Enfilade

From Penguin Books:

C. B. Newham, Country Church Monuments (London: Particular Books, 2022), 728 pages, ISBN: 978-0241488331, £40.

A landmark illustrated history of rural church monuments, the forgotten national treasures of England and Wales

Deep in the countryside, away from metropolitan abbeys and cathedrals, thousands of funerary monuments are hidden in parish churches. These artworks—medieval brasses and elegant marble effigies, stone tomb chests, and grand mausoleums—are of great historical and cultural significance, but have, due to their relative inaccessibility, faded from accounts of our art history.

Over twenty-five years, C. B. Newham has visited and photographed more than eight thousand rural churches, cataloguing the monumental sculptures encountered on his quest. In Country Church Monuments, he presents 365 of the very best, each accompanied by detailed photographs, biographies of both the deceased and their sculptors, and a wealth of contextual material. Many of these works commemorate famous historical figures, from scheming Tudor courtier Richard Rich to Victorian prime minister William Ewart Gladstone. But more moving are the countless others—minor aristocrats, small-time industrialists, much-loved mothers, fathers, and children—who, if not for their memorials, would wholly be lost to time. As Newham blows the dust off these artworks and breathes life into the stories they tell, a new aesthetic history of rural England and Wales emerges. Country Church Monuments is a poignant record of the art we make at the borders of life and death, of our ceaseless human striving for eternity.

C. B. Newham lives in Yorkshire, England. A fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, he is Director of The Digital Atlas of England, a complete photographic record of English’s parish churches.

From the Austrian Acadmey of Sciences Press:

Bernhard Woytek and Daniela Williams, eds., Ars Critica Numaria: Joseph Eckhel (1737–1789) and the Transformation of Ancient Numismatics (Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, 2022), 683 pages, ISBN: 978-3700187745 (print edition), 240€ / ISBN: 978-3700191841 (free digital edition).

This richly illustrated volume explores the life and work of the Austrian classical scholar Joseph Eckhel, a crucial figure in the transformation of numismatic studies into a modern discipline. Eckhel has been celebrated widely as the ‘father of numismatics’ since the 19th century; still, this is the first book in the history of scholarship entirely dedicated to him. It contains twenty-one essays by an interdisciplinary group of international authors examining various aspects of Eckhel’s biography and scholarly activities: his Jesuit background, his formative study trip to Italy in 1773, his work as director of the imperial collection of ancient coins and professor of numismatics at the university of Vienna (from 1774), and his most important publications on ancient coins as well as on gems and cameos, notably his eight-volume opus magnum Doctrina numorum veterum (Vienna, 1792–98). Finally, Ars Critica Numaria considers Eckhel’s impact on contemporaries and later generations, with special regard to his role in the development of numismatic methodology in the Enlightenment and beyond.

The book is available as a free, open access pdf file here»

C O N T E N T S

Acknowledgements
Abbreviations and Bibliographical Conventions

Setting the Scene
Joseph Eckhel: Biographical Data
Eckhel’s Publications Printed during his Lifetime
• Bernhard Woytek, Ars critica numaria and the Study of Ancient Coins in the 18th Century: A Short Introduction

Eckhel in Context
• Karl Vocelka, Enlightened Scientific Research and Collecting: Vienna in the Second Half of the 18th Century
• Volker Heenes, Eckhel’s Approach to Ancient Coinage in the Context of 18th-Century Research on Ancient Art (Montfaucon, Caylus, Winckelmann)
• Jean Guillemain, Eckhel et la tradition jésuite. Les activités numismatiques dans la Compagnie de Jésus, du laboratoire lyonnais à la Doctrina numorum veterum. Avec un catalogue des collections, enseignements et ouvrages numismatiques des jésuites (1579–1816)
• Martin Gierl, Umgemünzte Aufklärung. Die Numismatik im 18. Jahrhundert bis Eckhel
• Martin Mulsow, Wie ordnet man die Antike? Das Programm einer Gesamtverzeichnung antiker Münzen von Lazius bis Eckhel
• Fritz Mitthof, Die Analyse eines siebenbürgischen Schatzfundes durch Abbé Eder im Jahr 1803: Goldstatere der bosporanischen Herrscher Pharnakes II. und Asandros in Vergesellschaftung mit solchen des Lysimachos-Typs

