Pompeo Batoni (1708-1787) was the most celebrated painter in Rome in his day. For nearly half a century he recorded the international travellers who visited the city on the Grand Tour, and these portraits remain among the most memorable artistic accomplishments of the period. His allegorical, religious, and mythological paintings were also highly prized by royal and aristocratic patrons and collectors in Britain and on the Continent.This book, published in celebration of the tercentenary of Batoni's birth, offers a vivid appreciation of his work. More than 150 full-colour illustrations represent the finest examples of his paintings from public and private collections in Europe and the United States. Some of these works are newly discovered, and others have never before been on public display. The illuminating text by Edgar Peters Bowron and Peter Bjorn Kerber explores the textual and visual sources for Baroni's history paintings, often undeservedly neglected in favour of his portraits; the origins and prototypes of his portrait style; the extraordinary patronage Batoni enjoyed as perhaps the only eighteenth-century painter to work for virtually all of the major European courts; his working methods and techniques; and his critical reception.

Pompeo Batoni

Arts & Photography

Bowron, Edgar Peters

Kerber, Peter Björn

History & Criticism

Yale University Press

Canaletto, Bernardo Bellotto, Luca Carlevarijs, Giovanni Paolo Panini, Francesco Guardi, Hubert Robert—these renowned view painters are perhaps most famous for their expansive canvases depicting the ruins of Rome or the canals of Venice. Many of their most splendid paintings, however, feature important contemporary events. These occasions motivated some of the greatest artists of the era to produce their most exceptional work. Little explored by scholars, these paintings stand out by virtue of their extraordinary artistic quality, vibrant atmosphere, and historical interest. They are imbued with a sense of occasion, even drama, and were often commissioned by or for rulers, princes, and ambassadors as records of significant events in which they participated. Lavishly illustrated and meticulously researched, this volume provides the first-ever comprehensive study—in any language—of this type of view painting. In examining these paintings alongside the historical events depicted in them, Peter Björn Kerber carefully reconstructs the meaning and context these paintings possessed for the artists who produced them and the patrons who commissioned them, as well as for their contemporary viewers. This vital book represents a major contribution to the field of view painting studies and will be an essential resource for scholars and enthusiasts.

Eyewitness Views: Making History in Eighteenth-Century Europe

J.paul Getty Museum

“I am convinced that the true collector does not acquire objects of art for himself alone. His is no selfish drive or desire to have and hold a painting, a sculpture, or a fine example of antique furniture so that only he may see and enjoy it. Appreciating the beauty of the object, he is willing and even eager to have others share his pleasure.” —J. Paul Getty, The Joys of Collecting, 1965 Rooted in a passion for the Italian Renaissance as well as Dutch and Flemish Baroque works, the original collection of J. Paul Getty (1892–1976) has been transformed over four decades to include seminal pieces by celebrated masters such as Masaccio, Titian, Parmigianino, Cranach, El Greco, Rubens, van Dyck, Rembrandt, Poussin, Canaletto, Fragonard, Turner, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Monet, van Gogh, Cézanne, and Ensor. Masterpieces of Painting: J. Paul Getty Museum surveys more than one hundred of the most exquisite and significant paintings displayed in the museum’s famed, daylight suffused galleries. Vibrant full-color illustrations and engaging descriptions of these masterworks reveal their fascinating histories and cultural, social, and religious meanings. Sure to enchant and edify all art lovers, this book is a spellbinding tour through the history of Western painting.

Masterpieces of Painting: J. Paul Getty Museum

Allan, Scott

Gasparotto, Davide

Woollett, Anne T.

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Books by Kerber, Peter Björn