This book investigates a complex layer ofmysteries and cluesconcealed in van Gogh's paintings and biography. New points of view on the painter's life are introduced and a foundation is laid for the interpretation of the iconography withinhis work. The book deduces from the painter's biography: a previously unexplored interpretation of the final argument with Gauguin; the critical role played by Rachel, la jeune fille d'Arles working in rue des Récollets, in the final years of the painter's life; Theo's role in quelling the scandal of the December 23rd ear amputation and Gauguin's ensuing arrest; The author underscores his thesis though a series of details in van Gogh's works, the painter's own letters, and by re-visiting well known events in his life. This juxtaposing of biographical facts with the psychological origins of the works posits an exciting new thesis in "A Secret of Van Gogh: His Motif and Motives" that will be of great interest to a wide audience of readers.

... As one walks the streets of the Philadelphia, Sauer's buildings stand out for the masterly way he calibrates architectural composition and the varied playfulness of his solutions which, through a complex body of intuitively defined rules, one will find the very essence of Sauer's field of action where he interprets the reality of the setting and its surroundings. This book, then, is an enjoyable, lively read, because it proposes a profoundly democratic architecture that opens individuals' minds, leaves room to the end-user's aesthetic sensibility and presupposes a curious, imagining heart... From the Preface by P. C. Pignatelli L. Sauer, born 1928, FAIA, Hon FRAIA, is an architect, professor and design theorist. Extensive projects have been built in the U.S.A. and Canada where his work is an example of planning and design originality. A. Saggio (1955) teaches Architecture at «Sapienza» University (Rome). He is the founder of the book series "The IT Revolution in Architecture".

The best-known and most sensational event in Vincent van Gogh’s life is also the least understood. For more than a century, biographers and historians seeking definitive facts about what happened on a December night in Arles have unearthed more questions than answers. Why would an artist at the height of his powers commit such a brutal act? Who was the mysterious “Rachel” to whom he presented his macabre gift? Did he use a razor or a knife? Was it just a segment—or did Van Gogh really lop off his entire ear? In Van Gogh’s Ear, Bernadette Murphy reveals, for the first time, the true story of this long-misunderstood incident, sweeping away decades of myth and giving us a glimpse of a troubled but brilliant artist at his breaking point. Murphy’s detective work takes her from Europe to the United States and back, from the holdings of major museums to the moldering contents of forgotten archives. She braids together her own thrilling journey of discovery with a narrative of Van Gogh’s life in Arles, the sleepy Provençal town where he created his finest work, and vividly reconstructs the world in which he moved—the madams and prostitutes, café patrons and police inspectors, shepherds and bohemian artists. We encounter Van Gogh’s brother and benefactor Theo, his guest and fellow painter Paul Gauguin, and many local subjects of Van Gogh’s paintings, some of whom Murphy identifies for the first time. Strikingly, Murphy uncovers previously unknown information about “Rachel”—and uses it to propose a bold new hypothesis about what was occurring in Van Gogh’s heart and mind as he made a mysterious delivery to her doorstep. As it reopens one of art history’s most famous cold cases, Van Gogh’s Ear becomes a fascinating work of detection. It is also a study of a painter creating his most iconic and revolutionary work, pushing himself ever closer to greatness even as he edged toward madness—and one fateful sweep of the blade that would resonate through the ages.

Johannes Vermeer, one of the greatest Dutch painters and for some the single greatest painter of all, produced a remarkably small corpus of work. In Vermeer's Family Secrets, Benjamin Binstock revolutionizes how we think about Vermeer's work and life. Vermeer, The Sphinx of Delft, is famously a mystery in art: despite the common claim that little is known of his biography, there is actually an abundance of fascinating information about Vermeer’s life that Binstock brings to bear on Vermeer’s art for the first time; he also offers new interpretations of several key documents pertaining to Vermeer that have been misunderstood. Lavishly illustrated with more than 180 black and white images and more than sixty color plates, the book also includes a remarkable color two-page spread that presents the entirety of Vermeer's oeuvre arranged in chronological order in 1/20 scale, demonstrating his gradual formal and conceptual development. No book on Vermeer has ever done this kind of visual comparison of his complete output. Like Poe's purloined letter, Vermeer's secrets are sometimes out in the open where everyone can see them. Benjamin Binstock shows us where to look. Piecing together evidence, the tools of art history, and his own intuitive skills, he gives us for the first time a history of Vermeer's work in light of Vermeer's life. On almost every page of Vermeer's Family Secrets, there is a perception or an adjustment that rethinks what we know about Vermeer, his oeuvre, Dutch painting, and Western Art. Perhaps the most arresting revelation of Vermeer's Family Secrets is the final one: in response to inconsistencies in technique, materials, and artistic level, Binstock posits that several of the paintings accepted as canonical works by Vermeer, are in fact not by Vermeer at all but by his eldest daughter, Maria. How he argues this is one of the book's many pleasures.

The role of representation in religion is complex. While often perceived as essential, it is also associated in many traditions with the liability of idolatry and provokes iconoclasm. The essays in this volume examine the nuances of representation in religion and the debate concerning its place across a variety of traditions from the three Abrahamic faiths, to those of antiquity and the East. This volume consists of presentations made at an international conference held in honor of Moshe Barasch, art historian and cultural critic, who has done much to elucidate the light which representation and religion shed on each other. It pays tribute to Barasch by expanding the base of understanding and insight he has erected. It should be of interest to students of religion and of art history.

Studio of the South tells the fascinating story of Van Gogh's time in Arles and the Yellow House.

As one walks the streets of the Philadelphia, Sauer's buildings stand out for the masterly way he calibrates architectural composition and the varied playfulness of his solutions which, through a complex body of intuitively defined rules, one will find the very essence of Sauer's field of action where he interprets the reality of the setting and its surroundings. This book, then, is an enjoyable, lively read, because it proposes a profoundly democratic architecture that opens individuals' minds, leaves room to the end-user's aesthetic sensibility and presupposes a curious, imagining heart.