Discribes and illustrates the making of the precision timekeeper, at each stage with line drawings and brief explanatory captions. This handbook provides an insight to the enthusiast and watch-collector who, until its publication, had often been able only to admire the superb craftsmanship of a fine watch without understanding how it works.
A long-overdue assessment of this innovative artist's works and life
This book, and the exhibition it accompanies, presents the largest ever survey of work by Vanessa Bell (1879-1961). Described as 'the most important woman painter in Europe', Bell was a pioneering modernist painter and founding member of the Bloomsbury Group, a circle of influential English artists, writers and intellectuals in the first half of the twentieth century. This publication traces Bell's explorations into the Italian Renaissance, her encounters with the European avant-garde, including Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso, and her leading role in social and cultural activities such as the Friday Club, a group of artists founded in 1905, as well as the design enterprise, Omega Workshops. It also looks at the key contributions Bell made towards the development of abstract art, creating what friend and art critic Roger Fry described as 'visual music'. Collaborations formed an essential part of Bell's approach to art, including with her sister, the writer Virginia Woolf, and the artist Duncan Grant, with whom Vanessa Bell's all-encompassing approach to art found its ultimate expression in Charleston, the farmhouse they shared in East Sussex. Through over 130 works of art produced across her entire career, this book examines the development of Bell's landscapes, still lifes and portraits alongside her wider approach to creativity, through design, furniture, ceramics and drawings.
In this long-awaited reprint - first published in 1967 - the late George Daniels, a master watchmaker of the twentieth century, documents the important contribution made by England and America in the development of the pocket watch from the earliest times to late 1960s America. Daniels tells of the sequence of technical developments that led to the production of electric and electronic watches.It is a fascinating story for all who appreciate not only a watch's technical niceties but also the intrinsic beauty with which devoted craftsmen endowed it. Mr Daniels' concise, learned account, which places each phase of the story in its true perspective, will be found indispensable both by collectors and by those new to the history of watchmaking. Over a hundred photographs together with a series of clear line drawings, emphasise the watchmakers' achievement in marrying pure function and beauty, and at the same time illustrate the changes in movements that accompanied progress in external appearance.
This beautifully illustrated book is the first full-length critical study to focus on the works of fine artist and printmaker, Tirzah Garwood (1908-1951), wife of artist Eric Ravilious.
A colourful illustrated catalogue for Glasgow Life's 2024 'Discovering Degas' Exhibition, highlighting items by Edgar Degas in The Burrell Collection.
A unique look into Blake's past, present and future artistic conceptions.
A richly illustrated exploration of the impact of South Asian Miniature painting on contemporary art.This book tells the dynamic story of contemporary art's engagement with the miniature painting traditions of South Asia from the sixteenth century onwards, and the role of Britain in these developments.This is the first publication to address this remarkable painting tradition on a transhistorical and transnational scale. Readers are invited to admire the formal, technical and conceptual innovations of some of the most exciting historic and contemporary artists from South Asia, while reflecting on questions of culture and power in the entangled histories of empire and globalization.Many of the greatest collections of South Asian paintings are held in Britain, and some of the pivotal encounters that shaped this story happened in London. The process of these acquisitions and their central role within British and South Asian art histories are explored in this book. The book also demonstrates how the traditions of South Asian miniature painting have been reclaimed and reinvented by modern and contemporary artists, exploding beyond the pages of illuminated manuscripts to experimental forms that include installation, sculpture and film. While miniature painting represented a strand of cultural resistance to colonial rule in the early twentieth century, artists continue to find contemporary relevance in the possibilities offered by this tradition.Beyond the Page is richly illustrated with historic works from the Victoria & Albert Museum, the British Library, the British Museum, the Ashmolean, the Bodleian Library and the Royal Collection Trust. It also features work by artists from different generations working in dialogue with the miniature tradition, including Hamra Abbas, David Alesworth, Nandalal Bose, Noor Ali Chagani, Lubna Chowdhary, Adbur Rahman Chughtai, Samuel Fyzee-Rahamin, N.S. Harsha, Howard Hodgkin, Ali Kazim, Bhupen Khakhar, Jess MacNeil, Imran Qureshi, Nusra Latif Qureshi, Mohan Samant, Nilima Sheikh, Willem Schellinks, the Singh Twins, Shahzia Sikander and Abanindranath Tagore.
