Free summaries
Art — page 12
888 public-domain art books, summarised. Page 12 of 19.
With the Empress Dowager of China
Katharine A. (Katharine Augusta) Carl
HOOK An American portrait artist gains unprecedented access to the Forbidden City, offering a rare, intimate look at the daily life and personality of China’s formidable Empress Dowager Cixi.
Artists and Arabs
Henry Blackburn
This account of a mid-Victorian painting expedition to North Africa offers an intimate, sun-drenched portrait of a landscape and society undergoing rapid transformation. It serves as both a practical guide for the artistic traveler and a candid meditation on the clash between European industrial aesthetics and the…
Elements of Criticism, Volume I
Kames, Henry Home, Lord
This expansive inquiry seeks to ground human aesthetics in the observable mechanics of our minds, arguing that art is a science of cause and effect.
Rosa Bonheur
François Crastre
This biography chronicles the life of a singular nineteenth-century French painter who defied social conventions to become one of history’s most celebrated animal artists. Her story is one of unwavering devotion to the craft of observation and the pursuit of artistic independence.
The Mentor: Makers of American Art, Vol. 1, Num. 45, Serial No. 45
J. Thompson Willing
This survey of early American painting traces the transition from colonial craftsmanship to the establishment of a national art identity, highlighting the figures who defined the young republic’s visual legacy.
A theory of pure design
Denman Waldo Ross
This rigorous inquiry treats art not as a mysterious byproduct of inspiration, but as a language of order, balance, and rhythm that anyone can learn to speak and understand.
Dress as a Fine Art, with Suggestions on Children's Dress
Mary P. (Mary Philadelphia) Merrifield
This instructional work serves as a reasoned manifesto for the reform of nineteenth-century fashion, advocating for a return to the natural lines of the human form over the dictates of arbitrary style. It offers a critical perspective on how clothing, when divorced from principles of health and anatomy, becomes a…
Studies in the Wagnerian Drama
Henry Edward Krehbiel
These essays offer an intimate, rigorous guide to the architecture of the Wagnerian music-drama, decoding how the composer fused myth, ethics, and leitmotif into a singular, transformative experience.
"Phiz" (Hablot Knight Browne), a Memoir
Frederic George Kitton
The hand that breathed life into iconic Victorian characters remains largely invisible, yet its mark on literature is indelible. This portrait traces the career of a prolific artist whose sketches defined the visual world of Dickens.
The Doré Bible Gallery, Volume 5
Unknown
Prophetic warnings, divine miraculous interventions, and historical critical commentaries converge to form a vivid tapestry of ancient faith, political upheaval, and spiritual defiance.
Modern Painting
George Moore
The line separating vibrant artistic truth from cold academic routine is thin, easily crossed, and fiercely defended.
The Use of a Box of Colours, in a Practical Demonstration on Composition, Light and Shade, and Colour
Willson, Harry, active 19th century
A clear, practical guide transforms the mystery of watercolor painting into accessible principles of balance, light, and tone for the aspiring artist.
A History of Greek Art: With an Introductory Chapter on Art in Egypt and Mesopotamia
F. B. (Frank Bigelow) Tarbell
A marble block holds the ideal human form, waiting only for an eye trained enough to see it and a hand steady enough to carve it away.
Portraits in Plaster, from the Collection of Laurence Hutton
Laurence Hutton
This collection of funerary and life masks offers an intimate, often unsettling glimpse into the physical presence of history’s most celebrated figures. It serves as a quiet, somber museum of the human face preserved in plaster.
Goya
François Crastre
Charcoal sketches scrawled across a roadside wall by a fifteen-year-old peasant boy ignite one of the most fiery, unyielding careers in European art.
Harpsichords and Clavichords
Cynthia A. (Cynthia Adams) Hoover
Intricate mechanical craft meets musical evolution in an era when finger pressure and plucked quills dictated the boundaries of keyboard expression.
