Jewelry: From the Renaissance to Art Nouveau

The fascination of jewelry depends not only on the beautiful and ingenious craftsmanship of the jeweler, but also on the beauty of many of the most precious stones. Claude Frégnac recounts the histories of famous stones such as the Hope diamond, the Regent, the Cullinan diamond; he gives details of the jewels of the tragic Queens Mary Stuart and Marie Antoinette, and fascinating descriptions of the development of the jeweler's art from the Renaissance to the end of the nineteenth century. The illustrations, 32 in color and 106 in black-and-white, provide a rich display of the finest creations of European jewelers over a period of 400 years, and the paintings reproduced here demonstrate how the jewels were worn, so that they are seen not just as isolated objects but as an integral part of the history of costume.