Search results for ""National Gallery Company Ltd""

An expert look at the life and captivating work of the Dutch painter Nicolaes Maes, Rembrandt’s most famous pupil This book offers a close look at the art of Dutch Golden Age painter Nicolaes Maes (1634–1693). One of Rembrandt’s most talented students, Maes began by painting biblical scenes in the style of his famous teacher. He later produced extraordinary genre pieces, in which the closely observed actions of the main figure, often a woman, have a hushed, almost monumental character. Maes also depicted mothers with children or older women praying or sleeping; such works have placed him among the most popular painters of the Dutch Golden Age. From around 1660, Maes turned exclusively to portraiture, and his elegant style attracted wealthy and eminent clients from Dordrecht and Amsterdam. This generously illustrated volume is the first in English to cover the full range of his repertoire. The authors—curators from the National Gallery, London, and the Mauritshuis, The Hague—bring extensive knowledge to bear for the benefit of specialists and the general public.Published by National Gallery Company in association with the Mauritshuis, The Hague, and Waanders Publishers, Zwolle/Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule:Mauritshuis (October 17, 2019–January 19, 2020)National Gallery, London (February 22–May 31, 2020)

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What is still life? We are familiar with the objects portrayed but have difficulty explaining the essence of this popular art form. Erika Langmuir examines the special fascination of still life, and what distinguishes it from other categories of painting. She discusses its evolution from the trompe l’oeil wall paintings of antiquity, through its revival in the age of Caravaggio and Velázquez, and again in the works of Cézanne and Picasso. Originally published as Pocket Guide Still Life, this eloquent survey benefits from a wider format, new reproductions, and updated references.Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press

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The National Gallery's collection of British paintings is small, but contains some of the most famous and best-loved paintings in the country. This readable catalogue includes the results of fresh examination of each work by the Gallery's Conservation and Scientific Departments.

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An illuminating study of the singularly gifted Dutch artist Frans Hals, a true revolutionary in the field of portraiture and one of the most sought-after painters of his generation This beautifully illustrated book offers a fresh scholarly appraisal of Frans Hals, more than 30 years since the last large exhibition devoted to his work. Essays cover all the important aspects of Hals’s oeuvre, including his militia paintings, his spectacular family portraits and his depictions of laughter: he was one of very few artists throughout the history of Western painting who successfully managed to paint people smiling and laughing. The texts also provide an overview of the artist’s life, and examine his extraordinarily virtuoso technique, which involved painting extremely fast straight on to the canvas. The authors set out to place Hals and his work firmly in the context of his time, employing new previously unpublished archival research and technical findings. For the first time, an overview is given of all the apprentices who worked for Hals. Other themes, such as the design for portrait prints or the humour seen in the works of Frans Hals, have never before been treated separately. Published by National Gallery Global/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule: The National Gallery, London (September 30, 2023–January 21, 2024) The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (February 15–June 9, 2024)

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An innovative look at the creation of Leonardo’s The Virgin of the Rocks This concise but innovative book, published to accompany an immersive digital exhibition at the National Gallery, London, focuses on a single Leonardo painting, and one of the artist’s most celebrated: The Virgin of the Rocks. The quarter-century process of its creation is described, while a technical study shows how the latest scanning technology has been used by the National Gallery to explore beneath the surface of the picture, resulting in new insights into Leonardo’s approach, optical theories, and painting technique. Illustrated with details of the painting, technical images, drawings, and comparative works, this volume combines the expertise of curators, conservators, and scientists in order to introduce readers to a fresh perspective on one of history’s most extraordinary minds.Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule:National Gallery, London (November 9, 2019–January 12, 2020)

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In 2014, the contemporary painter George Shaw (b. 1966) began a two-year post as associate artist in the National Gallery, London. This book documents his experiences there, as well as the work he produced in response to the Gallery’s collection. Shaw is known for his minutely detailed and luminously atmospheric depictions of the urban landscape and woodlands of central England. Painting scenes from his native region, Shaw meditates on the central themes of relationships, ancestry, and love. His preferred medium, Humbrol enamel paint, is a deliberate means of distancing himself from the traditions of oil painting—and, it might seem, from the values embedded in the National Gallery itself. Yet as a teenager in Coventry, Shaw was fascinated by the Gallery, traveling regularly to London to draw from those artists he found inspiring. This engaging volume reproduces his first series of paintings on canvas, together with working drawings and an essay by the artist himself. Published by National Gallery Company/distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule:The National Gallery, London (05/11/16-10/30/16)