The Cape Peninsula: Pen and Colour Sketches
Réné Hansard
The landscape of the Cape Peninsula comes alive through a blend of quiet local history, botanical wonder, and sweeping coastal light.
Applied design for printers
Harry Lawrence Gage
A practical craft demands more than mere utility; true work requires an intentional arrangement of lines, masses, and historic principles on the printed surface.
Holman Hunt
Mary E. (Mary Elizabeth) Coleridge
A young London clerk resolves to paint against his father's wishes, kindling an artistic revolution that challenges the brown-varnished conventions of Victorian art.
The Enjoyment of Art
Carleton Eldredge Noyes
A newly minted university graduate stands bewildered in Europe’s famous art galleries, asking why human beings struggle so fiercely to paint canvases and carve stone.
The Flower-Fields of Alpine Switzerland: An Appreciation and a Plea
G. (George) Flemwell
Vast expanses of wild blossoms carpet the Swiss mountainsides before the scythes arrive. This forgotten work makes a passionate case for the fragile beauty of the high pastures.
Young's Demonstrative Translation of Scientific Secrets
Daniel Young
A vast mid-nineteenth-century repository of practical craft knowledge reveals how early industrial workers, artisans, and homemakers solved technical challenges using raw chemical compounds, domestic ingredients, and precise manual methods.
A book of images
Unknown
Seeking to define the boundary where mystical vision meets black-and-white ink, this slim volume pairs twenty-four enigmatic drawings with a seminal essay on the enduring power of symbolic art.
Artists Past and Present
Elisabeth Luther Cary
This collection of essays serves as a dedicated tour through the lives and methods of diverse artists, offering a refined, observant look at how masters of different eras and temperaments capture the human and natural world.
Drawing in charcoal and crayon for the use of students and schools
Frank Fowler
This practical guide offers a foundational approach to charcoal and crayon drawing, emphasizing the discipline of observation and the systematic development of form. It serves as a manual for those seeking to master the translation of three-dimensional subjects onto a two-dimensional surface.
Automata Old and New
Conrad William Cooke
Human curiosity has long sought to replicate the complexity of life through clockwork and artifice. This historical survey traces the evolution of mechanical mimicry from ancient legends to the intricate toys of the Victorian era.
Early English Water-Colour Drawings of the Great Masters
A. J. (Alexander Joseph) Finberg
HOOK This guide illuminates the evolution of British watercolor through the eyes of a master, capturing the fleeting brilliance of J.M.W. Turner’s hand and the storied legacy of his predecessors.
Titian: a collection of fifteen pictures and a portrait of the painter
Estelle M. (Estelle May) Hurll
This collection offers an intimate, guided tour through the life and work of the Venetian master, blending art historical context with a deep appreciation for the human spirit captured on his canvases.
Early Typography
William Skeen
The history of the printed word is a long, tangled web of myth and mechanical ingenuity. This meticulous investigation peels back the centuries to separate the legends of early printers from the hard facts of their craft.
How to Fold Napkins: Abundantly Illustrated with Many Handsome Styles and Diagrams Which Show How It is Done
Anonymous
A masterclass in the forgotten art of Victorian table presentation, this guide transforms simple damask into complex sculptures, ensuring every guest feels honored through the deliberate, graceful architecture of a folded napkin.
The Trouvelot astronomical drawings manual
E. L. (Etienne Leopold) Trouvelot
This work serves as a foundational bridge between the raw, often chaotic data of nineteenth-century observational astronomy and the public’s desire to visualize the hidden architecture of the heavens. It stands as a testament to the era’s intersection of rigorous scientific inquiry and the artistic endeavor to…
Zen Buddhism, and Its Relation to Art
Arthur Waley
Zen Buddhism, and Its Relation to Art serves as an essential, scholarly bridge for Western readers to understand a tradition long shrouded in mystery and misinterpretation. By examining original Chinese texts, it demystifies the historical foundations, philosophical core, and aesthetic legacy of a sect often…
A Treatise on the Art of Dancing
Giovanni-Andrea Gallini
This eighteenth-century manifesto argues that dancing is not merely a divertissement, but a sophisticated art of expression that relies on the principles of nature and the cultivation of grace.