Eckhel’s Works
• Daniela Williams, From Collection to System: Eckhel in Italy (1772–1773) and the Numi veteres anecdoti (1775)
• Peter Franz Mittag, Eckhels numismatisches Lehrbuch. Die Kurzgefaßten Anfangsgründe zur alten Numismatik und ihre Ü bersetzungen
• Gabriella Tassinari, Joseph Eckhel e le gemme, antiche e ‘moderne’
• Bernhard Woytek, The Genesis of Eckhel’s Doctrina numorum veterum and Georg Zoëga’s Numismatic Papers
• Andrew Burnett, Scientia rei numariae – Ars critica numaria – Doctrina numorum veterum: What Are the Models?
• John Cunnally, Eckhel vs. Goltzius. The Reception of Renaissance Numismatics in the Doctrina
• Maria Cristina Molinari, De numis urbium Italicarum ex aere gravi. Joseph Eckhel’s Treatise in the Context of the Studies of Giovan Battista Passeri, Cardinal de Zelada, and Cardinal Borgia
• Kay Ehling, „Eckhels fürtreffliches Werk“ – Goethe liest die Doctrina numorum veterum

Eckhel’s Position in the ‘République des Médailles’
• François de Callataÿ, ‘The Father of the Father’: The Decisive Role of Erasmus Frölich (1700–1758) in Viennese Numismatics and Beyond
• Daniela Haarmann, Eckhel und seine Kollegen im k. k. Münzkabinett. Ein wissenssoziologischer Versuch
• Federica Missere Fontana, Viaggiatori instancabili: Sestini critico di Eckhel
• Christian E. Dekesel – Yvette M. M. Dekesel-de Ruyck (with contributions by Bernhard Woytek), The Unholy Relationship between a Numismatic Scholar and a Wheeler Dealer: Joseph Eckhel, Pieter van Damme and the Peculiar Recueil des médailles des Rois
• Jonathan Kagan, Eckhel and Britain: A Slow Courtship

By Way of Conclusion
• Bernhard Woytek, Systems, Coin Hoards, Dies and Provenances: Eckhel and the Evolution of Numismatic Method

Index of Persons
Contributors to this Volume

From Yale UP:

Adam Eaker, Van Dyck and the Making of English Portraiture (London: Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, 2022), 250 pages, ISBN: 978-1913107345, £35 / $45.

A new account of painting in early modern England centered on the art and legacy of Anthony van Dyck

As a courtier, figure of fashion, and object of erotic fascination, Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641) transformed the professional identities available to English artists. By making his portrait sittings into a form of courtly spectacle, Van Dyck inspired poets and playwrights at the same time that he offended guardians of traditional hierarchies. A self-consciously Van Dyckian lineage of artists, many of them women, extends from his lifetime to the end of the eighteenth century and beyond. Recovering the often surprising responses of both writers and painters to Van Dyck’s portraits, this book provides an alternative perspective on English art’s historical self-consciousness. Built around a series of close readings of artworks and texts ranging from poems and plays to early biographies and studio gossip, it traces the reception of Van Dyck’s art on the part of artists like Mary Beale, William Hogarth, and Richard and Maria Cosway to bestow a historical specificity on the frequent claim that Van Dyck founded an English school of portraiture.

Adam Eaker is an associate curator in the Department of European Paintings at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

From Vernon Press:

Amanda Strasik, ed., The Enlightened Mind: Education in the Long Eighteenth Century (Wilmington, DE: Vernon Press, 2022), 164 pages, ISBN: 978-1648895142, $68. With contributions by Dorothy Johnson, Amanda Strasik, Rachel Harmeyer, Brigitte Weltman-Aron, Franny Brock, Madeline Sutherland-Meier, and Karissa Bushman

The rise of Enlightenment philosophical and scientific thought during the long eighteenth century in Europe and North America (c. 1688–1815) sparked artistic and political revolutions, reframed social, gender, and race relations, reshaped attitudes toward children and animals, and reconceptualized womanhood, marriage, and family life. The meaning of ‘education’ at this time was wide-ranging and access to it was divided along lines of gender, class, and race. Learning happened in diverse environments under the tutelage of various teachers, ranging from bourgeois mothers at home, to Spanish clergy, to nature itself.

The contributors to this cross-disciplinary volume weave together methods in art history, gender studies, and literary analysis to reexamine ‘education’ in different contexts during the Enlightenment era. They explore the implications of redesigned curricula, educational categorizations and spaces, pedagogical aids and games, the role of religion, and new prospects for visual artists, parents, children, and society at large. Collectively, the authors demonstrate how new learning opportunities transformed familial structures and the socio-political conditions of urban centers in France, Britain, the United States, and Spain. Expanded approaches to education also established new artistic practices and redefined women’s roles in the arts.

