Books by National Gallery (Great Britain)

Delacroix and the Rise of Modern Art

by Christopher Riopelle, Patrick J. Noon, National Gallery (Great Britain)

A handsome volume exploring Delacroix's works, his artistic contemporaries, and the generations of great artists he inspired

Eugène Delacroix (1789-1863), a dominant figure in 19th-century French art, was a complex and contradictory painter whose legacy is deep and enduring. This important, beautifully illustrated book considers Delacroix in his own time, alongside contemporaries such as Courbet, Fromentin, and the poet Charles Baudelaire, as well as his significant influence on successive generations of artists.

Delacroix's paintings and his posthumously published Journals laid crucial groundwork for immediate successors including Cézanne, Degas, Manet, Monet, and Renoir. Later admirers including Seurat, Gauguin, Moreau, Redon, Van Gogh, and Matisse renewed the obsession with his work. Through essays and catalogue entries, the authors demonstrate how Delacroix became mentor and archetype to younger generations who sought direction for their own creative experiments, and found inspiration in Delacroix's brilliant use of color, audacious technique, and rebellious nature.

Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press

Exhibition Schedule:

Minneapolis Institute of Arts
(10/18/15-01/10/16)

National Gallery, London
(02/17/16-05/22/16)

Siena The Rise of Painting, 1300-1350

by National Gallery (Great Britain)

An exploration of a crucial turning point in Italian art, the early 1300s in the city of Siena

"This is a book to be savored and treasured, much like the objects it celebrates."--Ann Landi, Wall Street Journal

In the early 1300s, the city of Siena gave rise to an extraordinary period of creativity and innovation. Painters, sculptors, and goldsmiths produced remarkable works whose impact was felt far beyond the city's walls. From vast altarpieces to portable objects for private devotion, the art emanating from Siena left an enduring legacy.

This book explores a crucial turning point in Italian art when the prestige of painting reached new heights. Siena became the centre of a rich exchange of ideas, as painters took inspiration from marble and ivory sculptures, intricate metalwork, and precious imported silks to enhance the power of their work. Travelling beyond their native city, Sienese artists made their mark across Italy and into northern Europe.

Beautifully illustrated and featuring important new scholarship, chapters explore masterpieces by four of Siena's most illustrious painters--Duccio, Simone Martini, and Ambrogio and Pietro Lorenzetti--alongside objects in other media and from other countries and cultures, encouraging fresh perspectives and dialogues between these groundbreaking works.

Published by National Gallery Global/Distributed by Yale University Press

Exhibition Schedule:

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
(13 October 2024-26 January 2025)

The National Gallery, London
(8 March-22 June 2025)