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A unique and compelling view of the work of leading contemporary artist Nalini Malani through the lens of her most recent commission This publication presents the latest work of Nalini Malani (b. 1946), recipient of the 2022 National Gallery Contemporary Fellowship with ArtFund. For over five decades, Malani’s art has focused on giving a voice to the stories of those marginalized by history⁠—particularly women. She is one of the most incisive artists of our time, and the acute analysis and poetic compassion of her experimental film, photography, painting, and drawing has influenced generations of others from the 1960s to the present day. For her first museum commission in the United Kingdom, Malani has created an immersive installation of large-scale, animated drawings inspired by the sites, histories, and collections of the National Gallery, London, and the Holburne Museum, Bath. With a floating palimpsest of digital images, Malani reveals, annotates, and shares new, underlying stories in some of Europe’s best-known paintings, offering a contemporary and critical dialogue between past and present. With leading articles based on new research, sumptuous illustrations, and artist-led design, this extensive study documents the Fellowship alongside the artist’s previous work. Published by National Gallery Global/Distributed by Yale University Press

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This richly illustrated publication explores the lasting influence of Gainsborough’s Blue Boy on British art and culture Marking the return of Gainsborough’s Blue Boy to the UK exactly 100 years since it left for the United States, this richly illustrated publication will explore the lasting influence of this iconic painting on British art and culture. During the nineteenth century, the painting’s fame grew and full-length portraits by Gainsborough and his contemporaries became much sought after by wealthy American collectors. The sale of The Blue Boy to the American railroad magnate and collector Henry E. Huntington in 1921 was unsurprisingly viewed as a national tragedy—emblematic of a shift in economic and cultural power. However, its afterlife, as a permanent ambassador for British art, has undoubtedly fed into ideas of Britain and Britishness—its history, society, culture and character—that still resonate today. Including a select group of paintings that demonstrate the profound influence of Sir Anthony van Dyck and the old master tradition on Gainsborough’s practice and identity, Gainsborough’s Blue Boy will examine this masterpiece within the context of the National Gallery’s collection. Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press

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The National Gallery’s second Artist in Residence is Ali Cherri (b. 1976), a Lebanon-born artist based in Beirut and Paris. Known for his sculptures, films and installations, Cherri is interested in the aesthetics, practices and politics associated with the museum classification and collecting of objects, animals, images, and their narratives. Cherri was recently awarded the Silver Lion at the 2022 Venice Biennale. The first survey of Cherri’s work in English, this book will give an overview of the artist’s archaeological approach to the heritage of objects by investigating their relationships to history, society and nature. It will introduce Cherri to a broad audience and document his journey from the beginning of his residency to the production and display of the final work at the National Gallery in the autumn of 2021, followed by the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum in spring 2022.Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press

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In a long career that spanned the French Revolution, the rise and fall of Napoleon, and the Bourbon Restoration, Louis-Léopold Boilly (1761–1845) created innovative and daring paintings in the midst of the most turbulent times. Bringing together two dozen of Boilly’s works—the majority of which have never before been published—this handsome volume includes portraiture, scenes of seduction, and groundbreaking representations of raucous Parisian street life. A master technician with acute powers of observation and a wry sense of humor, Boilly invented the term trompe l’oeil and popularized the genre through his stunningly realistic compositions. In this first English-language publication on Boilly in more than 20 years, Francesca Whitlum-Cooper vividly brings the artist and the period he lived in to life, shedding new light on Boilly’s work and expanding our understanding of how art functioned within France’s rapidly changing political environment.Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule:National Gallery, London (02/27/19–05/19/19)

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The first publication to consider the relationship between these two major artists of the High Renaissance Through most of Michelangelo’s working life, one of his closest colleagues was the great Venetian painter Sebastiano del Piombo (1485­–1541). The two men met in Rome in 1511, shortly after Sebastiano’s arrival from his native city, and while Michelangelo was based in Florence from 1516 to 1534 Sebastiano remained one of his Roman confidants, painting several works after partial designs by him. This landmark publication is about the artists’ extraordinary professional alliance and the friendship that underpinned it. It situates them in the dramatic context of their time, tracing their evolving artistic relationship through more than three decades of creative dialogue. Matthias Wivel and other leading scholars investigate Michelangelo’s profound influence on Sebastiano and the Venetian artist’s highly original interpretation of his friend’s formal and thematic concerns. The lavishly illustrated text examines their shared preoccupation with the depiction of death and resurrection, primarily in the life of Christ, through a close analysis of drawings, paintings, and sculpture. The book also brings the austerely beautiful work of Sebastiano to a new audience, offering a reappraisal of this less famous but most accomplished artist. Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule:The National Gallery, London (03/15/17–06/25/17)