Browere's Life Masks of Great Americans
Charles Henry Hart
A skilled sculptor’s life-long quest to capture the true likenesses of early American icons through innovative plaster masks, preserved here by a devoted researcher.
Modern bookbindings: Their design and decoration
S. T. (Sarah Treverbian) Prideaux
The revival of the bookbinding craft at the turn of the twentieth century marks a return to artistic integrity, where the physical object becomes a thoughtful reflection of the text it protects.
Engraving for Illustration: Historical and Practical Notes
Joseph Kirkbride
The history of image-making is a long, deliberate evolution, one where the human hand has moved from carving simple symbols on stone to capturing complex light through the precise, mechanical lens of modern science.
International Weekly Miscellany of Literature, Art and Science
Various
This miscellany offers a curated window into the mid-19th-century intellectual landscape, blending literary criticism, scientific curiosities, and a serialized tale of artistic ambition and betrayal. It serves as a fascinating, multi-faceted portrait of Victorian-era sensibilities.
The Eagle's Nest: Ten Lectures on the Relation of Natural Science to Art, Given Before the University of Oxford, in Lent Term, 1872
John Ruskin
The boundary between looking at the world and truly seeing it forms the heart of this inquiry into the purpose of art and the limits of scientific pursuit.
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 12, No. 344 (Supplementary Issue)
Various
This collection serves as a vibrant, multifaceted window into the literary landscape of 1829, capturing the era’s fascination with romantic poetry, moralizing prose, and the exquisite craftsmanship of the period’s lavish annuals.
Sir Edwin Landseer
Frederic George Stephens
A celebrated nineteenth-century animal painter rises from a precocious, sketch-happy childhood to become a master of his craft, capturing the soulful inner lives of beasts.
The Life and Writings of Henry Fuseli, Volume 2 (of 3)
Henry Fuseli
This collection of lectures offers a rigorous, uncompromising masterclass on the theory of painting, written by an artist who viewed art history as a high-stakes battlefield of intellect, expression, and moral purpose.
The Little Review, June-July 1915 (Vol. 2, No. 4)
Various
This mid-1915 issue of a pioneering Chicago literary magazine captures the nervous, intellectual energy of the early twentieth century. It serves as a volatile snapshot of a world teetering on the edge of global conflict, where art, politics, and individual philosophy collide in a search for new expression.
Masters in Art, Part 32, v. 3, August, 1902: Giotto: A Series of Illustrated Monographs
Anonymous
This monograph offers an intimate portrait of the foundational Italian master whose shift toward naturalism defined the transition from the stiff, formal traditions of the Middle Ages to the vibrant humanism of the Renaissance.
Meissonier
Henri Barbusse
A quiet revolution of detail, this exploration of a dedicated craftsman reveals how one man turned the rigors of historical accuracy into a lifelong pursuit of artistic truth.
Practical forging and art smithing
Thomas F. (Thomas Francis) Googerty
This manual serves as a masterclass in the disciplined art of the forge, teaching the student how to coax beauty and utility from cold, unyielding iron.
Earthwork out of Tuscany: Being Impressions and Translations of Maurice Hewlett
Maurice Hewlett
The Renaissance lives as a breathing, human landscape where the spirit of the past and the beauty of the present entwine. Through the eyes of a wanderer, ancient art and modern life reveal their shared, eternal pulse.
Color Cement Handicraft
Pedro J. (Pedro Joseph) Lemos
Wet cement, mixed with rich mineral pigments and guided by steady hands, yields an unexpected, quiet beauty.
George Cruikshank
William Makepeace Thackeray
A celebration of the visual storyteller who populated the Victorian imagination with grinning imps and gentle spirits, this essay captures the essence of an artist who turned small scraps of wood into universal mirrors.