Description

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

About the book >.>.> The eighteenth century was the age of the Grand Tour in Europe. The tourists of that era-wealthy art col- lectors men of letters and of leisure many of whom were English-pro- moted an already growing fashion for realistic view paintings of the towns cities and harbours they had seen and admired. The view painters the best-known of whom were the Venetians Canaletto Guardi and Bellotto produced a wide range from grand panoramas to lively genre scenes. These topographical paintings provide a unique and colourful re- cord of everyday life festivities and customs in the eighteenth century and of buildings streets and townscapes long-since vanished. The illustrations a large number of them in colour are chosen from pic- tures in museums and private collec- tions in many countries. They are accompanied and enhanced by a choice of descriptive narratives from the diaries and letters of travellers such as Goethe Tobias Smollett Charles Burney the distinguished Count Francesco Algarotti and the Baron de Pollnitz. The comprehensive introduction ex- plains the origins and history of view painting and the various specialized methods and techniques used by the view painters including camera ottica a mechanical device with lenses and mirrors which enabled the artist to paint perspectives with complete ac- curacy. (OS)