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This new volume in the series of National Gallery collection catalogues focuses on 16th-century Bologna and Ferrara. The Gallery holds the most important collection of these paintings outside Italy, including works by Garofalo representing his entire range as an artist; exquisite and grotesque miniature narratives by Mazzolino; a large masterpiece by the short-lived genius known as Ortolano; and some of the most dazzling paintings by the eccentric Dosso Dossi. There are two altarpieces by Lorenzo Costa along with his highly original Concert, and Francesco Francia's Buonvisi altarpiece. The book defines the special quality of works from the region, but also traces the influence of Perugino, Raphael, and Titian. New archival and technical research and provenance information reveal the fortunes of artists’ reputations across a long arc in the history of taste.Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press

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The extraordinary story behind Degas's groundbreaking painting of the biracial circus performer Miss La La

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The National Gallery in London houses one of the richest collections of Western European paintings in the world, ranging from the 13th to the 20th century. In this beautiful book, one hundred of the greatest works from the collection, each by a different artist, are presented in chronological order, and accompanied by a lively, informative text and full-page color reproductions. From the earliest—a remnant of an Italian altarpiece dating from around 1265—to the most recent—Paul Cézanne’s great Bathers, of about 1894–1905—each painting has been carefully chosen for the unique significance it holds; whether representing a particular artist, place or time, or simply for its beauty and the pleasure it provides to the viewer. The painters featured here include some of the most famous names in European art—Duccio, Giotto, Dürer, Holbein, van Eyck, Botticelli, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, Rubens, Rembrandt, El Greco, Velázquez, Zurbarán, Goya, Caravaggio, Claude, Poussin, Hogarth, Gainsborough, Reynolds, Constable, Turner, Courbet, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Rousseau, and Van Gogh—and some of the most iconic paintings in the world—The Wilton Diptych, The Arnolfini Portrait, The Ambassadors, and Sunflowers. These selected highlights introduce some of the most inspiring paintings ever made. The reader can dip in to explore individual paintings, or read from cover to cover for a full survey.Published by the National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press

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As prominent members of the Victorian cultural and artistic world, Sir Charles and Lady Elizabeth Eastlake, along with their nephew Charles Locke Eastlake, enjoyed the friendship and support of influential figures including Prince Albert, Sir Thomas Lawrence, J. M. W. Turner, and Sir Robert Peel. This fascinating original biography brings the unique personality of each of the Eastlakes into sharp focus while also exploring their important contributions during the early days of the National Gallery. Charles Eastlake, an artist and connoisseur, was chosen to be not only the President of the Royal Academy from 1850, but also the National Gallery's first Director in 1855. With his capable wife, a literary critic and art historian in her own right, he traveled throughout Europe acquiring significant paintings for the Gallery and implementing important changes to their display and description. Nephew Charles, an architect and popularizer of the Arts and Crafts style, was Keeper at the National Gallery from 1878 to 1898. Art for the Nation tells the remarkable story of the Eastlake family's devotion to art and to the National Gallery during its crucial formative years.Published by National Gallery Company / Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule:National Gallery, London(07/27/11-10/30/11)

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The latest in this annual bulletin based on research carried out at the National Gallery, London, draws on the combined expertise of scientists, conservators, and curators, bringing together a wealth of information about artists’ materials, practices, and techniques. The cleaning and restoration of The Adoration of the Kings by Botticelli and Filippino Lippi reveals its unusually complex physical and attributional history. The relining of Van Dyck’s equestrian portrait of Charles I is described, an operation that posed certain challenges due to its large size; at the same time the records of conservation of this painting offer a potted history of lining at the National Gallery. The recent cleaning of Jan van Eyck’s Portrait of a Man (“Léal Souvenir”) has shown that it retains an original surface coating that may explain its excellent condition. And finally, Leonardo’s Virgin of the Rocks offers new discoveries from macro XRF scanning and hyperspectral imaging, which extend our knowledge of the evolution of the painting during its production.Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press

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A celebration of the National Gallery's history of collaborating with contemporary artists, with a particular focus on David Hockney

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Quinten Massys’ An Old Woman (‘The Ugly Duchess’) is one of the Renaissance’s most famous faces. In a fresh review of the iconic image, this book unveils the painting’s original context: its status as a pioneering work of satirical art, its debt to Leonardo da Vinci’s grotesque drawings, and what it tells us about the period’s complex attitudes towards women, age and normative beauty. The painting and its partner, An Old Man, are parodic portraits that mock the supposed lust and vanity of older women. Yet a closer look also reveals a figure defiantly flouting conventions and a painter subverting artistic expectations. The publication traces the eventful afterlife and enduring power of this seminal image: how she gained her nickname ‘The Ugly Duchess’ and inspired John Tenniel’s much-loved illustrations of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865), capturing the imagination of generations of readers. Published by National Gallery Global/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule:National Gallery, London, 16 March–11 June 2023