An important illustrated history of the relationship between Cambridge and the Black Atlantic.Published to coincide with and accompany a ground-breaking exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, and based on new interdisciplinary research, this book presents a radical new visual and material history of the University of Cambridge and its collections. It critically investigates the interconnections between Cambridge, a landlocked city in East Anglia, and the Black Atlantic, the space that emerged when European empires colonised the Americas and transported over 12.5 million captives from Africa to these colonies as slaves between 1400 and 1900. Through the lens of historic artworks and objects mainly from Cambridge collections, it analyses the growth and rise of enslavement, the profits made by European traders and plantation-owners, the erased knowledge produced by enslaved people, resistance movements and the enduring legacies of these events and people.At its heart is a story of Cambridgeshire and the city of Cambridge but this is very far from a local story. Cambridge sits at the heart of an international network - of commerce and colonialism, of opinion-forming, and of struggle - that traces a global history of the Atlantic world for over 500 years. These entangled histories are enriched and paralleled by untold or forgotten histories of Black and Indigenous making and resistance, and with works by contemporary makers that challenge and create alternative narratives of repair and freedom. Reflection-pieces from respected scholars, curators and contemporary artists provide multi-vocality and diverse perspectives, allowing us to 'read' objects and works of art more completely and to appreciate the power of historic and contemporary objects and images.
Discover the extraordinary stories of the Jewish people who designed, made and sold fashion in 20th-century London, revealing their vital role in making it an iconic fashion city.While Jewish involvement in garment making and tailoring is widely known, the contributions that Jewish people made to fashion design, bespoke dressmaking and the democratisation of fashion through the development of ready-to-wear clothes have been widely forgotten. Spanning all sectors of the fashion industry - from homeworking to haute couture - the book is lavishly illustrated with images from across the city and the Museum of London's collections.Fashion City takes you from arrival in the East End to commercial success and fame in the West End, using iconic places and people of the city to uncover the stories of Jewish fashion makers and trace their immigrant journeys. Discover some of the most intriguing stories of key figures such as Otto Lucas, a gay Jewish German hat maker who became the most financially successful milliner in the world; Mr Fish, the rule-defying tailor who dressed Mick Jagger and Muhammed Ali; and Nettie Spiegel, who escaped the Nazis on the Kindertransport and became a London wedding dress designer of choice under her 'Neymar' label.Bringing together a wealth of new research and presenting a novel perspective of London fashion, this book gives a voice to the city's overlooked and forgotten Jewish fashion makers
A beautifully illustrated catalogue of a world-class collection of arms and armour from India and the Middle East.The Wallace Collection is home to one of the finest collections of non-European arms and armour in the world, teeming with bejewelled and enamelled dagger hilts, swords and scabbards, and with delicately gilded spears, helmets, shields and breastplates. The pieces within the collection provide an unusually comprehensive view of three key areas - India, Iran and the Ottoman Empire - and span the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with star objects dating from as early as the fifteenth century. At once functional weapons and prestigious luxury objects, items in this area of the collection are fascinating and awe-inspiring both for their technical achievements and artistic virtuosity. This lavishly illustrated catalogue is a landmark contribution to the field of Islamic art, shining a light on the previously overlooked and hidden gems of the Wallace Collection and providing detailed photographs of almost every object, accompanied by descriptions of its provenance, the materials of its construction and how it was made.
