The J. Paul Getty Museum

What is tempera? What is foreshortening? What is fresco? These terms--and more than 100 others--are explained and illustrated in Looking at Paintings.First published in 1992, Looking at Paintings--now thoroughly revised and expanded--presents concise and readable explanations of the technical terms (...)

This is a magnificently illustrated and enlightening journey through the visual portrayal of love and sexuality in Western art. Even in the modern world where explicit imagery is manifest, an erotic painting from half a millennia ago can still manage to create a sensation. This new addition to the (...)

This is the latest volume in the acclaimed series that depicts medicine as depicted in art throughout history. This sumptuously illustrated volume offers a visual history of the depiction of illness and healing in Western culture, ranging from Egyptian wall carvings to medieval manuscripts and from (...)

Nature and Its Symbols is the fifth volume in the series A Guide to Imagery, reference guides whose goal is to explain the symbols used in art. This volume includes chapters on plants, flowers, fruits, and animals of the earth, air, and water, as well as fantastical creatures such as centaurs, (...)

Throughout the Middle Ages, sacred Christian art had two objectives: to express veneration for God and to provide illustrative lessons on the Christian faith to a largely illiterate population. Continuing in the spirit of the other books in this series, Old Testament Figures in Art compiles entries (...)

Martinez wrote the Discourses toward the end of his life as a well-travelled professional artist who had studied and worked in Italy and the major artistic and literary centres of Spain; his ideas were especially enriched by his participation in the elevated cultural life of his native Aragonese (...)

Presented in very clear and accessible language, "Roman Art" offers new and fascinating insights into the evolution of the forms and meanings of Roman art. Traditional studies of Roman art have sought to identify an indigenous style distinct from Greek art and in the process have neglected the (...)

From Agatha to Zeno, Francis of Assisi to Mary Magdalene, Saints in Arti presents the characteristic features of more than one hundred saints often encountered in sacred Western art. Each saint is introduced by a practical list of his or her unique attributes. Entries also include notes on the (...)

From antiquity, when the gods and goddesses were commonly featured in works of art, through to the twentieth century, when Surrealists drew on archetypes from the unconscious, artists have embedded symbols in their works. As with previous volumes in the Guide to Imagery series, the goal of this (...)

From about 2000 BCE onward, Egypt served as an important nexus for cultural exchange in the eastern Mediterranean, importing and exporting not just wares but also new artistic techniques and styles. Egyptian, Greek, and Roman craftsmen imitated one another's work, creating cultural and artistic (...)