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An exploration of the fascinating parallels and differences between Picasso’s Woman with a Book and Ingres’s Madame Moitessier This publication examines, in detail, two extraordinary interrelated works: Picasso’s Woman with a Book (1932) and Ingres’s Madame Moitessier (1844–56). Each painting is explored in depth, illuminating the parallels and differences between the artists’ techniques and creative ambitions. The first essay tells the story of the twelve-year gestation of Ingres’s Madame Moitessier, focusing on the role of drawings in the elaboration of the composition, and of the sitter herself in determining how she was to be presented. The second essay traces the development of Picasso’s Woman with a Book, among the most celebrated likenesses of the artist’s young lover, Marie-Thérèse Walter. In contrast to Ingres’s work, it was painted in just a day or two. The final essay explores, through these two works, the artists’ shared interest in the relationship between nude and clothed bodies, revealing the depth of Picasso’s engagement with Madame Moitessier, which motivates and animates Woman with a Book. Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press

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Catalogue exploring the five spectacular views of the Fortress of Königstein in Dresden by Venetian painter Bernardo Bellotto, nephew and pupil of Canaletto Bernardo Bellotto (1722–1780) ranks amongst the very greatest view painters of eighteenth-century Europe. Today, he is best known for his views of northern European cities: large-scale works characterised by panoramic compositions, a strongly contrasted use of light and shadow, and meticulous attention to architectural detail. This book provides an overview of Bellotto’s life and career, as well as a record of the historic reuniting of his five spectacular views of the fortress of Königstein, displayed together for the first time in over 250 years, following the National Gallery’s recent acquisition of The Fortress of Königstein from the North in 2017. Commissioned by August III, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, these works depicting the fortress from different viewpoints are undoubtedly Bellotto’s finest non‑urban paintings. These remarkable pictures are imbued with a monumentality rarely seen at this time and the series dramatically illustrates the very different direction in which Bellotto took the tradition of European view painting.Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule:The National Gallery, London (July 22–October 31, 2021) Manchester Art Gallery (November 20, 2021–February 27, 2022)

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Sean Scully (b.1945) is an Irish-born, American-based painter and printmaker, best known for his monumental oil paintings which draw on the traditions of Abstract Expressionism. This catalogue showcases a recent body of work inspired by the National Gallery’s own collection and in particular by J.M.W. Turner’s The Evening Star (c.1830). For Scully, this elegiac picture constitutes one of Turner’s most profound paintings, leading to new departures in his own work. Using the motif of stripes or chequerboards, Scully evokes landscapes and architecture, horizons, fields, and coastlines, in which his contemplative forms become reminders of personal experiences and distinctive moments. Vast, bold panel paintings with richly textured surfaces are illustrated together with delicate works on paper: aquatints and luminous pastels. The accompanying text includes newly commissioned essays, and poetry by Vahni Capildeo and Kelly Grovier, while a unique photo essay by Irish novelist Eimear McBride highlights the sweeping impasto, strong brushstrokes, and vivid colors that distinguish Scully’s painting. Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule:National Gallery, London (04/13/19–08/11/19)

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Painted in 1468, Saint Michael Triumphant over the Devil is the first documented work by Bartolomé Bermejo (c. 1440–c. 1501), a 15th-century Spanish artist by whom only about 20 paintings are known. Acquired by the National Gallery in 1995, the painting depicts the Archangel Michael defeating Satan, in the form of a hybrid monster, with Antoni Joan, feudal lord of Tous, kneeling nearby. The work is remarkable for its mastery of the oil-painting technique, influenced by Netherlandish painting and unrivaled by Bermejo’s contemporaries in Spain. Following the painting’s detailed technical examination and restoration, the authors provide a fascinating account of this rare work, accompanied by high quality new photography and placing the painting in the broader context of Bermejo’s career in 15th-century Aragon.Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule:National Gallery, London (06/12/19–09/29/19)

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An innovative study of the relationship between Andrea Mantegna and Giovanni Bellini, two masters of the Italian Renaissance Andrea Mantegna (c. 1431–1506) and Giovanni Bellini (active c. 1459; died 1516) each produced groundbreaking paintings, marked by pictorial and technical innovations, that are among the masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance. Exploring the fruitful dynamic between Mantegna’s inventive compositional approach and interest in classical antiquity and Bellini’s passion for landscape painting, this fascinating volume examines how these two artists, who were also brothers-in-law, influenced and responded to each other’s work. Full of new insights and captivating juxtapositions—including comparisons of each of the artist’s depictions of the Agony in the Garden and the Presentation to the Temple—this study reveals that neither Mantegna’s nor Bellini’s achievements can be fully understood in isolation and that their continuous creative exchanges shaped the work of both.Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule:National Gallery, London (10/01/18–01/27/19)Gemäldegalerie, Berlin (03/01/19–06/30/19)

