Did you ever wonder how the particular names inscribed on the cornices of major museums in Europe and America were chosen when those civic institutions were built? This new book by Friederike Kitschen [...] Read More
Miscellaneous
Connoisseurship and the Knowledge of Art, Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek, 69, 2019
Half a century ago, when I was a graduate student, art scholarship largely boiled down to connoisseurship; even iconography was considered over-interpretive (and the case can still be made that within [...] Read More
Condition: The Ageing of Art
Paul Taylor’s Condition: The Ageing of Art provides an invaluable introduction to a topic often overlooked by art historians: how the chemistry of materials collides with the caprices of time, and how [...] Read More
Inganno. The Art of Deception. Imitation, Reception, and Deceit in Early Modern Art
The Italian in its title (inganno means "deception") ought to give away the fact that this book is really not intended for HNA members, despite its otherwise neutral designated subject of "early [...] Read More
“Nach dem Leben und aus der Phantasie”. Niederländische Zeichnungen vom 15. bis 18. Jahrhundert aus dem Städelschen Kunstinstitut
Frankfurt’s Städel has a distinguished history, and it is sensibly offering its own treasures to the public in a series of exhibitions of the permanent collection, including remarkable holdings in [...] Read More
Old Master Prints and Drawings, a Guide to Preservation and Conservation
This beautifully produced book is packed with information that will be of great interest and utility to anyone involved with old prints and drawings. Far from being a narrowly prescriptive manual, the [...] Read More