A beautifully illustrated exploration of the impact of Chinese and Japanese material culture on the historic houses and gardens of Britain and Ireland. The art and ornament of China and Japan have had a deep impact in the British Isles. From the seventeenth century onwards, the design and decoration of interiors and gardens in Britain and Ireland was profoundly influenced by the importation of Chinese and Japanese luxury goods, while domestic designers and artisans created their own fanciful interpretations of 'oriental' art. Those hybrid styles and tastes have traditionally been known as chinoiserie and japonisme, but they can also be seen as elements of the wider and still very relevant phenomenon of orientalism, or the way the West sees the East.Illustrated with a wealth of new photography and published in association with the National Trust, Borrowed Landscapes is an engaging survey of orientalism in the Trust's historic houses and gardens across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Drawing on new research, Emile de Bruijn demonstrates how elements of Chinese and Japanese culture were simultaneously desired and misunderstood, dismembered and treasured, idealised and caricatured.
Extensively illustrated, this is the first accessible publication on the history of tapestry in over two decades.Woven with dazzling images from history, mythology and the natural world, and breath-taking in their craftsmanship, tapestries were among the most valuable and high-status works of art available in Europe from the medieval period to the end of the eighteenth century. Over 600 historic examples hang in National Trust properties in England and Wales - the largest collection in the UK.This beautifully illustrated study by tapestry expert Helen Wyld, in association with the National Trust, offers new insights into these works, from the complex themes embedded in their imagery, to long-forgotten practices of sacred significance and ritual use. The range of historical, mythological and pastoral themes that recur across the centuries is explored, while the importance of the 'revival' of tapestry from the late nineteenth century is considered in detail for the first time. Although focussed on the National Trust's collection, this book offers a fresh perspective on the history of tapestry across Europe.Both the tapestry specialist and the keen art-history enthusiast can find a wealth of information here about woven wall hangings and furnishings, including methods of production, purchase and distribution, evolving techniques and technologies, the changing trends of subject matter across time, and how tapestries have been collected, used and displayed in British country houses across the centuries.
Published to accompany an exhibition at MK Gallery, this is the first major survey of the work of contemporary British artist and photographer Ingrid Pollard, nominated for the Turner Prize 2022.This publication provides the first overview of works by British artist and photographer Ingrid Pollard. Pollard is renowned for using portrait and landscape photography to question our relationship with the natural world and to interrogate social constructs such as Britishness, race, sexuality and identity. Working across a variety of techniques from photography, printmaking, drawing and installation to artists'' books, video and audio, Pollard combines meticulous research and experimental processes to make art that is at once deeply personal and socially resonant.''Ingrid Pollard''s practice has long been focused on the human body, astro-physics and geology, and in particular geology in the formation of the stars and planets. The title of this publication ΓÇô Carbon Slowly Turning ΓÇô invites us to reflect on geological time in relation to human time. On the one hand, the millennia in which carbon, rock and other natural materials are made, and on the other, the brevity of human existence by comparison and the affecting nature of geology on the human form. A number of Pollard''s works reflect on the cyclical nature of history and human experience, where everything is subject to change, sometimes over hundreds or thousands of years, at other times in the blink of an eye.''- Gilane Tawadros, Curator, writer and CEO, DACS''Ingrid Pollard''s work slows down our looking to create space to consider alternative formations of history and landscape. Across four decades she has re-scripted Britishness, looking back in order that we might move forward differently. This is a profound and timely exploration of this vital British artist.''- Maria Balshaw, Director, TateThis book accompanies an exhibition at MK Gallery and Turner Contemporary, curated by Gilane Tawadros, with the artist, and supported by the Freelands Award 2020. Edited by Fay Blanchard and Anthony Spira. Essays by Anna Arabindan-Kesson, Cheryl Finley, Paul Gilroy, Mason Leaver-Yap and Gilane Tawadros.
