Kathryn Heleniak demonstrates how intimately Mulready's paintings were related to the social conditions of his time. His portrayal of blacks is linked to the abolition of slavery and to the British colonial experience; his children's genre is analysed in the light of nineteenth-century attitudes to childhood and sexuality, and in the light of Mulready's own deeply-rooted pessimism about human nature.

The author examines book illustration of the Romantic period. He focuses on the decorative wood - and steel-engravings, which were used as embellishments with the purpose of appealing to the sophisticated book buyer. He also describes how the values of the time are reflected in the illustrations.

The artist and poet are clearly revealed in these reproductions of Blake's pencil drawings

Smith reveals how images of the nude were used at all levels of Victorian culture, from prestigious high-art paintings through to photographs and popular entertainments; and discusses the many views as to whether these were legitimate forms of representation or, in fact, pornography and an incitement to unregulated sexual activity.

This is the story of women caught up in thetumultuous art scene of the early twentiethcentury, some famous and others lost totime.By 1910 the patina of the belle poquewas wearing thin in London. Artists wereon the hunt for modern women who couldhold them in thrall. A chance encounter onthe street could turn an artless child intoan artists model, and a model into a muse.Most were accidental beauties, plucked fromobscurity to pose in the great art schoolsand studios. Many returned home to livesthat were desperately challenging almostall were anonymous.Meet them now. Sit with them in theCaf Royal amid the wives and mistressesof Londons most provocative artists. Peekbehind the brushstrokes and chisel cuts atwomen whose identities are some of arthistorys most enduring secrets. Drawing ona rich mlange of historical and anecdotalrecords and a primary source, this isstorytelling that sweeps up the reader inthe cultural tides that raced across Londonin the Edwardian, Great War and interwarperiods.A highlight of the book is a reveal of theAvico siblings, a family of models whosefaces can be found in paint and bronze andstone today. Their lives and contributionshave been cloaked in a century of silence.Now, illuminated by family photos and oralhistories from the daughter of one of themodels, the Avico story is finally told.