"This book is divided into two parts, the first comprises two chapters dealing with Karol Lanchkoronski and the fate of his collection, as well as wedding rituals in Renaissance Italy and the history of domestic painting. The second part, consisting of eight chapters, discusses the cassone panels and paintings derving from day beds--lettucci--and panelling of the walls--spalliere."--Back cover.

Looking at more than two hundred Italian medieval and Renaissance mural cycles, Lavin examines—with the aid of computer technology—the "rearranged" chronologies of familiar religious stories found therein. "Like many masterpieces, Lavin's book builds upon a simple idea . . . it is possible to do a computer analysis of . . . visual narratives. . . . This is the first computer-based study of the visual arts of which I am aware that illustrates how those technologies can utterly transform the study of old master art. An extremely important book, one likely to become the most influential recent study of art of this period, The Place of Narrative is also a beautiful artifact."—David Carrier, Leonardo "Covering over a millennium and dealing with the whole of Italy, Lavin makes pioneering use of new methodology employing a computer database . . . [and] novel terminology to describe the disposition of scenes of church and chapel walls. . . . We should recognize this as a book of high seriousness which reaches out into new areas and which will fruitfully stimulate much thought on a neglected subject of very considerable significance."—Julian Gardner, Burlington Magazine

The English artist Eric Hebborn (1934-1996) explains the secrets of his forging techniqes in this illustrated work compiled shortly before his death. Drawings previously attributed to artists such as Picasso and Corot were in fact the work of Hebborn and this work provides an insight through explanations of his work. Inks, papers, pigments, monograms and signatures are all explained as well as Hebborn's own often outrageous speculations about the nature of art and value.