DECORATIVE ARTS

Title: DECORATIVE ARTS
Author: J HEINRICH VON HEFNER-ALTENECK
Format: Hardback
Details:
When Kunstwerke und Geräthschaften des Mittelalters und der Renaissance (1852-1863) was published, what purchasers in fact bought was a small printed museum of unusual treasures. With 216 hand-coloured copperplate engravings, the publication gives a comprehensive overview of applied arts in Europe from the 9th to the 16th centuries. The objects presented comprise furniture, metalwork, jewellery, tapestries, and works of bookbinding. Carefully selected masterpieces such as the gilt Corvinus goblet, an enamelled saltcellar and medieval ivory combs are depicted, along with a decorative sword, now lost. The editor Jakob Heinrich von Hefner-Alteneck (1811-1903) was head of the Royal Cabinet of Prints and Drawings in Munich. The signatures on the plates show that most of the illustrations stem from the hand of artist Jakob Heinrich von Hefner-Alteneck and he can therefore be considered as the work's main draughtsman. Considering that Becker died before the completion of the work, the most influential figure behind it was undoubtedly Hefner-Alteneck. By selecting masterpieces from public and private collections, and reproducing them faithfully in pictures, the editors created a document of artistic quality in itself which also provides evidence of works which have since been lost. This new edition gives more than a glimpse of the treasure chambers of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. This complete reprint was created on the basis of an original copy in the Württembergische Landesbibliothek in Stuttgart. 12" x 17", 408 pages. Text in English, French, German.

Published Price: [Not Available]
BIBLIOPHILE PRICE: £100.00

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Entertainment

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• Renaissance art
• collectables
• treasures
• jewellery
• art books
• coffee table books
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