Book after Book

By Stephen Campbell and Michael Cole Published by Thames and Hudson If you are looking for a book about Italian Renaissance art you will have a tough time choosing from the countless tomes that have been published on the subject. If you are looking for a book with gorgeous illustrations and an approach that will appeal to both students and non-specialist readers, you don’t have to look any further. With the Lady with an Ermine by Leonardo da Vinci gracing its cover, this newly published hardback is one not to miss. The history of Italian Renaissance art – from the traditions of the Fourteenth century to the trends of the Seventeenth century – is explored chronologically in conveniently divided chapters. From painting and sculpture to architecture and decorative arts, Professors Stephen Campbell and Michael Cole place the artists and their works in a well-explained geographical and historical context. The book also includes all those tools that you’d expect from a first-class reference...

By Margaret Drabble Published by Thames & Hudson Having visited most of the Bloomsbury-related sites in Sussex , I have been left with a thirst for ‘literary tourism’ that the updated edition of Margaret Drabble’s A Writer’s Britain seems perfectly able to quench. Focussing on different areas of interest - such as the description of sacred places, the Romantic movement and the portrayal of rural and industrial landscapes - Margaret Drabble sets out to investigate the relationship between writers and place and to understand how this has changed over the years. Painters are not the only artists capable of depicting landscapes. As the plentiful quotations and excerpts remind us, writers are equally able to give a sense of place through evocative poems and detailed descriptions alike. Functioning as a mere background at times, landscapes can also be as important as the main characters of a book. Think of Jane Austen’s Yorkshire moors, Wordsworth’s Lake District, Virginia Woolf’s Londo...