Description

Immediate dispatch from Somerset. Nice book in great condition. Pages in excellent condition. Plates bright and vivid. Softcover. English. See images for condition.

About the book >.>.> THIS EXHIBITION AIMS to contribute to our understanding of seventeenth-century art in Britain through a focused examination of Peter Lely’s relatively little known group of ‘subject pictures. Often drawing on pastoral themes and suffused with Lely’s knowledge of the art of the Venetian Renaissance these frequently complex and ambitious compositions form an intriguing strand in the history of seventeenth-century British art otherwise dominated by portraiture. The exhibition is organised around The Concert one of the largest and most beguiling paintings of the artist’s career. Along with a second subject painting now known to depict Reuben presenting Mandrakes to Leah The Concert was bequeathed to The Courtauld Gallery in 1947 as part of the major collection assembled by Viscount Lee of Fareham. Lee sold another of his paintings by Lely this one a portrait of an unknown lady to Samuel Courtauld the great collector of Impressionism who joined Lee and Sir Robert Witt in establishing The Courtauld Institute of Art in 1932. Now also part of the Gallery’s permanent collection this portrait became one of Courtauld’s most cherished possessions inspiring several poems and one of his few art historical writings. (SP)