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Landscape is probably the most popular type of painting, but anyone who has ever been disappointed by vacation photographs knows how difficult it is to turn a view into a picture. This book shows how artists in past centuries translated outdoor space and light into paint, and how landscape imagery evolved from mere ornament into a visual metaphor of the human condition. The story is told from its beginnings in Roman mural decoration, through the Renaissance transformation of landscape into a vehicle for feelings and ideas, to the Impressionist revolution and beyond. The continuing relevance of art to how we see the world, and our place in it, is demonstrated through a practical discussion of optics of real and painted landscape, illustrated with works from the National Gallery, London. Published by National Gallery, London/Distributed by Yale University Press

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Titian (c. 1485–1576) is best known for his portraits and mythological and religious works. Yet his first great achievement was to refashion the portrayal of nature in his own distinctive style. He did this by studying the work of Albrecht Dürer, whose naturalistic paintings of plants, animals, and landscape had caused a sensation in Venice in the first decade of the 16th century.In this beautifully illustrated book, Antonio Mazzotta presents this experience, together with Titian's native landscape of Pieve di Cadore, as crucial influences in the artist's early representation of nature. The recently restored Flight into Egypt (now in the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg)—probably painted when Titian was still a teenager—is vivid proof of his interest in the depiction of animals, plants, and figures in the landscape.The author shows how Titian's contemporaries Bellini, Giorgione, and del Piombo also influenced his unique and innovative approach to painting nature.Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule:National Gallery, London(04/04/12–08/19/12)

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Museum visitors today usually see pre-16th-century Italian painted altarpieces exhibited alone, as single paintings. Yet this beautiful catalogue shows that these works were once part of decorative, integrated schemes, and the original experience for viewers of the paintings was significantly different from our own. Focusing on Italian altarpieces from the second half of the 13th century to the very end of the 15th, the book investigates the original functions and locations of altarpieces as well as the circumstances of their dislocations, dismantlings, and reconstructions. Regional variations are also analyzed, and the author examines altarpieces' formal and typological development, taking into account the wealth of related scholarship undertaken in the past thirty years.Published by National Gallery Company / Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule:The National Gallery, London(07/6/11-10/02/11)

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A Closer Look is the new series title for the updated and refreshed National Gallery Pocket Guide range. The series has been enhanced with a stronger format, attractive design, new photography, and additional information. It is self-evident that colour is fundamental to painting, but it is not always obvious from looking at pictures what kinds of materials may be used by an artist to make colour. This Pocket Guide explains how coloured pigments are combined with a medium to form a paint layer, and how this affects our perception of the appearance of colour. It not only describes the materials of colour but also explains colour theories and examines writings about colour, including painters’ treatises.Through a selection of superb pictures from the National Gallery, London, including works by Piero della Francesca, Leonardo, Titian, Caravaggio, Canaletto, Rembrandt, Velázquez, Monet, and Seurat, the authors demonstrate how painters through the centuries have exploited the characteristics of colour in paint.Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press

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This generously illustrated book presents highlights from the National Gallery’s display of Italian Renaissance painting, one of the richest collections of its kind in the world. Duccio to Leonardo focuses on Italian masterpieces made between 1250 and 1500, including highlights such as Duccio’s Annunciation, Botticelli’s Venus and Mars, and Leonardo’s Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist. It begins with a short introduction on the formation of the collection, before discussing each of the chosen works. Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press

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This catalogue introduces the little-known Renaissance artist Pesellino, exploring his exquisite miniatures, his narrative cassone panels, and grand altarpieces During his brief but varied career, Francesco Pesellino (c. 1422–1457) rose to notable heights, receiving prestigious commissions from the pope and becoming a favourite of Florence’s ruling Medici family. His death at the age of only 35 cut short a rising star of the early Renaissance. Praised as a painter of “cose picole” (small things), Pesellino was a remarkable draughtsman and miniaturist, excelling in fine details and the characterful depiction of animals. His works were not limited to those on a small scale, however: he was also an accomplished painter of grand altarpieces. This catalogue introduces Pesellino’s work to a wider audience and celebrates his extraordinary abilities. Beautifully illustrated essays explore his life and work, and the recent conservation of the Gallery’s painted cassone panels depicting the story of David and Goliath, where the artist’s skill as a storyteller is matched by his technical mastery. The first publication in English dedicated to Pesellino, it provides a comprehensive overview of the artist, as well as new insights into his work. Published by National Gallery Global/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule: The National Gallery, London (December 7, 2023–March 10, 2024)

