Isabella: the Warrior Queen by
[PRINT] An engrossing and revolutionary biography of Isabella of Castile, the controversial Queen of Spain who sponsored Christopher Columbus's journey to the New World, established the Spanish Inquisition, and became one of the most influential female rulers in history Born at a time when Christianity was dying out and the Ottoman Empire was aggressively expanding, Isabella was inspired in her youth by tales of Joan of Arc, a devout young woman who unified her people and led them to victory against foreign invaders. In 1474, when most women were almost powerless, twenty-three-year-old Isabella defied a hostile brother and a mercurial husband to seize control of Castile and León. Her subsequent feats were legendary. She ended a twenty-four-generation struggle between Muslims and Christians, forcing North African invaders back over the Mediterranean Sea. She laid the foundation for a unified Spain. She sponsored Columbus's trip to the Indies and negotiated Spanish control over much of the New World with the help of Rodrigo Borgia, the infamous Pope Alexander VI. She also annihilated all who stood against her by establishing a bloody religious Inquisition that would darken Spain's reputation for centuries. Whether saintly or satanic, no female leader has done more to shape our modern world, in which millions of people in two hemispheres speak Spanish and practice Catholicism. Yet history has all but forgotten Isabella's influence, due to hundreds of years of misreporting that often attributed her accomplishments to Ferdinand, the bold and philandering husband she adored. Using new scholarship, Downey's luminous biography tells the story of this brilliant, fervent, forgotten woman, the faith that propelled her through life, and the land of ancient conflicts and intrigue she brought under her command.
Imprudent King: a New Life of Philip II by
[PRINT] Philip II is not only the most famous king in Spanish history, but one of the most famous monarchs in English history: the man who married Mary Tudor and later launched the Spanish Armada against her sister Elizabeth I. This compelling biography of the most powerful European monarch of his day begins with his conception (1526) and ends with his ascent to Paradise (1603), two occurrences surprisingly well documented by contemporaries. Eminent historian Geoffrey Parker draws on four decades of research on Philip as well as a recent, extraordinary archival discovery--a trove of 3,000 documents in the vaults of the Hispanic Society of America in New York City, unread since crossing Philip’s own desk more than four centuries ago. Many of them change significantly what we know about the king. The book examines Philip’s long apprenticeship; his three principal interests (work, play, and religion); and the major political, military, and personal challenges he faced during his long reign. Parker offers fresh insights into the causes of Philip’s leadership failures: was his empire simply too big to manage, or would a monarch with different talents and temperament have fared better?
El Greco to Velazquez by
[PRINT] Philip III (1578-1621), so often dismissed in favor of Philip II and Philip IV, actually presided over an era of crucial artistic development in Spain. His reign was a time of cultural and political vitality for the Spanish monarchy, as the king and his court, having successfully maintained a peaceful foreign policy in Europe (the "Pax Hispanica"), ushered in a style of grandeur where fabulous gala celebrations, building campaigns, picture collecting, recreation and travel were the order of the day. Accordingly, the art of this period flourished, witnessing the birth of a naturalistic style that was variously reflected in a new attention to detail and spatiality in court portraiture, the thriving of still life, the humanizing of saints and the development of polychrome sculpture. Focusing on the careers of the mature El Greco and the young Velázquez, which bookend this exciting period of resurgent court culture, this volume also investigates the works of lesser-known but highly talented artists who exerted a critical influence on the development of Spanish painting. Essays by several noted scholars provide indispensable perspectives on the historical, literary, cultural and religious context in which these artists lived. The product of 20 years of research and illustrated with a sumptuousness befitting its subject, "El Greco to Velázquez" is sure to become a standard reference for enthusiasts of Spanish art.
Goya by
[PRINT] Robert Hughes, who has stunned us with comprehensive works on subjects as sweeping and complex as the history of Australia (The Fatal Shore), the modern art movement (The Shock of the New), the nature of American art (American Visions), and the nature of America itself as seen through its art (The Culture of Complaint), now turns his renowned critical eye to one of art history’s most compelling, enigmatic, and important figures, Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes. With characteristic critical fervor and sure-eyed insight, Hughes brings us the story of an artist whose life and work bridged the transition from the eighteenth-century reign of the old masters to the early days of the nineteenth-century moderns. With his salient passion for the artist and the art, Hughes brings Goya vividly to life through dazzling analysis of a vast breadth of his work. Building upon the historical evidence that exists, Hughes tracks Goya’s development, as man and artist, without missing a beat, from the early works commissioned by the Church, through his long, productive, and tempestuous career at court, to the darkly sinister and cryptic work he did at the end of his life. In a work that is at once interpretive biography and cultural epic, Hughes grounds Goya firmly in the context of his time, taking us on a wild romp through Spanish history; from the brutality and easy violence of street life to the fiery terrors of the Holy Inquisition to the grave realities of war, Hughes shows us in vibrant detail the cultural forces that shaped Goya’s work. Underlying the exhaustive, critical analysis and the rich historical background is Hughes’s own intimately personal relationship to his subject. This is a book informed not only by lifelong love and study, but by his own recent experiences of mortality and death. As such this is a uniquely moving and human book; with the same relentless and fearless intelligence he has brought to every subject he has ever tackled, Hughes here transcends biography to bring us a rich and fiercely brave book about art and life, love and rage, impotence and death. This is one genius writing at full capacity about another—and the result is truly spectacular.
Goya by
[PRINT] Hofmann places Goya's paintings, drawings and prints in a biographical context, revealing the specific character of each phase of the artist's life and work. He discusses the glory and the pain of faith evinced by Goya's early work, the artist's parabolic representation of the threat posed by the French Revolution, his dramatic documentation of the French occupation of Spain, his variations on cruelty in the Disasters of War etchings, and the religious faith apparent in his late work. Hofmann also relates the artist and his work to contemporary intellectual developments, drawing comparison with writers, critics and philosophers from Goethe to William Blake to the Marquis de Sade.
I, Goya by
[PRINT] Goya's own words enhance this multifaceted celebration of his life and work, and lend his uncompromising vision an eloquent immediacy. Using numerous illustrations, maps and timelines, the book presents a comprehensive portrayal of the world that informed and inspired Goya's oeuvre.
Bosch by
[PRINT] Hieronymus Bosch (c.1450-1516), one of the major artists of the Northern Renaissance, had a seemingly inexhaustible imagination. Known as the creator of disturbing demons and spectacular hellscapes, he also painted the Garden of Earthly Delights, where gleeful naked youths feast on giant strawberries. Little is known of Bosch's life and his art has remained enigmatic, variously interpreted as the hallucinations of a madman or the secret language of a heretical sect. The Surrealists claimed Bosch as a predecessor, seeing in his work the imagery of dream, fantasy and the subconscious. Laurinda Dixon argues, however, that to understand and appreciate Bosch's art we must return to the era in which he lived. Hieronymus Bosch (c.1450-1516), one of the major artists of the Northern Renaissance, had a seemingly inexhaustible imagination. Known as the creator of disturbing demons and spectacular hellscapes, he also painted the Garden of Earthly Delights, where gleeful naked youths feast on giant strawberries. Little is known of Bosch's life and his art has remained enigmatic, variously interpreted as the hallucinations of a madman or the secret language of a heretical sect. The Surrealists claimed Bosch as a predecessor, seeing in his work the imagery of dream, fantasy and the subconscious. Laurinda Dixon argues, however, that to understand and appreciate Bosch's art we must return to the era in which he lived.
El Greco of Toledo by
[PRINT] Foreword -- Chronology: El Greco and his time -- El Greco, the man and the myths / Jonathan Brown -- The Toledo of El Greco / Richard L. Kagan -- El Greco and Toledo / Jonathan Brown -- On the reconstruction of El Greco's dispersed altarpieces / Alfonso E. Perez Sanchez -- Color plates -- Catalogue of the exhibition.
El Greco by
[PRINT] El Greco (1541-1614), born Domenikos Theotokopoulos, was one of the most fascinating and distinctive artists of the 16th century. His works are immediately recognizable for their brilliant colours, elongated figures, and spiritual intensity. purportedly studied with Titian. A decade later he is documented in Toledo (south of Madrid), and he spent the rest of his long life in Spain. His paintings and writings offer a thoughtful, frequently inspired response to the varied environments in which he worked, and they reveal that he was deeply engaged with the religious and artistic thinking of his times. painting and sculpture, from his Byzantine icons to his late altarpieces. It considers his personality from both a religious and intellectual point of view, and presents the artist's religious, mythological, genre, landscape, and portrait works, providing the historical context in which they were made.
Velázquez and the Surrender of Breda by
[PRINT] Behind the famous painting by Diego Velázquez lies a rich story of the artist's life in art What began as propaganda art to celebrate a rare Spanish victory in the Eighty Years' War with Holland,The Surrender at Breda is today recognized as Velázquez's narrative masterpiece. Breda is packed with vivid military detailâe"whole armies are suggested on the huge canvas, twelve feet high and eleven feet wide. Unlike typical surrender scenes, there is neither a heroic victor on horseback nor a vanquished commander on his knees. Instead the rivals appear on foot almost as equals. The loser bends forward to offer the key and receives a chivalrous pat on his shoulder, as if to say: "Fortune has favored me, but our roles might have been reversed." Anthony Bailey examines the paintings from which the artist arose, coaxing stories from them that flesh out a complete portrait of one of the world's major artists whose personal life has remained largely unknown.
Velázquez, painter and courtier by 
Velazquez: the Technique of Genius by
[PRINT] This study begins with an introduction to Velazquez's life. The authors then examine how the artist devised his techniques and how they changed over time. The photographs aim to demonstrate how Velazquez realised his vision of man and nature through a highly allusive, economical manner of painting.
Velazquez by 
Frida Kahlo by
[PRINT] During the summer of 2007, the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City hosted the most complete exhibition ever of the work of Frida Kahlo. Marking the centenary of Kahlo's birth, the Palacio showed 354 works, including 64 oil paintings, both beloved and virtually unknown, 45 drawings, 11 watercolors, 5 etchings, plus scores of letters, photographs and other personal ephemera. It was a labor of love, as well as a loving gesture, for Mexico's greatest artistic ambassador. It was also timely; Kahlo is in the air again, as young contemporary artists revisit and recast psychoanalytic, Neosurrealistic figuration. In 1953, when Frida Kahlo had her first solo exhibition in Mexico--the only one held in her native country during her lifetime--one critic wrote: "It is impossible to separate the life and work of this extraordinary person. Her paintings are her biography." Kahlo herself puts it better: "They thought I was a Surrealist, but I wasn't. I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality." This essential catalogue, based on the Palacio de Bellas Artes exhibition, presents brief essays by a wide range of Kahlo scholars, poets, anthropologists, architects, psychologists and experts in many other disciplines, both from Mexico and abroad--as well as a more extended appreciation of Kahlo by the novelist Carlos Fuentes, along with Kahlo's own paintings, drawings, prints and ephemera.
A Life of Picasso by El Greco to Velazquez by Goya by 
Frida Kahlo: The Brush of Anguish by
[PRINT] Mexican author Martha Zamora captures the essence of one of Mexico's most prolific and talented painters in a single comprehensive volume. Seventy-five of Frida Kahlo's paintings, reproduced here in lavish color, accompany numerous historical photographs and the author's descriptive text, chronicling the significant episodes in Kahlo's life, from childhood to her untimely death: the consequences and aftermath of a tragic bus accident in her adolescence; her tempestuous marriage to the great Mexican muralist Diego Rivera; her travels to the United States and abroad; her political convictions and her relationships with the great leaders and artistic personalities of her time. Kahlo's flamboyant and highly individual personal style, so eloquently reflected in her many self-portraits, has gained her an enthusiastic following worldwide. For Kahlo's many admirers, as well as for those new to her work this authoritative and richly illustrated volume will be both an excellent reference and a compelling look at her passionate and often disturbing art.
Guernica by
[PRINT] Of all the great paintings in the world, the story of Pablo Picasso's Guernica may tell us more about the last century's history than any other. In this new book by Gijs van Hensbergen, the acclaimed biographer of Gaudí, the author explores the life of this key cultural icon from its birth to the present day. He tells the story of the painting's beginnings, amid the turmoil of the Spanish Civil War; describes its use as a weapon in the propaganda battle against Fascism; tells how it traveled overseas to become the nucleus of the Museum of Modern Art's creation in New York; and finally writes movingly of its role as a symbol of reconciliation for Spain after the death of Franco, when it returned to that country as democracy was reestablished. Guernica is a story of national struggle, political exile, and the power of art as a tool of protest and of healing. Ingeniously chronicling the last century using Picasso's visionary tableau, van Hensbergen offers a new way of understanding our own history.
Hieronymus Bosch by El Greco of Toledo by
[PRINT] Foreword -- Chronology: El Greco and his time -- El Greco, the man and the myths / Jonathan Brown -- The Toledo of El Greco / Richard L. Kagan -- El Greco and Toledo / Jonathan Brown -- On the reconstruction of El Greco's dispersed altarpieces / Alfonso E. Perez Sanchez -- Color plates -- Catalogue of the exhibition.