Accompanying an exhibition at the Wallace Collection, Inspiring Walt Disney explores the influences of the art and architecture of France on Walt Disney and his studio artists, highlighting in particular the Disney classics of hand-drawn animation, Cinderella (1950) and Beauty and the Beast (1991).Pairing preparatory material from these films - including concept art for talking furniture and fairy-tale castles - with masterpieces from the eighteenth century reveals hidden sources of inspiration and allows us to appreciate the extraordinary talents behind Disney animated films and French decorative arts. Just as the dynamic, twisting movements of the Rococo sought to breathe life into what was essentially inanimate - silver, porcelain, furniture - so too did Disney animators seek to create the illusion of movement, action and emotion.Illustrated with innovative works by artists such as Mary Blair, Hans Bacher and Peter J. Hall, and the animated and anthropomorphic furniture, Sèvres porcelain and gilt bronze of rococo designers, the catalogue explores the shared creative roots of these two seemingly disparate artistic realms and looks to revitalise the feelings of excitement, awe and marvel, which both eighteenth-century craftsmen and Disney animators sought to spark in their audiences.
A long-awaited reprint of an important illustrated reference work on the general history of the watch from 1500 to 1980.When Watches was first published in 1965 it quickly gained for itself a reputation as the foremost general history of the subject and, following the expanded edition in 1979 which covered recent years past 1830, this has remained unchallenged in horological history.In this long-awaited reprinted edition, collectors and horological students can again make use of the reference illustrations and history in this work as approached by the leading horology historians and clockmakers of the twentieth century. Clutton and Daniels write expertly on the vast history of watches, through the changing tastes and styles of collectors and makers, as well as imparting their own knowledge on various technical aspects within the watches.The expansive historical section encompasses both decorative and mechanical aspects of mid-sixteenth to late twentieth century watches, including those by George Daniels himself, detailing the rich history behind more modern designs and fascinations. These later years include a variety of semi-experimental escapements, as well as covering the development of the precision watch and work leading to it by Ferdinand Berthoud and Pierre Le Roy, discussed alongside John Arnold in England, to satisfy the technical-minded collector.Horology and collecting have grown with the changing technologies, and watches continue to be produced to an exceptional technological standard. Precision watches from the 1730-1930 period are covered in detail, as well as high standard Swiss and American watches of the last hundred years; these highly complicated watches benefit greatly from having both colour and mono illustrations to clarify the details. For a truly comprehensive understanding of escapements, photographs of these have been included alongside a critical approach to this essential mechanism. Since its first publication, Watches has provided an essential work of reference and history behind some of the most renowned minds and creations. Now reprinted for a new generation of collectors and students, and featuring over 600 illustrations, the technical and decorative elements of historical watches can be studied and enjoyed once more.
LONG LISTED FOR THE WILLIAM MB BERGER PRIZE FOR BRITISH ART HISTORY 2022.A major survey of Dame Laura Knight, first female Royal Academician and popular British artist of the 20th century.Laura Knight (1877-1970) was one of the most famous and popular English artists of the twentieth century. She was the first woman to have a solo exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, in 1965. In the following decades her realist style of painting fell out of fashion and her work become largely overlooked. A new generation has rediscovered her work, finding a contemporary resonance in her depictions of women at work, of people from marginalized communities and her contributions as a war artist.This beautifully illustrated book, which accompanies a major exhibition at MK Gallery, provides an overview of Knight's illustrious career: from her training at Nottingham Art School at the age of 13 and her time in North Yorkshire and Cornwall, to her visits to traveller communities and a segregated American hospital. It also features her circus, ballet and theatre scenes, paintings of women during the war and her late paintings of nature.The selection of over 160 works combines celebrated paintings with less known graphic and design works, including ceramics, jewellery and costumes that reflect the artist's enduring interest in the everyday activities of people from all walks of life.
This is the first book to concentrate on Dutch Golden Age painter Frans Hals's highly innovative approach to male portraiture.Frans Hals is one of the greatest portrait painters of all time and, together with Rembrandt, is one of the most eminent seventeenth-century Dutch artists. Published to coincide with the Wallace Collection's exhibition of the same name, Frans Hals: The Male Portrait explores the artist's highly innovative approach to male portraiture, from the beginning of his career in the 1610s until the end of his life in 1666.Through pose, expression and virtuosic painterly technique, Hals revolutionised the male portrait into something entirely new and fresh, capturing and revealing his sitters' characters like no one else before him. This book includes the first in-depth study of Hals's great masterpiece, The Laughing Cavalier, from 1624. The extravagantly dressed young man, confidently posed with his left arm akimbo in the extreme foreground of the picture and seemingly penetrating into the viewer's space, has been charming audiences for over a century.Richly illustrated, Frans Hals: The Male Portrait situates The Laughing Cavalier within the artist's larger oeuvre and demonstrates how, at a relatively early point in his career, Hals was able to achieve this great masterpiece.