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Exploring the life, imagery and lasting appeal of Saint Francis of Assisi (1182–1226), this landmark book features a core of important historic paintings representing the saint by Giotto, Sassetta, Caravaggio, Zurbarán and El Greco. From his native Umbria, Saint Francis’s image spread rapidly to become a global phenomenon and a continuous source of artistic fascination. His commitment to the poor, powerful appeals for peace, openness to dialogue with other religions and embryonic environmentalism radically impacted the Church and society of his time, and still hold great interest today. Spanning seven centuries and ranging from the earliest, relic-like objects to contemporary art in a variety of media, including works by Antony Gormley, Giuseppe Penone and a new commission from Richard Long, Saint Francis of Assisi reflects on the lasting legacy of Saint Francis – an inherently modern figure who retains a universal appeal. Published by National Gallery Global/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule: The National Gallery, London, 6 May–30 July 2023

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An exceptional introduction to European paintings from the Middle Ages to the early 20th century through one of the greatest collections in the world. This richly illustrated and beautifully designed book offers an ideal introduction to European painting from the 13th to the early 20th century. The National Gallery, London, houses one of the finest collections of Western European art in the world. Its extraordinary range includes exceptional paintings from medieval Europe through the early Renaissance and on to Post-Impressionism, including masterpieces by Leonardo, Hans Holbein, Titian, Velázquez, Rembrandt, Turner, Monet, and Van Gogh. This volume showcases more than 250 of the Gallery’s most treasured pictures, providing an opportunity to make connections across this uniquely representative collection. Paintings are accompanied by numerous details, as well as brief and illuminating texts, providing an informative and visually rich survey of hundreds of years of European painting.Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press

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A definitive overview of one of the most celebrated figures of the Italian Renaissance Among the great figures of the Italian Renaissance, Raphael (1483–1520) is unarguably the artist who has been most widely and consistently admired across the centuries. He had an extraordinary and perhaps unrivaled capacity for self-reinvention—as he progressed from Umbria to Florence and Rome—and an ability to draw strength from the other great artists around him, seemingly growing in stature the more daunting the competition became. This insightful, impeccably researched, and comprehensive volume chronicles the progress of his career in all its richness and complexity. Sumptuous production values and generous illustrations go hand in hand with its rigorous and wide-ranging scholarship. The essays explore Raphael’s paintings and drawings, his frescoes in the Vatican Stanze, his designs for tapestries, sculptures and prints, and his engagement with architecture. Detailed and authoritative catalogue entries examine many of Raphael’s finest works. Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press

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The National Gallery in London houses one of the most important collections of early Italian paintings outside Italy, including works by Cimabue, Duccio, Giotto and the di Cione brothers. This completely updated catalogue of the collection is the first published since 1989, and it now includes four exceptional acquisitions from the intervening years: the 13th-century diptych now attributed to the Master of the Borgo Crucifix, The Virgin and Child by Cimabue, The Virgin and Child by the Clarisse Master, and The Coronation of the Virgin by Bernardo Daddi. For this volume, Dillian Gordon takes into account the substantial body of new research published over the past twenty years to review and in some cases reattribute the works. All but two paintings have been re-examined by the National Gallery's team of curators, conservators, and scientists. Through the use of infrared reflectography, much new information has been revealed regarding the significance of underdrawings and technique. Each work is illustrated in color, and many are accompanied by details and technical and comparative illustrations.Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press

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A Closer Look is the new series title for the updated and refreshed National Gallery Pocket Guide range. The series has been enhanced with a stronger format, attractive design, new photography, and additional information. The philosophy of modern conservation is different from that of previous eras: the emphasis now is on long-term stabilization by methods that alter the structure of a painting as little as possible. Nevertheless, if paintings are obscured by discolored varnishes and old repaints, they are cleaned, and this has often led to anxiety and debate as long-admired images are transformed. A Closer Look: Conservation of Paintings discusses the material nature of paintings and the ways that they have changed, both naturally and at the hands of previous restorers. It also describes the main types of conservation treatment carried out on panel and canvas paintings and some of the complex issues involved in cleaning and restoration. Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press

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The National Gallery, London possesses an important collection of paintings by 16th-century Netherlandish artists, including Joachim Beuckelaer, Hieronymus Bosch, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Jean Gossart, and Quinten Massys. They are grouped here with a small number of French paintings, some by artists who came from the Low Countries (Corneille de Lyon, probably Jean Hey, and perhaps the Master of Saint Giles). Lorne Campbell’s catalogue is a model of scholarship; he examined all the pictures with conservators and rigorously researched their histories, subjects, and styles. New discoveries about artists’ techniques and practices have led to many reattributions, and the rescue from anonymity of over twenty paintings. The identities of several patrons are established or suggested, while an introductory essay explains how contemporaries regarded these paintings. Generously illustrated, with many details and technical photographs, and beautifully produced, this comprehensive catalogue is essential reading for scholars, while also introducing general readers to a vital part of the Gallery’s collection.Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press

