Free summaries
Art — page 9
707 public-domain art books, summarised. Page 9 of 15.
The mind of the artist
Unknown
Art is not a matter of random whimsy, but a deliberate visual language shaped by rigid practice and keen observation. This volume gathers centuries of working painters and sculptors to explain how masterworks are built from life and mind.
The progress of the marbling art, from technical scientific principles
Josef Halfer
A comprehensive guide to the art of marbling, exploring its history, techniques, and scientific principles.
Laurus Nobilis: Chapters on Art and Life
Vernon Lee
A branch of budding bay tied to a Rome tramcar transforms a drab journey into a moment of pure significance, showing how beauty elevates daily existence.
The Gate of Appreciation: Studies in the Relation of Art to Life
Carleton Eldredge Noyes
Art opens a door to richer living, offering the untrained everyday observer a direct pathway into the transformative depth of human expression.
Wood Engraving
R. J. Beedham
A concise, hands-on instruction manual revives wood-engraving as a self-reliant, expressive art form, stripping away complex industrial methods to teach a beginner how to hold a tool, select the block, and cut lines that print cleanly.
Landseer: A collection of fifteen pictures and a portrait of the painter with introduction and interpretation
Estelle M. (Estelle May) Hurll
An affectionate, structured exploration of Victorian animal portraiture reveals how a master painter captured the emotional lives of dogs, stags, and horses to connect deeply with the general public.
Biographical catalogue of the portraits at Longleat in the county of Wilts, the seat of the Marquis of Bath
Mary Louisa Boyle
In oil and canvas, dead monarchs and forgotten courtiers speak across centuries to reveal the quiet human drama behind English history.
The Art and Practice of Silver Printing
Abney, William de Wiveleslie, Sir
Silver printing remains the definitive technique for photographers seeking unmatched depth and tonal beauty. This manual preserves the meticulous chemistry and craft required to transform raw paper into a lasting, lustrous image.
Leisure hours among the gems
Augustus C. (Augustus Choate) Hamlin
Nature’s most enduring treasures hold a light that outlasts empires, revealing the intersection of geological mystery and human obsession. This study invites the curious to look beyond the surface of history’s most celebrated gems.
Modern dancing and dancers
J. E. Crawford (John Ernest Crawford) Flitch
A vibrant portrait of the early twentieth-century dance world, this work captures a transformative era where classical ballet collided with revolutionary new forms of movement. It serves as both a historical record and a passionate aesthetic manifesto.
A Book on Vegetable Dyes
Ethel Mairet
Quality in craft is a fragile inheritance, easily lost to the relentless hum of industrial efficiency. This guide serves as a manual for those who wish to reclaim the ancient, deliberate art of hand-dyeing.
Japanese Swords
Yamanaka & Company
A technical examination of the Japanese sword, tracing its transition from a martial emblem to a coveted object of art following the social upheaval of the 1868 Restoration.
Why Bewick Succeeded: A Note in the History of Wood Engraving
Jacob Kainen
This concise study dismantles the myth of the lone creative genius to reveal the industrial reality behind a landmark in print history. It examines how a modest, self-taught engraver became the face of a revolution in mass communication.
The Life and Writings of Henry Fuseli, Volume 3 (of 3)
Henry Fuseli
An intellectual journey through the history of Italian painting, this volume blends rigorous formal criticism with a sharp, uncompromising assessment of the decline of contemporary art.
A Book of Marionettes
Helen Haiman Joseph
This graceful, expansive study invites readers into the timeless, whimsical world of the marionette, tracing its journey from antiquity to the early twentieth century. It serves as both a historical record and a passionate defense of an enduring art form.
Home Pastimes
James H. Head
This manual revives the Victorian parlor tradition of tableaux vivants, offering practical instructions to transform domestic spaces into stages for living, silent history paintings and literary scenes.
Japan: A Record in Colour
Dorothy Menpes
This immersive account invites readers into a turn-of-the-century exploration of Japanese aesthetics, where everyday life and artistic expression are inseparable. It captures the charm of a fading era through the eyes of a traveling artist and his daughter.
The Psychology of Beauty
Ethel Puffer Howes
The human urge to justify why we find certain things beautiful is a fundamental tension between emotional transport and intellectual rigor. This inquiry bridges that divide, seeking a unified psychological principle to ground our aesthetic judgments.
French Art: Classic and Contemporary Painting and Sculpture
W. C. (William Crary) Brownell
French art distinguishes itself through a persistent, rigorous dedication to style and tradition. This analytical survey explores how those classic foundations navigated the turbulent shifts toward Romanticism, Realism, and the modern spirit.
The flowers and gardens of Japan
Florence Du Cane
A lyrical exploration of the Japanese aesthetic, this work guides the reader through the profound cultural significance of flora, capturing the ephemeral beauty of the seasons in the Land of the Rising Sun.
A History of Wood-Engraving
George Edward Woodberry
A survey of wood-engraving that traces the craft from its medieval origins to its modern revival, positioning it not merely as a technical skill but as a vital mirror of human civilization.
Birds, Illustrated by Color Photography, Vol. 1, No. 3: March 1897
Various
Nature’s winged ambassadors arrive with a quiet flutter of feathers, turning the simple act of observation into a bridge between the wild country and the human heart. Within these pages, the voices of the field and forest speak directly to the reader, inviting a deeper friendship with the natural world.
Portrait Miniatures
George C. Williamson
This elegant survey captures the evolution of miniature portraiture, tracing its journey from the meticulous, disciplined strokes of the Renaissance to the light, decorative grace of the nineteenth century. It serves as both a historical record and a tribute to a vanished, intimate art form.
