The design of this imaginary landscape was a popular one, & is perhaps Canaletto's, but in execution the painting seems nearer to the style of Bellotto. However, the painting is not of a high enough quality for it to be accepted as entirely by either painter. ...

This invented ruined arch, with a suspended lantern, may be derived from those which form the arcade of the Doge's Palace in Venice. The arch appears in other works by Guardi. A drawing of this composition was formerly in the collection of Sir Robert Witt ...

An invented ruined arch dominates this view. Two men are depicted digging in the foreground. The architecture may have been inspired by ruins found on one of the islands in the Venetian lagoon.A larger painting by Guardi of the same period (London, Victor ...

This picture was painted by a 17th-century Dutch imitator of Ruisdael. It has recently been suggested that it is an early work by Ruisdael's follower Johan van Kessel (1641
- 1680). It may be based on a lost work by Ruisdael showing Bentheim Castle on the German/ Netherlandish border. The viewpoint is different from any of the known paintings of this subject by van Ruisdael.
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Greuze produced numerous small, sentimental pictures of children. This painting is perhaps unfinished & is probably one of the artist's later works. Another version of this work is in the Detroit Institute of Arts. ...

Special Offer: Buy any 2 books from the "A Closer Look" series for only £15. View the Series here Author Erika Langmuir, OBE, (d. 2015) was educated in France & the United States. She taught at the University of Sussex & held the Chair of Art History at the Open University. She was Head of Education at the National Galley (1988–1995). Erika is author of Masterpieces & The National Gallery Companion Guide. When we say that ‘ Love is blind’ or ‘ Time flies’ – making concepts sound like living beings – we are using the language of allegory. Painters have long relied on allegory to create ‘message pictures’. Once thought to rival literary works or political oratory in influence & prestige, such paintings, with their references to ancient myth, the Bible or astrology, all too often puzzle modern viewers. This book explains types of visual allegory in Western art, & the contexts in which they were originally created & viewed, through some of the most beautiful & intriguing pictures in the National Gallery. A Closer Look: Allegory was first published as Allegory: National Gallery Pocket Guides in 1997. View spreads of this book (2.3 MB PDF) ...

Special Offer: Buy any 2 books from the "A Closer Look" series for only £15. View the Series here Author David Bomford is Associate Director for Collections at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. Contributors Jill Dunkerton is Restorer at the National Gallery, London. She co-wrote the best-selling Giotto to Durer & is a regular contributor to the National Gallery Technical Bulletin. Martin Wyld is a world-renowned expert in the conservation of paintings, & was formally Director of Conservation at the National Gallery, London. The preservation of works of art for future generations is a central function of the National Gallery. Historically, the care of pictures has sometimes sparked controversy, but as this expert guide shows, modern conservation emphasises long-term stabilisation of paintings by methods that alter their structure as little as possible. A Closer Look: Conservation of Paintings discusses the material nature of paintings, describing how they age & the main types of conservation treatment carried out on them, as well as providing an insight into the issues that confront the conservator. View spreads of this book (1 MB PDF) ...

Special Offer: Buy any 2 books from the "A Closer Look" series for only £15. View the Series here Author Marjorie E. Wieseman is Curator of Dutch Painting at the National Gallery, London. Her publications include Dutch Painting & Vermeer’s Women: Secrets & Silence. How do experts spot masterpieces? Paintings are not always signed or noted in historical records, so how can we tell an obscure gem from an altered image? Scientists, conservators & art historians use a range of methods to examine the physical nature of pictures & unravel their hidden histories. Through a series of intriguing examples & clearly explained processes, A Closer Look: Deceptions & Discoveries will draw the reader into the complex issues – not all of them fully resolved – confronted by gallery professionals. View spreads of this book (1.5 MB PDF) ...

Special Offer: Buy any 2 books from the "A Closer Look" series for only £15. View the Series here Author Alexander Sturgis is Director of the Holburne Museum of Arts, Bath. Previously he was Exhibitions & Programmes Curator at the National Gallery, London. His publications include Telling Time & Rebels & Martyrs: The Image of the Artist in the Nineteenth Century. Be it in portraits & narratives scenes, in allegories & paintings of everyday life, it is often the faces shown that communicate most directly in a picture, with expressions that reveal drama or character. The manner in which faces are painted show in striking ways the artistic aims & preoccupations of those who painted them. A Closer Look: Faces examines such issues as the changing faces, differing ideals of beauty, the ways in which portrait painters have captured a likeness & convey character, & how we read these facial expressions. View spreads of this book (2 MB PDF) ...

Special Offer: Buy any 2 books from the "A Closer Look" series for only £15. View the Series here Author Erika Langmuir, OBE, (d. 2015) was educated in France & the United States. She taught at the University of Sussex & held the Chair of Art History at the Open University. She was Head of Education at the National Galley (1988–1995). Erika is author of Masterpieces & The National Gallery Companion Guide. A Closer Look: Saints explains, through the National Gallery's comprehensive collection of religious images, the significance of saints & their role in the history of European painting. Erika Langmuir describes how saints became part of the institutions of the Christian church, the different types of saints, & the increasing importance of saintly relics in the Middle Ages. Explaining the way in which saints were created
- the process of canonisation & the promotion of candidates by religious orders, A Closer Look: Saints also provides an introduction to a wide variety of personalities, from the ambiguous penitent Mary Magdalen & the obscure martyrs venerated only by the cities of which they were protectors, to internationally celebrated figures whose sermons & deeds are well documented, such as Saint Jerome or Saint Francis of Assisi. Saints may be familiar figures in religious paintings, even to non-Christians, but A Closer Look: Saints explains in an authoritative yet accessible style the many ways in which they once played a part in religious practice & in the lives of individuals & communities. View spreads of this book (2 MB PDF)
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