A fascinating record of how London and Londoners were shaped by nearly 700 years of public executions.More frequent in London than in any other city or town in Britain, these morbid spectacles often attracted tens of thousands of onlookers at locations across the capital and were a major part of Londoners'' lives for centuries. From Smithfield to Kennington, Tyburn to Newgate Prison, public executions became embedded in London''s landscape and people''s lives. Even today, hints of this dark chapter in London''s history can still be seen across the city.Featuring the lives and legacies of those who died or who witnessed public executions first hand from 1196 to 1868, this book tells the rarely told and often tragic human stories behind these events. It includes a range of fascinating objects, paintings and documents, many from the Museum of London''s collections, such as the vest said to have been worn by King Charles I when he was executed, portraits of ''celebrity criminals'', and last letters of the condemned. From the sites of execution to the thriving ''gallows'' economy, the book reveals the role that Londoners played as both spectators and participants in this most public demonstration of state power over the life and death of its citizens.
During the five hundred years that horology has been accepted as a separate art only a dozen or so men have made a positive contribution to its progress.Included in this little group of masters is the illustrious name of Abraham Louis Breguet (1747–1823), the arch-mécanicien in an age of mechanics. His contribution was as brilliant as it was original and, during a period when horological fashion was the slave of science, he lifted the watchmaker’s art to a new dimension of visual and technical excellence. In doing so he radically changed the whole concept of horology and transformed it into an art form that won him the adulation of Europe.The unceasing search for perfection in the performance of his products led Breguet to the invention of mechanical principles that even today, are used in the design of the watch. His influence on the appearance and style of the watch was dramatic and his most complicated examples maintained the slim, elegant appearance that was to revolutionise watchmaking.Breguet’s extraordinary ability in all branches of horology achieved for him the reputation of a genius, the patronage of kings and – rarest of all – the respect of the horological world. His products have never lost favour and many, in constant use, have been handed down through generations to their present owners. The passing of the years, with their many changes of fashion, have not diminished the beauty of the proportions and appearance of Breguet’s work.The Art of Breguet is the complete, illustrated history of the work of Abraham Louis Breguet by the late George Daniels who has provided a detailed study of Breguet’s horological philosophy that explains so many of the misunderstood aspects of his work. He describes in detail the complexity of Breguet’s art and, by so doing, supplants the mystique that has surrounded it with a clearer understanding of its function. Over one hundred line drawings illustrate the progress of technical development and each is accompanied by an analysis of the mechanism and its intended purpose.The history of the development of the internal and external appearance of the vast range of Breguet’s products is illustrated in a separate section, arranged in the order of manufacture to reveal the pattern of change in appearance. Each item is accompanied by a description of its external characteristics, mechanism, period of manufacture and, where possible, the date of sale.This reprinted edition, with a foreword by Emmanuel Breguet, has been long awaited and is addressed equally to the student and to the collector of Breguet’s work.
Apothecaries' Hall, home of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London, contains a large collection of armorial bearings in various media, but most particularly in stained glass. This comprehensive book describes the derivation and display of the Society's Arms, the Royal connections which also provide a source of heraldic decoration, and the large collection of glass panels relating to the coats of Arms of many of the Past Masters and Honorary Freemen. A comprehensive survey of all the heraldry and of the artists involved is included. For twenty years a tenant at the Hall was the renowned stained glass artist Carl Edwards. Heraldry and Stained Glass at Apothecaries' Hall gives a glimpse of the working of a glass studio and is also a reference source for the glass produced by Edwards at the Hall. Although Apothecaries' Hall is well-known to some members of the medical, dental and pharmaceutical professions, this beautifully illustrated publication brings all the information about heraldry and glass associated with the Society to a wider audience.