Shadows of the Stage
William Winter
This collection of essays offers a reverent, evocative window into the golden age of nineteenth-century theater, documenting the lives and performances of the legendary actors who defined a bygone era.
The manufacture of mineral and lake pigments
Josef Bersch
Precise chemical knowledge transforms the messy, empirical traditions of color-making into a reliable industrial science. This comprehensive guide details the precise synthesis of pigments, ensuring consistency, permanence, and brilliance for the professional manufacturer.
Botticelli
Henry Bryan Binns
The spirit of the Italian Renaissance finds its most poignant expression in the wistful, wind-swept figures of a master painter who navigated a world of shifting light and shadow.
The Philosophy of Art
Hippolyte Taine
Art is not a solitary endeavor born of individual genius alone, but a manifestation of the "moral temperature" of a society, dictated by the environment in which the artist breathes.
Little Books About Old Furniture. Volume II. The Period of Queen Anne
J. P. (John Percy) Blake
This guide offers a clear, practical view of the elegant walnut furniture that defined English homes from the late seventeenth century through the early eighteenth. It serves as a grounded introduction to a period of remarkable domestic transformation.
Benjamin Disraeli, the Earl of Beaconsfield, K.G.: Cartoons from "Punch" 1843-1878
Unknown
This collection serves as a visual chronicle of a singular political career, charting the evolution of a polarizing statesman through the sharp-witted lens of Victorian satire. It transforms decades of parliamentary maneuvering into a vivid, evolving portrait of power.
Fra Bartolommeo
Leader Scott
Fra Bartolommeo was a transitional master who bridged the gap between the poetic, spiritual ideals of the early Renaissance and the technical, scientific precision of his more famous contemporaries. This study examines his life, his close partnership with Mariotto Albertinelli, and the influence he cast over…
Old Crosses and Lychgates
Aymer Vallance
This survey of stone monuments and timber gateways offers a quiet, scholarly path through the forgotten landmarks of the English and Welsh countryside. It serves as both a historical record and a plea for architectural continuity.
The Arts of Persia & Other Countries of Islam
Hagop K. Kevorkian
HOOK This guide illuminates the profound link between Islamic religious philosophy and the evolution of Persian art, revealing how the material world was crafted as a bridge to the eternal.
The Gallery of Portraits: with Memoirs. Volume 1 (of 7)
Arthur Thomas Malkin
This collection of biographical sketches gathers the lives of history’s most influential figures, focusing on the intersection of personal character and public achievement. It serves as a monumental record of the individuals who shaped the intellectual, scientific, and political landscapes of the Western world.
Filippo Lippi
Paul G. (Paul George) Konody
A life of worldly scandal and brilliant artistic breakthrough unfolds in the career of a monk who helped shape the Italian Renaissance.
The Lure of the Camera
Charles S. (Charles Sumner) Olcott
A lens turns ordinary travel into a quiet search for the living traces of great writers, landscapes, and history.
Val d'Arno: Ten Lectures on the Tuscan Art Directly Antecedent to the Florentine Year of Victories
John Ruskin
A revolution of tradesmen in Florence overthrows a feudal ruler, firing the spark that transforms medieval stonework into the sweeping spirit of European Gothic design.
Aubrey Beardsley
Haldane Macfall
A fragile young man with a ink-pen in his hand and a fatal illness in his chest redrew the boundaries of late-Victorian art before dying at twenty-five.
Continental stagecraft
Kenneth Macgowan
A postwar swing through Europe’s experimental playhouses reveals a theater boldly shedding illusion to discover the spiritual reality of human experience.
A History of Sculpture
Ernest Henry Short
Sculpture flourishes when an entire community pours its collective ideals into bronze and stone, rather than when lonely geniuses work in isolation.
Lessons in the Art of Illuminating: A Series of Examples selected from Works in the British Museum, Lambeth Palace Library, and the South Kensington Museum. With Practical Instructions, and a Sketch of the History of the Art
W. J. (William John) Loftie
A master class in medieval manuscript decoration pairs precise historical analysis with direct, step-by-step instructions for reproducing original colors, lines, and gilding.
Raemaekers' Cartoon History of the War, Volume 2: The Second Twelve Months of War
Unknown
A relentless commentary on the middle phase of the First World War exposes how propaganda, hubris, and violence combined to sustain a ruinous global conflict.
The Russian Ballet
Ellen Terry
A legendary actress watches a revolutionary dance company transform the stage, offering a deeply personal, brilliant study of movement, spirit, and artistic rebirth.
Color mixing guide: For artists, painters, decorators, printing pressmen, show card writers, sign painters, color mixers. Gives color mixtures by parts
John L. King
Light reflecting in specific wavelengths forms the foundation of all visual craft, where three simple primary pigments yield thousands of precise, usable shades.
The Potter's Craft: A Practical Guide for the Studio and Workshop
Charles Fergus Binns
A true artist glorifies their craft by using simple, natural means, respecting the raw clay without resorting to cheap imitation or ostentatious technical tricks.
Lectures on Art
Washington Allston
A foundational treatise on aesthetics, painting, and the human soul, exploring how true beauty reflects immutable moral truths rather than fleeting fashions.
Turner
W. Cosmo (William Cosmo) Monkhouse
An intensely private prodigy paints his way from a Covent Garden barber's shop to the heights of European art, wrestling silently with his own genius, his critics, and the cold isolation of success.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 415, December 15, 1883
Various
A single weekly snapshot captures late-nineteenth-century ingenuity, bridging heavy industrial machinery, cutting-edge chemical synthesis, urban planning, and medical reform.
The Doré Bible Gallery, Volume 6
Unknown
A quiet stable in Bethlehem becomes the setting for a story of extraordinary claim and rising opposition, tracking a life from humble birth to public ministry.