Not only was Leonardo da Vinci (1453-1519) an astonishing painter, but also a scientist, anatomist, sculptor, architect, musician, engineer, inventor, and more. The question is rather, what was he not? During the Italian Renaissance, he mastered the most beautiful works of art for the Medicis in Italy and for the King of France. He aroused admiration from his contemporaries, who depicted a universal genius, curious and virtuous. Even today, interest in da Vinci and his work does not fade; his works and writings are still studied by foremost experts hoping to decipher one of the numerous secrets of this visionary artist.

Leonardo Da Vinci

Arts & Photography

Charles, Victoria

Carl, Klaus H.

History & Criticism

Parkstone Pr

While the 20th century was one long war for control of the world's oil supplies, opium was a key strategic raw material during the four preceding centuries. Opium consumption dates back to Ancient Egypt. Initially a useful pharmaceutical product called laudanum; it quickly became popular in Britain. It then became the basis for trade with isolationist China as soon as the Opium Wars obtained trading rights for Western companies and the Chinese began smoking it in industrial quantities. This book offers a tastefully illustrated history of this toxic substance, its paraphernalia, and the era surrounding it.

Opium: The Flowers of Evil (Mega Square)

Wigal, Donald

Themes

Encounter one of history’s greatest civilizations through miniatures. In Persian Miniatures, the story of the magnificent Persian Empire is told by way of artistic tradition on a small but vibrant scale. This unique collection of colorful miniatures from Persia in a convenient portable size will make the perfect gift.

Persian Miniatures

Loukonine, Vladimir

Ivanov, Anatoli

An icon in the Art Nouveau movement, Émile Gallé (1846-1904) sought to portray the beauty and simplicity of nature in his glass art. His designs, referred to as “poetry in glass”, range from fine pottery to jewellery to furniture. Everything Gallé produced contains traces of his masterful technique which refl ects his innovativeness as an artist and his skill as a designer. In this rich text, Gallé unravels the beauty and ingenuity found within his own work.

Emile Galle (Best Of Collection)

Gallé, Emile

Individual Artists

French painter, decorator, and engraver Maurice Denis (1870-1943) was the leader of the Nabi movement who shook up the art world. Skilfully uniting religion and modernity, he was the pioneer and theoretician of the school of art which he named N#65533;o-traditionnismeand he aspired to a modern art imprinted with Symbolist and mystical influences. "Remember that a picture before being a battle horse, a nude, or some anecdote, is essentially a flat surface covered with colours assembled in a certain order": by this definition of his movement, he revolutionised modern art and cleared the way for abstract art to emerge.

Maurice Denis (Mega Square)

Kostenevitch, Albert

This collection offers a wide range of works from the Antiquity to the twentieth century. This title will deal specifically with erotic pieces. Here are the most sensual and provocative masterworks which captured the feeling of an era and those that signalled the beginning of a new one. Most of these works were not immediately recognized for their genius, and others that were at first met with great resistance. All have stood the test of time and in their own ways contribute to the dialectic on what makes a painting, sculpture or object erotic, how notions of eroticism have changed, to what degree erotic art reflects reality, and to what degree it alters it. Taken together these works illuminate the changing preoccupations and insights of our ancestors and this work enables the reader to rediscover the world heritage of erotic art.

1000 Erotic Works of Genius

Hans-Jürgen Döpp

Collections, Catalogs & Exhibitions

  According to the defined canons of art technique, a portrait should be, above all, a faithful representation of its model. However, this gallery of 1000 portraits illustrates how the genre has been transformed throughout history, and has proven itself to be much more complex than a simple imitation of reality. Beyond exhibiting the skill of the artist, the portrait must surpass the task of imitation, as just and precise as it may be, to translate both the intention of the artist as well as that of its patron, without betraying either’s wishes.Therefore, these silent witnesses, carefully selected in these pages, reveal more than faces of historic figures or anonymous subjects: they reveal a psychology more than an identity, illustrate an allegory, serve as political and religious propaganda, and embody the customs of their epochs. With its impressive number of masterpieces, biographies, and commentaries on works, this book presents and analyses different portraits, consequently exposing to the reader, and to any art lover, a reflection of the evolution of society, and above all the upheavals of a genre that, over 3 centuries of painting, has shaped the history of art.

1000 Portraits of Genius

Pierre Bonnard was the leader of a group of post-impressionist painters who called themselves the Nabis, from the Hebrew word meaning ‘prophet’. Bonnard, Vuillard, Roussel and Denis, the most distinguished of the Nabis, revolutionized the spirit of decorative techniques during one of the richest periods in the history of French painting. Influenced by Odilon Redon and Puvis de Chavanne, by popular imagery and Japanese etchings, this post-impressionist group was above all a close circle of friends who shared the same cultural background and interests. An increasing individualism in their art often threatened the group’s unity and although tied together by a common philosophy their work clearly diverged. This publication lets us compare and put into perspective the artists within this fascinating group. The works presented in this collection offer a palette of extraordinary poetic expressions: candid in Bonnard, ornamental and mysterious in Vuillard, gently dream-like in Denis, grim and almost in Vallotton, the author shares with us the lives of these artists to the very source of their creative gifts.

Bonnard And the Nabis

Kostenevitch, Alberts

Taiwan's specific situation in Asia is the source of its thorn past. Situated in the South East of China, Taiwan was at the crossroads of many maritime routes and squeezed between its neighbors, China and Japan. Aftercenturies of foreign occupation, Taiwan has a unique history. Taiwan, Art and Civilization sheds light on Taiwan's beautiful scenery as well as its colorful history in the form of a true initiatory trip. Through magnificent illustrations, Taiwan reveals its secret beauty, its fauna andflora intertwined with its unique architecture. Home of the traditional and the modern, the gorgeous island is also the home of a very dynamic artistic scene. One thus fully grasps why the Portuguese named her Ilha Formosa, beautiful island.

Taiwan: Art and Civilisation (Temporis Collection)

Kovtun, E. F.

148 plates, 95 in color, depicting the artist's tribute to both Symbolism and Art Nouveau.

Mikhail Vrubel: The Artist of the Eves (Great Painters Series) (Great Painters Series)

Guerman, Mikhail

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