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The impressive collection of 18th-century French paintings at the National Gallery, London, includes important works by Boucher, Chardin, David, Fragonard, Watteau, and many others. This volume presents over seventy detailed and extensively illustrated entries that expand our understanding of these paintings. Comprehensive research uncovers new information on provenance and on the lives of identified portrait sitters. Humphrey Wine explains the social and political contexts of many of the paintings, and an introductory essay looks at the attitude of 18th-century Britons to the French, as well as the market for 18th-century French paintings then in London salerooms.Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press

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This substantial and beautifully illustrated volume documents the National Gallery’s unrivaled collection of Venetian paintings created between 1540 and 1600, including some of the greatest works commissioned by the city from Veronese, Titian, Tintoretto, and the Bassano family. The collection is so rich and varied that the book serves as an introduction to all the major types of painting produced in Venice during this period––the altarpiece, portrait, confraternity chapel decoration, ceiling and furniture painting, and paintings for the portego (long central hall) of a palace. Among the many important works included are Titian's Vendramin Family Venerating a Relic of the True Cross, Veronese's Family of Darius and four Allegories, and Tintoretto's Origin of the Milky Way. Nicholas Penny provides comprehensive and detailed information reflecting the most up-to-date scholarship on the paintings––many of which have passed through some of the greatest collections in Europe––along with a thorough discussion of their provenance.Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press

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This highly anticipated catalogue of sixteenth-century paintings from the distinguished collection of the National Gallery in London encompasses artists who were active in Bergamo, Brescia, and Cremona, cities characterized as much by the artistic interaction between them as by the influence of Venice. The artists include such well-known names as Lorenzo Lotto, Moretto, and Moroni, along with less familiar ones such as Bartolomeo Veneto and Callisto Piazza.For each of the paintings, distinguished scholar and curator Nicholas Penny provides information about technique and materials, conservation and condition, and subject and iconography. An account of the painting’s original patronage is followed by a discussion of changing tastes, interpretation, and how the picture was esteemed (or neglected) over the centuries. One third of the paintings catalogued here are portraits, and entries include fascinating sections on contemporary dress, furnishings, and accessories. An appendix provides an illuminating account of some of the great collectors and collections of the past. Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press

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Accompanies the exhibition at the National Gallery, London, 13 September 2023–7 January 2024. Céline Condorelli’s practice addresses the boundaries between public and private, art and function, labour and leisure, in order to reimagine what culture can be and the role of artists within it. As the National Gallery’s 2023 Artist in Residence, she was invited to respond to its collection and that of the Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery, Exeter. Condorelli interrogates the role of museums as ‘machines for looking’ which guide audiences in how they perceive and value art. Using sculpture, architecture and installation, her art makes interventions in the ways people navigate space and highlights the act of exhibiting itself. This book presents a new body of work which focuses on the act of seeing, as well as pages created by Condorelli that document her research into the materials, spaces and history of the National Gallery. These are complemented by an essay by curator Priyesh Mistry and an interview with the artist by Lara Goodband.

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The extraordinary story behind Manet’s portrait of his only pupil Eva Gonzalès, placed within the broader context of women painters of the period Edouard Manet (1832–1883) only ever had one formal pupil, Eva Gonzalès (1849–1883). The daughter of a prominent writer, she entered Manet’s studio aged 19. He portrayed her the year they met and exhibited the ambitious full-length portrait at the Paris Salon of 1870, at which Gonzalès also displayed her own work, for the first time, to positive reviews. The first in a new series of Discover titles, in which a single work of art in the National Gallery’s collection is reconsidered from a fresh perspective, this book reveals the extraordinary story behind Manet’s portrait by examining it in the context of women’s artistic practice in nineteenth-century Paris, Gonzalès’s development as a professional painter, and Manet’s career in 1870. Combining new art historical research with engaging essays on women artists and their representation in visual culture, Discover Manet & Eva Gonzalès provides a richly illustrated, in-depth study of Manet’s portrait and offers a groundbreaking viewpoint on both artists. Published by National Gallery Global/Distributed by Yale University Press

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Poussin’s scenes of bacchanalian revelry, tripping maenads and skipping nymphs are often described as ‘dancelike’ and ‘choreographed’. The artist’s dancing pictures helped him develop a new approach to painting that would become the model for the French classical tradition. Shedding the sensuous, painterly manner of his early career, Poussin carved out the crisp, relief-like approach that characterized his mature work and set the precedent for three centuries of French art, from Le Brun and David to Cézanne and Picasso. He carried lessons learned from dance into every corner of his production. This book brings together a key group of paintings and drawings by Poussin, exploring the theme of dance and dancers in his production for the first time. Focusing on the dancing pictures created in Rome in the 1620s and 1630s, essays connect Poussin’s interest in dance, his study of antiquities, and his formulation of a new classical style. Richly illustrated and engagingly written, this publication uses the prism of dance to cast Poussin in a new, fresh light.Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule:J. Paul Getty Museum June 8 – August 29, 2021National Gallery, London October 9, 2021 – January 2, 2022

