Bridging the fields of conservation, art history, and museum curating, this volume contains the principal papers from an international symposium titled "Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice" at the University of Leiden in Amsterdam, Netherlands, from June 26 to 29, 1995. The symposium—designed for art historians, conservators, conservation scientists, and museum curators worldwide—was organized by the Department of Art History at the University of Leiden and the Art History Department of the Central Research Laboratory for Objects of Art and Science in Amsterdam. Twenty-five contributors representing museums and conservation institutions throughout the world provide recent research on historical painting techniques, including wall painting and polychrome sculpture. Topics cover the latest art historical research and scientific analyses of original techniques and materials, as well as historical sources, such as medieval treatises and descriptions of painting techniques in historical literature. Chapters include the painting methods of Rembrandt and Vermeer, Dutch 17th-century landscape painting, wall paintings in English churches, Chinese paintings on paper and canvas, and Tibetan thangkas. Color plates and black-and-white photographs illustrate works from the Middle Ages to the 20th century.

"Assemblage art consists of making three-dimensional or two-dimensional artistic compositions by putting together found-objects."--Boundless.

A Passion for Performance: Sarah Siddons and Her Portraitists brings together three engaging essays – by Robyn Asleson, Shelley Bennett and Mark Leonard, and Shearer West – that recreate the eventful life, both on and off the stage, of the great eighteenth-century actress Sarah Siddons. Siddons was renowned for her bravura performances in tragic roles, and her fame was enhanced by the many portraits of her painted by the leading artists of the day. The greatest of these was Sir Joshua Reynolds’s Sarah Siddons as the Tragic Muse, a painting now in the Huntington Art Collections and recently studied at the Getty Center. A Passion for Performance places this magnificent portrait within the context of Siddons’s career as an actress and cultural icon. Includes a chronology of Siddons’s life by volume editor Robyn Asleson.

"Spencer House is one of the great architectural landmarks of London. Built in the eighteenth century by John, 1st Earl Spencer, an ancestor of the Princess of Wales, it was immediately recognized as a building of major importance and is today the most complete surviving example of its kind, the great London mansions of the nobility and gentry having largely been demolished. Under the direction of its current occupants, the J. Rothschild group of companies, the house has recently been the object of one of the most ambitious restoration projects to be undertaken this century and the state rooms are now open to the public." "In this first in-depth study, Joseph Friedman highlights the unique importance of the building and argues that the great London mansion was no less significant than the country house in shaping the architectural, social and political history of England. He documents the history of Spencer House from its construction to the present day, and examines the revolutionary work of its architects: John Vardy, whose designs for the exterior and ground floor mark the evolution from Palladianism towards a Neo-Classicism inspired by the architecture of ancient Rome, and James 'Athenian' Stuart, who pioneered the use of Greek architectural ornament in the decoration of the first-floor rooms." "At a deeper level, the author argues that Spencer House has much to teach us about the all-embracing role of the architect in the eighteenth century, and the importance of symbolism, metaphor and allegory. By tracing the sources of the building's design he sheds new light on the philosophy and methodology of eighteenth-century English architecture, and attitudes towards the art and architecture of the past. The successive owners of the house are chronicled, beginning with a history of the Spencer family, in particular John, 1st Earl Spencer, and culminating in a discussion of the conditions which led to the letting of the house and the eventual sale of the lease to the J. Rothschild group. The survey concludes with a detailed account of the restoration and the ingenious ideas which guaranteed its success." "The book is illustrated throughout with sumptuous interiors, architectural drawings and details, portraits and maps."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved