Welcome to Potterton Books website the one stop source for reference books on Architecture, Antiques, Interior Design and the Decorative Arts. POTTERTON BOOKS : ART REFERENCE Paris: City of art by Jean-Marie Perouse de Montclos October 2003. 708pp, 800 colour & 50 b&w illus. Featuring the City of Light's most important achievements in art and architecture, this work illustrates every stage in Paris's long and distinguished history in the arts - from its early beginnings as an ancient Roman city to its eventual evolution into the most fashionable city in the world. Price:  £50.00 A History and Dictionary of British Flower Painters 1650-1950 by Josephine Walpole 2006. 300pp, 90 colour and 170 b&w illus., British flower painting has its own unique, if relatively recent, history, but it can only be judged in the light of the wider history of the subject and by comparison with other, particularly European , countries. The first chapter of "A History and Dictionary of British Flower APinters", therefore, sets the scene with a brief introduction to floral art world wide before the next four chapters concentrate on British flower painting in the seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Over ninety colour plates illustrate these five chapters. The Dictionary gives the biographical details of more than 970 British flower painters from 1650-1950 including their specialities, awards, exhibitions an bibliographical details. The work of many is illustrated in black and white. Price:  £35.00 The age of caricature:Satirical prints in the reign of George III by Diana Donald 1997. 254pp, 183 illus, 27 colour plates. Presenting a study of English caricature prints of the late 18th century, the workanalyzes the meanings of the prints,applying current perspectives on the 18th century about the roles of women, gender, the alleged rise of consumerism, the growth of political awareness, and "class" values Price:  £25.00 Maria Sibylla Merian: The St. Peterburg watercolours November 2003. 160pp, 204 colour illus in slipcase. During a trip to Amsterdam, Peter the great, the Tsar of Russia, encountered a collection of watercolours by a little known female artist, Maria Sibylla Merian. He bought the watercolours back to St Petersburg and with them opened Russia's first museum. Price:  £55.00 Dante Gabriel Rossetti by Julian Treuherz, Elizabeth Prettejohn and Edwin Becker November 2003. 248pp, 140 colour & 50 b&w illus. Dante Gabriel Rossetti was the central figure of the pre-Raphaelites. Together with Hunt and Millais, he started the original Pre-Rapaelite brotherhood, and was the "poetic inspiration" of the movement. His turbulent and romantic imagery has always beguiled and intrigued art-lovers. Price:  £27.50 Portraits: a history by Andreas Beyer 2003. 420pp, 290 colour illus. Presents the history of portrait painting in the Western world, starting with it's roots in ancient art and focusing on its flowering as an autonomous genre beginning in the 15th century. Nearly 300 major paintings from collections throughout the world are presented in full page reproductions. Price:  £90.00 Notorious Muse: The actress in British art and culture 1776-1812 edited by Asleson Robyn 2003. 240pp, 62 b&w illus, 14 colour plates. In this interdisciplinary collection of essays, historians of art, literature, dress and theatre examine the impact of the actress on British art and culture of the Gerogian era. They show that the cultural and socialposition of the British actress was in transition during this period. Price:  £40.00 Goya: "To every story there belongs another" by Werner Hofmann 2003. 344pp, 253 colour and 24 b&w illus. Discussions of Goya in recent decades have centred on his influences on nineteenth and twentieth century painters. Hofmann redresses the balance, focusing instead on the Spanish artist's profoundly disturbing imagery, and demonstrating that Goya's modernity derives from his lifelong investigation of what lies behind the world of appearances and convention. Price:  £45.00 Picturing men and women in the Dutch Golden age: Paintings and people in historical perspective by Klaske Muizelaar and Derek Phillips 2003. 256pp, 65 b&w illus, 30 colour plates. An exploration of the way in which paintings, such as those by Rembrandt, Vermeer and other Dutch old masters, were displayed and comprehended in 17th century Holland. It offers many insights into life in the Dutch Golden Age as well as ways of interpreting the paintings of this period. Price:  £25.00 Hudson River School: Masterworks fromt he Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art by Elizabeth Mankin, Kornhauser, Amy Ellis and Maureen Miesmer 2003. 180pp, 20 b&w illus, 75 colour plates. This book features 57 major Hudson River school paintings from the collection of the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut. Each painting is accompanied by a concise description of its significance and historical background. The book also includes artists' biographies. Price:  £30.00 Turner: The late seascapes by James Hamilton 2003. 208pp, 60 colour plates and 50 b&w illus. Published in conjunction with a travelling exhibition, this volume focuses on J M W Turner's spectacular seascapes dating from the 1840's. The author offers insight into these powerful works, relating them to the artist's interest in poetry and drama as well as in science, optics and photography. Price:  £35.00 The Dictionary of watercolour artists up to 1920 by Mallalieu 2003. This is a two volume set. Volume one contains 373pp, and volume two contains 300pp. 94 colour and 658 b&w illustrations (both volumes). A long awaited revised edition of the standard works of reference on the subject of British watercolour artists. Unlike the previous editions, these volumes now have the images incorporated into the text. Contains additional colour images, the black and white images from the previous volume have been re-scanned. Price:  £70.00 Gainsborough's Beautiful Mrs Graham by Hugh Belsey 2003. 96pp, 30 colour, 15 b&w illus. This book explores the world famous portrait in great detail. Places the painting in its social, personal and historical context. Written by the authority on Gainsborough. Price:  £12.95 Portrait miniatures in National Trust houses. Volume One: Northern Ireland 2003. 64pp, 130 b&w and 40 colour illus. The first comprehensive catalogue of one of the most significant collections of portrait miniatures in the world. Outstanding photography, much of it specially commissioned, of every work in the Trust's care. Detailed descriptions of each miniature, which together with background information on collector's and houses give a comprehensive history of miniature painting n Britain from the sixteenth to the early twentieth century Price:  £19.95 Portrait miniatures from the Daphne Foskett Collection by Stephen Lloyd 2003. 112pp, 20 colour & 60 b&w illus. This book details an exceptional collection of these exquisite artworks and is beautifully produced. Price:  £9.95 Manolo Blahnik: Drawings 2003. 192pp, 120 colour & 30 b&w illus. As well as a collection of over 100 drawings that Manolo Blahnik makes at the outset of the design process, this volume contains contributions from Anna Wintour and Micheal Roberts, who explore why these shoes inspire such passion. Price:  £22.50 Marine Art & Antiques Jack Tar 288pp, 250 colour, 50 b&w illus. This is a story of the ordinary seamen who manned and worked the ships, related through a diverse collection of manuscripts, journals, diaries, log books, rare books, paintings, prints, sketches, wood carvings, ceramics, textiles, scrimshaw, medals, instruments, ship models, statues and photographs. Naval and social history have been combined to produce this fascinating work, richly illustrated in full colour, with material taken from the Henderson Collection. Many items included have never before been publicly displayed or published. Price:  £29.50 The Dictionary of Sea Painters of Europe and America by E H H Archibald 576pp., 60 colour and 1000 b&w illus. With a range stretching from works by Turner to the humble, yet finely detailed harbour paintings intended for master mariners, this guide to marine painting also offers detailed drawings of the stems and sterns of important ships and illustrations of maritime flags. Price:  £65.00 Aubrey Beardsley 372pp, 8 colour, 494 b&w illus. This book, the standard reference and a mammoth task of collection by Brian Reade, provides the public with the opportunity to see virtually the whole of Beardsley's mature work, culled from a wide variety of sources. This enables the collector to distinguish between the genuine Beardsley and the hundreds of spurious pastiches attributed to him. It does full justice to his cosummate ability with line and shape and his use of space. Price:  £25.00 British prints: Dictionary and price guide 368pp, 73 colour, 565 b&w illus. This wide-ranging dictionary covers 18th century mezzotint portraits, 19th century sporting aquatints and topographical views an "original" etchings and lithographs in the 20th century. It provides a convenient means of identifying a printmaker, looking up the concise biographical summary and ascertaining the printmakers range of work, relative stature and likely value. It is arranged aphabetically rather than by period. Price:  £39.50 Dictionary of British Art. Vol. IV - Victorian painters by Christopher Wood 476pp., 47 colour, 750 b&w illus. Volume II has a comprehensive narrative introduction which discusses the overall development and importance of Victorian painters and their work, setting them within the context of their time and including 47 large colour plates. This introductory essay is followed by 750 b&w illus., of the artist's work making this an essential companion to volume I. Price:  £35.00 Dog painting: The breeds of Europe by William Secord 2000. 398pp., 550 colour illus. A pictorial history of the range of dog paintings created in 19th century Europe. While the artist's different styles are of interest in themselves, it is the subject matter of these paintings which provides an insight into the similarities and differences between the different dogs of Europe. Price:  £35.00 The Dictionary of British book illustrators 380pp, 24 colour, 320 b&w illus. The 19th century saw the emergance of mass readership and with it a proliferation of printed illustrations which led to the golden age of the illustrated book in the second half of the century. Book illustration moved from the status of a minor craft to a respected art form in itself. This comprehensive dictionary gives biographical and bibliographical details of all the major illustrators as well as many of the minor and less well-known names. Price:  £39.50 The Dictionary of 20th century British book illustrators 456pp, 154 colour, 344 b&w illus. This book contains information about some 1,000 British illustrators, the lesser known as well as the masters in this field, whose work was published in the first seventy years of the 20th century. Introductionary articles on such topics as commercial art, wood engravings and children's book illustratos are folloed by biographical details of individual artists with lists of illustrated books, galleries and museums where the artist's work has been shown. A detailed biography is included. Price:  £45.00 Dictionary of Bird Artists of the world 528pp, 200 colour, 160 b&w illus. This is the first dictionary of bird artists to be published for almost fifty years. It covers artists from all around the world and contains artists who have made two-dimensional portraits of birds the main motif in their paintings. Birds are depicted from every human viewpoint; as food to be hunted, as pets, as fashion accessories, as symbols of human qualities and, from an ecological stance, as an integral part of the landscape. Price:  £65.00 Bird Painting: The eighteenth century 144pp, 82 large colour plates plus olour details. The golden age of bird painting is established here in this superb text. It was a time of discovery for naturalists and of new techniques and media for artists, including the use of watercolour, manifested in the growing sensitivity of artists to nature and their heightened observational skills. Christine E Jackson discusses the artists and their frequent use of symbolism inthe paintings. Artists illustrated include Pieter Castells, Tobias Stanover and Marmaduke Cradock. Price:  £25.00 Charles Brooking 1723-1759 and the 18th century British marine painters 208pp, 142 colour, 193 b&w illus. All the known pictures of one of the foremost maritime painters are illustrated and described in this much needed catalgoue raissonne, together with all his known drawings and engravings. Brooking's paintings are arguably the most atmospheric and beautiful marine paintings of all time. The book also describes the Dutch marine painters in the 17th century and contains biographies of other British marine painters of the 18th century London marine engravers by James Taylor. Price:  £35.00 George Chambers 1803-1840: His life and work 216pp, 58 colour, 90 b&w illus. This biographical monograph re-establishes the reputation of arguably the most important marine painter of the 19th century. Chamber's work is remarkable for its equal mastery of oils and watercolours and for his skilled and evocative interpretation of sea and sky, ships, boats and people. His life was tragically short but he still produced a remarkable body of work. Price:  £35.00 E.W. Cooke: A Man of his time 400pp, 170 colour, 320 b&w illus. Gardener and garden designer, student of geology, plantsman, botanical illustraor, humorist, antiquarian, collector and , last but not least , a remarkable painter, Cooke is greatly admired and collecte today for his marine paintings and drawings. This monograph chronicles his subject matter and accomplished technique from rough sketches to highly finished oil paintings. Price:  £65.00 Early Sea painters 1660-1730 160pp, 58 colour, 47 b&w illus. This is an important, newly researched study of the group of early marine painters working in England between 1660 to 1730, about whom little has previously seen known or written. Their work was overshadowed by that of the Van de Veldes who dominated the field at the time. However, the many illustrations in this book range and excellent technique to be found in the worls of these now much sought after painters. Price:  £25.00 Dictionary of British art. Volume VI: 20th Century painters and sculptors 484pp, 87 colour, 285 b&w illus. The 7,000 artists featured range from First world war artists to the Camden Town group, from fifties abstractionists to minimalists; the list of ideas and schools is seemingly endless. The media used are diverse, with artists who work in mesh, bricks, textiles etc. This range is combined with the continuing tradition of portraiture, landscape, and flora. Price:  £45.00 The Dictionary of portrait painters in Britain up to 1920 504pp, 66 colour, 370 b&w illus. A seemingly unquenchable thirst for portraits of individuals, families and friends has meant that, for over 400 years, naitive born portrait artists have been joined by their foreign born colleagues, attracted by the vast number of commissions available. The Dictionary lists over 5,000 portraitists working in Britain from early 16th to the early 20th century. Price:  £49.50 Art in Venice by Stefano Zuffi 2002. 398pp, 500 colour plates. In thousands of years of its existance, artists have adorned this beautiful and mysterious city with magnicient works of art, all imbued with the extraordinary qualities of colour and light unique to Venice. From the glittering mosaics of San Marco, all gilded glass and precious marbles, to the ethe-real painted ceilings of Tiepolo, whose saints and angels float in clouds of radiant gauze, Venetian art must be seen in its full panarama to be appreciated. This book surveys this marvelous treasury of painting, sculpture, architecture, glass and precious objects. Price:  £16.95 Singapore sketchbook by Liu Gretchen 1999. colour ills. With more than 100 original watercolours and pencil sketches, Singapore sketchbook is an evocative record of the successful restoration of this historic city's rich architectural heritage. Price:  £25.00 Arthur Hughes: A catalogue raisonne 304pp, 100 colour, 250 b&w illus. Hughes has been called the unknown Pre-Raphaelite. This new pioneering study now confirms him as one on the foremost painters of the movement through his range and scope as both painter and book illustraor. He had a wide range of subject matter and at last receives the attention he has long deserved in this exceptional monograph. Price:  £65.00 George Chinnery by Patrick Conner 320pp, 113 colour, 189 b&w illus. After a promising early career in England Chinnery spent the rest of his long life in the Far East, in India and subsequently in China. This is an important book on a unique British artist, giving a vivid picture of the life he both lived and portrayed in the remote outposts of th European empires. This is a comprehensive and readable account of an extraordinary prolific and talented artist containing much previously unpublished material. Price:  £65.00 Kuala Lumpar sketchbook by Chin Yon Yit 1999. In this watercolour sketchbook, one o Malaysia's most accomplished artists records the capital's rich architectural heritage and captures the spirit of everyday life on its streets and in its markets. Price:  £25.00 Australia. 300 years of botanical illustration 228pp, 160 colour, 2 b&w illus. This finely crafted and beautifully presented book gives a magnificent overview of the way in which Australian plants have been depicted over the past 300 years. For the first time, three centuries of botanical art have been brought together in one volume. It is richly illustrated with 160 majestic colour plates drawn from major herberia in both Europe and Australia. It is a absolute must for cxollectors of fine books and for those with a passion for botainical art. Price:  £35.00 Irish Botanical illustrators & flower painters 144pp, 120 colour, 65 b&w illus. Patricia Butler presents a general survey of the subject from the Irish standpoint, covering the period from 1729 to the end of the 20th century and defining the styles and techniques of some seventy individual artist. Considerable original research into both public and provate collections has led to fascinating new insights into over 200 uyears of art history. This beautiful book is divided into three sections; botanical artists, flower painters and artists who worked mainly abroad. Price:  £25.00 The art of botanical illustration 368pp, 126 colour, 140 b&w illus. First published in 1950, this major work is still considered the classic book on the subject. It provides a general survey of the development of botanical illustration from palaeothic times to the highly scientific works of today. This edition has extensive additional illustrations which make available the work of great illustrators past and present. A comprehensive, authoritative and highly readable historic and artistic survey of botanical illustration. Price:  £35.00 POTTERTON BOOKS : ART REFERENCE Buy Online - the best way to buy.