A fascinating record of the early years of Thomas Lawrence: the story of an exceptional young portraitist and future president of the Royal Academy. Like his Renaissance predecessors Raphael, Michelangelo and D├╝rer, the young Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830) was considered to be a boy genius. This survey of Lawrence''s first twenty-five years tells the story of an exceptional artist growing up at the end of the century when Britain created its own unique artistic voice. It accompanies a major exhibition at the Holburne Museum in Bath and includes previously unpublished works as well as some of Lawrence''s most brilliant masterpieces.Lawrence first came to public attention when he was cited in a scientific paper on ''early genius in children''; shortly afterwards his family moved to Bath where the eleven-year-old was kept busy making likenesses of the spa town''s fashionable visitors. By 1790, his spectacular portraits were the most applauded works in the Royal Academy''s annual exhibition, which opened days before his twenty-first birthday. This book considers the young artist''s self-image as a prodigy, the impact of Bath''s rich cultural life on his formation, the rapid development of his painting technique following his move to London, and his use of celebrity, print media and the Royal Academy to grow his reputation. Particular attention is given to Lawrence''s perceptive depictions of old age and bold celebrations of youthful energy. His portraits from this time present a fascinating glimpse of British high society at the turn of a memorable century: they include celebrities such as the Duchess of Devonshire, Emma Hamilton and actresses Sarah Siddons and Elizabeth Farren, as well as political leaders, members of the Bluestocking circle and the Royal Family.
The first major book on Riesener, one of the greatest French cabinet-makers of all time. Jean-Henri Riesener (1734-1806) was one of the greatest French cabinet-makers of all time, supplying the court of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette and furnishing royal and aristocratic houses. His pieces are of exquisite design and superb workmanship, using the most costly materials throughout and becoming a byword for all that is admired in French furniture worldwide. This first major monograph on Riesener traces his career in pre-revolutionary France, highlighting his work as the most celebrated cabinet maker of the Louis XVI period and focusing on the enduring appeal of his furniture through the nineteenth century and beyond. Based on the extensive collections of the Wallace Collection, Waddesdon Manor and the Royal Collection it is fully illustrated with new photography and includes much new research making it essential not only to art historians and collectors, but also to decorative arts enthusiasts and lovers of fine furniture.
A beautifully illustrated guide to Rubens''s two greatest landscape paintings. Rubens: The Two Great Landscapes is a handsomely illustrated monograph that brings together Rubens''s two greatest landscape paintings: A View of Het Steen in the Early Morning and The Rainbow Landscape. Painted as pendants, the pair have been in London since 1803, when they were separated, the former eventually entering the collection of the National Gallery and the latter that of The Wallace Collection. The book puts the creation of these two landscapes into the full context of Rubens''s later life and his semi-retirement. It demonstrates how they are the zenith of his achievements as a landscape painter and explores how he drew skillfully on Flemish influences, including Bruegel, in creating two highly original compositions.Written to engage and appeal to the non-specialist reader and academic alike, the book makes an important contribution to scholarship in the field, including original technical research and new photography that show how these complex compositions evolved iteratively as the panels onto which they were painted were expanded. It also presents an updated and almost complete history of the provenance of the two paintings describing their passage through eminent collections from the time of Rubens''s death until they reached their respective collections in London, separated by less than a mile.
The first comprehensive study of an important Italian Renaissance bronze-caster by a leading authority. A nucleus of sculptures cast by Andrea di Alessandri , commonly called from his native city, "Il Bresciano," or from his products, "Andrea dai bronzi," has been identified over the centuries. His style has been described as having similarities both with the High Renaissance of Sansovino and the Mannerism of Vittoria, the two successive master-sculptors of 16th-century Venice for whom he cast major bronzes. Andrea''s signed masterpiece is a Paschal Candlestick in bronze, over two metres high and with sixty or more fascinating figures, made for Sansovino''s magnificent lost church of Santo Spirito in 1568 and now in Santa Maria della Salute. The author''s identification in 1996 of a pair of magnificent Firedogs with sphinx feet (which in 1568 had been recommended to Prince Francesco de''Medici in Florence), and in 2015 of an elaborate figurative bronze Ewer in Verona, have been the culmination of the process of recognition. Archival research has at last revealed the span of Andrea''s life as 1524/25-1573, as well as many significant facts about his family and patronage. So the time is ripe for this comprehensive, well-illustrated, book on Il Bresciano, a "new" and major bronzistà in the great tradition of north Italy.
