even aesthetic concepts.

This book will be of interest to all who seek to further their understanding of iron artefacts: their corrosion, conservation, and pigments based on iron compounds, which mankind has used for millennia. The authors take the reader through some of the latest observations on the occurrence and role of compounds of iron – from the hot water undersea vents where the presence of iron pyrites is thought to be vital to the emergence of life on Earth, to the discovery of jarosite on the surface of Mars, possibly indicating the presence of water; from the pyrophoric surprises one can have when dealing with iron artefacts taken from beneath the sea to the use of a blue oxide of iron as a pigment in mediaeval wall paintings; from rusticles on the Titanic to the analysis of coloring matter on the Turin shroud.

The great variety of iron compounds is examined (from the simple oxides to the exotic green rusts, from Prussian blue to yellow jarosites), the corrosion of iron in different environments is discussed and a critical review of the many attempts to conserve iron is presented. This volume will serve as a useful textbook on the subject for many years.

This simple handbook aims to enable readers to make their own lake pigments or dye their own textiles using dyes from naturally occurring raw materials in a simple way under relatively controlled conditions and using recipes optimized for easy use in the laboratory or indeed the classroom. The book provides the basic principles of dying and lake pigment making (using the term lake pigment in its original, historical, sense indicating a naturally occurring dye precipitated onto a conventional usually white substrate, frequently a form of hydrated alumina) and from these the reader can try modifying the conditions or the amount of raw material, for example, to obtain different results. Suggestions for simple modifications are given.

A forum (the papers of which are published here) was held in Oslo in 2010 to gather ideas, seek advice and, in general, begin to shape the onward decision-making process for a new project known as After the Black Death: Painting and Polychrome Sculpture in Norway, 1350-1550. The forum was the first step towards gaining intellectual access to altarpieces, shrines, sculptures and crucifixes for which little (if any) historical documentary evidence has survived. Significantly, too, the forum was a step toward addressing issues related to visibility. While the frontals and sculpture that pre-date 1350 are, with few exceptions, the products of Norwegian, probably monastic workshops, the majority of objects that post-date the Black Death have no such claim to a unifying cultural tradition. By contrast, the majority are categorized as the products of North German and Netherlandish workshops that were imported to Norway prior to the Reformation.