Ebook: Painters and Painting

N.Y.: Henry Holt and Co.; London: Williams and Norgate, (Preface December 1912). — 256 p.Explore the history of art with this discussion of some of the world's greatest painters and their works.Wedmore's book opens with a brief introduction to painting, in which the author declares, "Of all pictorial Arts, major and minor? it is Painting that makes to the mass of us the easiest and most fascinating appeal." Wedmore holds painting alongside literature as a valuable record of the past, and believes the works of the world's great painters provides civilization with portals into specific periods of history. He does not hide his preferences, but rather embraces them as he takes the reader on a journey through time and place while discussing his most revered artists. Chapters are devoted to individuals such as Durer, Holbein, Hogarth, and Romney, as well as broader topics such as Spanish painters, later English art, French eighteenth-century art, and impressionism. A series of black and white reproductions serves as an appendix.Wedmore's book is one that will appeal to art historians or anybody that loves painting. It is a reference book, but one that does not pretend to be all encompassing. This is one man's guide (albeit one highly learned man) to his personal favorite artists, and does not attempt to be anything else. Wedmore does not apologize for leaving certain artists out of this book, and the reader ultimately benefits from the author's convictions.''Painters and Painting'' is a wonderful book about a selection of the world's great artists and their paintings and fully deserves its place in anyone's library.Contents
The primitives
Dürer and Holbein
The little masters
Great painters of the low countries
Later dutch painting
Venetian masters
The spanish painters
Hogarth to Romnet
Turner and Constable
The later english art
Water colours
The grand manner and nattier
French eighteenth-century art
Classics: romantics
Impressionists and the good painting
Bibliography
Index