From the 16th to the 19th century, illuminated manuscripts were collected by the great printer-publisher Christophe Plantin and his Moretus successors and descendants. Ranging in date from the 9th to the mid-16th centuries, the manuscripts in the Museum Plantin-Moretus come from all over Europe, chiefly the Southern Netherlands and France with a significant representation of 15th-century Dutch illumination. More surprisingly, about a quarter of the collection comes from England: manuscripts of the 10th to 15th centuries that left the country with Catholic refugees. Alongside the acknowledged masterpieces and rarities, like the Bohemian Bible of 1402, are volumes that have remained virtually unknown, their aesthetic appeal and historical or textual interest often passing unnoticed in the absence of published reproductions. In this beautifully produced catalogue, each of the 102 volumes is illustrated in colour, with more extensive coverage of the 55 volumes with the most rewarding illumination. For the first time it is possible to gauge the extent and nature of this fascinating and under-explored collection, still housed in the building on the Vrijdagmarkt in Antwerp to which Plantin moved his famous sign of the Golden Compasses in 1576.

This first volume in a catalogue raisonné of Tuymans's paintings surveys nearly 200 works from the vital early years of his career Credited with a key role in the revival of painting in the 1990s, Belgian artist Luc Tuymans (b. 1958) continues to produce subtle, and at times unsettling, works that engage with history, technology, and everyday life. This first volume in a catalogue raisonné of Tuymans's paintings surveys nearly 200 works that were vital to his artistic development. The years 1972 to 1994 witnessed the maturation of his signature method of painting from preexisting imagery--such as magazine images, Polaroids, and television footage--as well as his first solo exhibition. Also dating from this period are many of his seminal canvases, along with ten poignant portraits of the ailing human body and the enigmatic series Superstition that comprised his first works exhibited in the United States. The catalogue features brilliant new photography of each of the paintings and an illustrated chronology with archival images and installation shots of the works in this volume. This publication is a testament to Tuymans's persistent assertion of the relevance and importance of painting--a conviction that he maintains even in today's digital world, when his work continues to be a touchstone for artists and scholars.

At various points over the course of the 20th century, the Belgian State and its various ministries and provinces consciously chose to subsidise not only the fine arts but also the applied and decorative arts, and in particular the art of weaving tapestry. On the one hand, orders were placed for World Exhibitions and for Belgian embassies, and on the other competitions were held for tapestries to be hung in important locations such as the United Nations and NATO headquarters, and the exhibitions that were organized by the various ministries over the years. They provided an overview of the ways in which this branch of the arts was changing as well as representative work by the best tapestry designers. The exhibitions organized by the provincial authorities give quite a different image. There were the highly conventional exhibitions of Brabantine tapestries to promote the craftsmanship of the province and there were the more innovative textile exhibitions. Taken as a whole, the commissions, competitions and exhibitions give a good overview of what was happening in Belgium in the field of tapestry over the period 1945-1980. They also make it clear what image was being projected abroad: that of a country with rich traditions, master craftsmanship in weaving, and in the 1970s some affiliation to the latest developments in European textile art.