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Exploring the dialogue between the National Gallery, London and contemporary artist Rosalind Nashashibi through her work as artist in residence Rosalind Nashashibi (b. 1973) is a London-based artist known for her 16mm films, as well as her paintings and prints. Her films convey inner experiences of moments and events, often considering the politics of relations in the community and extended family, while merging everyday observations with fictional or mythological elements. Like her films, her paintings move between impressions and the more concrete depiction of forms or figures. In 2019 Nashashibi was appointed as artist in residence for 2020 by the National Gallery, London; over the course of a year she worked in close proximity to the gallery’s collection, research, and teams. As the gallery’s inaugural artist in residence, she has explored the ongoing dialogue between the art of the past and that of today, as well as the collection’s influence on her own practice as a painter. The book includes enlightening conversations between Nashashibi and two artist colleagues, Elena Narbutaitė and Lucy Skaer.Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press

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In 1999, Akseli Gallen-Kallela’s Lake Keitele (1905) became the first Finnish painting to enter the National Gallery and is now one of the most popular pictures in the collection. Although the artist and his work are relatively unknown to audiences outside of Finland, he was not only a leading figure in modern Finnish painting but an accomplished practitioner of the decorative arts and a key figure in the development of early twentieth-century Modernism.This book focuses on four versions of his shimmering depictions of Lake Keitele, north of Helsinki; a stylized lake composition which first appeared in the early 1880s, when the artist was still elaborating his own descriptive language, and continued to preoccupy him until well into the 1920s. Anne Robbins examines these abstract and modernist pictures in the light of the international avant gardes with which Gallen-Kallela was in contact for much of his career, and the ways in which his work expressed his fervent Finnish nationalism.Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule:National Gallery, London (11/15/17–02/04/18)

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The English Romantic artist Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) was hailed as the "painter of light" for his brilliantly colored landscapes and seascapes. He drew much influence from the French painter Claude Lorrain (c. 1604/5?–1682), who was a vital force in Turner's artistic practice from his formative years until the end of his working life. So great was Claude's influence that Turner stipulated in his will that his works hang alongside Claude's in the National Gallery, London.This book examines the ways in which Turner consistently strove to confront Claude's achievement and legacy. He had encountered Claude's works in salerooms and in the collections of his aristocratic patrons, and applied what he had learned to the British countryside, producing views of the Thames valley that transform it into an idyllic pastoral scene reminiscent of the Roman Campagna. For the balance of his career, Turner continued to pit himself against Claude, paying homage even as he continually sought to go beyond the accomplishments of his master.Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule:The National Gallery, London(03/14/12-06/05/12)

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In this beautifully illustrated book, the Reverend Nicholas Holtam–vicar of London's internationally renowned church St. Martin-in-the-Fields–presents his favorite paintings from the National Gallery, London, alongside religious commentary, Bible quotes, prayers, and poetry. The selected illustrations encourage the reader to think about how art can sometimes be a surprising doorway into our own spirituality. Holtam's often highly personal observations inspire private prayer, meditation, and contemplation. Many works in the National Gallery feature Christian subjects, but Reverend Holtam has chosen paintings from a wide range of artists. His more surprising picture choices include Edgar Degas's Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando, Vincent van Gogh's Long Grass with Butterflies, and J. M. W. Turner's The Fighting Temeraire.Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press

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Faces are everywhere in the National Gallery’s collection: in portraits and narrative scenes, in allegories and paintings of everyday life. It is often the faces shown that communicate most directly in a picture; their expressions may reveal the drama of a story, or the character of a sitter in a portrait. A Closer Look: Faces examines a wide array of fascinating faces found in paintings at the National Gallery. It explains why artists in the past created faces to look as they do, what painters through the ages have considered the "ideal" face, how faces are painted, and the reasons for the development of portrait painting. Illustrated with seventy pictures and beautiful details, this book provides an insider's view of the many faces in Western European art.Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press

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If the Paintings Could Talk reveals the hidden histories of paintings in the National Gallery, London. With a treasury of fascinating facts, discoveries, and tales, this book describes the flight a work took down a mountainside and the portrait that appeared in a James Bond film, among many other entertaining events and stories. An engaging, accessible, and highly original gallery guide that cross-references entries throughout, the book provides a unique tour of this remarkable collection.Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press

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Produced in collaboration with the National Gallery, this resource pack outlines a range of activities for pre- and post-16 students of chemistry and art. Printed in full colour throughout, the pack comprises: * A guide to using the pack * A3-sized prints of 10 paintings from the National Gallery, London * A booklet with historical information on each painting, including details on the part science played in cleaning, conservation and restoration * A booklet of experiments for pre-16 students * A booklet for post-16 students

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