UK Winner of the Entertaining category of the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2020Food defines us as individuals, communities, and nations - we are what we eat and, equally, what we don't eat. When, where, why, how and with whom we eat are crucial to our identity. Feast and Fast presents novel approaches to understanding the history and culture of food and eating in early modern Europe. This richly illustrated book will showcase hidden and newly-conserved treasures from the Fitzwilliam Museum and other collections in and around Cambridge. It will tease out many contemporary and controversial issues - such as the origins of food and food security, overconsumption in times of austerity, and our relationship with animals and nature - through short research-led entries by some of the world's leading cultural and food historians. Feast and Fast explores food-related objects, images, and texts from the past in innovative ways and encourages us to rethink our evolving relationship with food.
Trimmings are often overlooked as mere details of a furnished interior but in the past they were seen as vital and costly elements in the decoration of a room. They were used not only on curtains and beds but also on wall hangings, upholstered seat furniture and cushions, providing a visual feast for the eye with their colour and intricate detail. Sometimes more expensive than the rich fabrics they enhanced, trimmings are often the only surviving evidence of a lost decorative scheme, reapplied to replacement textiles or found as fragments in the attic.This book, the first of its kind, traces their history in Britain and Ireland from 1320 to 1970, examining the design and usage of tassels, fringe, braid (woven lace), gimp and cord and their dependence on French fashion. Lavishly illustrated with new photography, the substantial text links surviving items in historic houses and museums to written evidence, paintings, drawings and other primary sources to provide a firm framework for dating pieces of less-certain provenance. The importance of the 'laceman', the maker of these trimmings, is also examined within an economic and social context, together with the relationship to the upholsterer and interior decorator in the creation of a fashionable room.
William Powell Frith (1819-1909), famous for his picture The Derby Day which normally hangs at Tate Britain, was the most celebrated painter of modern-life subjects in mid-Victorian England and the most popular British artist of that time. Published to mark the bicentenary of his birth and in association with an exhibition at the Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate, this richly illustrated volume of essays offers fresh and fascinating perspectives on Frith''s career and context. Despite dramatic shifts in taste with regard to Victorian painting during subsequent generations, Frith''s name has never been eclipsed, let alone forgotten ΓÇô unlike those of most of his genre-painter contemporaries ΓÇô as an introductory survey of critical responses to the artist''s work reveals. This provides a starting point for investigations, drawing on much new and original material, of three of Frith''s great panoramas of the Victorian world ΓÇô Life at the Sea-Side (Ramsgate Sands), The Derby Day and The Private View at the Royal Academy, 1881. Further contributions explore important but hitherto neglected aspects of Frith''s personal life and professional activity. Of significant biographical interest are studies of Frith''s close connections with Yorkshire (the county of his birth and also his first wife Isabelle''s) and his friendships with contemporary writers, notably the Sensation novelist Mary Elizabeth Braddon. The artist''s less well-known historical genre pictures are reappraised, with focus on the early success of An English Merry-Making, a Hundred Years Ago, while the key role played by the print trade in the widespread dissemination of Frith''s images is examined in detail for the first time. An intriguing manifestation of Frith''s popularisation was the re-creation of certain of his most famous compositions as tableaux on the London stage, yet another fresh topic in this presentation of ''The People''s Painter''. Revisiting Frith and his achievement through new approaches, this book confirms his position as the pre-eminent visual chronicler of the mid-Victorian scene and the importance of his place in the history of British art.
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