Amanda Strasik is an Associate Professor of Art History at Eastern Kentucky University. She received her PhD in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century European art history from the University of Iowa. Her research focuses on representations of royalty, childhood and family relationships, and issues of gender identity in French art during the long eighteenth century. Strasik has received numerous grants and fellowships to conduct research in France at the Musée du Louvre, the National Museum of the History of Education in Rouen, the Palace of Versailles, as well as The Frick Collection in New York City.

C O N T E N T S

List of Figures
About the Editor
About the Contributors
Acknowledgements

The Enlightened Mind: Introduction — Amanda Strasik
1  Anatomy Lessons: Teaching Anatomy to Artists in Eighteenth-Century France — Dorothy Johnson
2  Painting Paradoxes: Jeanne-Elisabeth Chaudet’s Little Girl Teaching her Dog to Read — Amanda Strasik
3  The Education of Daughters: Embroidered Pictures after Angelica Kauffman — Rachel Harmeyer
4  Madame de Genlis’s New Method and Teaching Drawing to Children in Eighteenth-Century France — Franny Brock
5  Outside for Girls in Madame d’Epinay’s Conversations d’Emilie — Brigitte Weltman-Aron
6  Reforming Education in Eighteenth-Century Spain: Padre Sarmiento’s Reflections on Teaching Young Children — Madeline Sutherland-Meier
7  Religious Education and the Lasting Effect on Goya’s Depictions of Saints — Karissa E. Bushman

Index

From Bloomsbury:

Hugh Roberts and Charles Cator, Industry and Ingenuity: The Partnership of William Ince and John Mayhew (London: Philip Wilson Publishers, 2023), 448 pages, ISBN: 978-1781301098, $100.

The first comprehensive study of William Ince and John Mayhew’s famous eighteenth-century cabinetmaking partnership, complemented by high-quality photographs of their work.

The partnership of William Ince (1737–1804) and John Mayhew (1736–1811) ran from 1758 to 1804, and was one of the most enduring and well-connected collaborations in Georgian London’s tight-knit cabinetmaking community. The partners’ clientele was probably larger, and their work was arguably more influential over a longer period, than most other leading metropolitan makers—perhaps even than that of their older contemporary, the celebrated Thomas Chippendale. Despite their considerable output and an impressive tally of clients and commissions, much of Ince and Mayhew’s work has remained unidentified until recent times. The authors’ substantial research in private family archives, county record offices and bank archives has allowed them to uncover much new evidence about the business and its influence within cabinetmaking circles. In Industry and Ingenuity, the results of these new investigations are presented alongside an impressive selection of more than 500 colourful, vibrant photographs of Ince and Mayhew’s works, many previously unpublished, which together emphasise the partnership’s proper position in the pantheon of great eighteenth-century cabinetmakers.

Sir Hugh Roberts, Surveyor Emeritus of The Queen’s Works of Art, was Director of The Royal Collection, the art collection of the British Royal Family, from 1996 until 2010, having joined the Royal Household in 1988. From 1970 to 1987 he worked at Christie’s, where he was a main board director from 1976. He has written extensively on English and French furniture and decorative arts in Royal Collection exhibition catalogues and major journals, and is the author of For The King’s Pleasure (2001) and The Queen’s Diamonds (2012).

Charles Cator has worked at Christie’s, the fine art auctioneers, since 1973 and is currently Deputy Chairman of Christie’s International. During his career there he has held a number of senior positions, notably in the furniture and decorative arts fields, and has contributed articles to leading journals in these areas on furniture-makers and the history of collecting. He is also the co-author (with David Linley and Helen Chislett) of Star Pieces (2009).

C O N T E N T S

Preface

Part One: The Business
Apprenticeship and Partnership
Premises and Family
Role of the Partners
The Universal System of Houshold Furniture
Branches of the Business
Workshop Management
Accounting and Finance
Clientele
Relationship with Architects
‘House Style’ and Stylistic Development
Dissolution of the Partnership
The Suit in Chancery

Part Two: Commissions
Documented Commissions
Possible Commissions

Part Three: Illustrations

Select Bibliography
Photographic Credits
Acknowledgements
Index

From Simon & Schuster:

James Reginato, Growing Up Getty: The Story of America’s Most Unconventional Dynasty (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2022), 336 pages, ISBN: ‎978-1982120986, $28.

An enthralling and comprehensive look into the contemporary state of one of the wealthiest—and most misunderstood—family dynasties in the world, perfect for fans of Succession, The House of Gucci, The Cartiers, and Fortune’s Children.

Oil magnate J. Paul Getty, once the richest man in the world, is the patriarch of an extraordinary cast of sons, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. While some have been brought low by mental illness, drug addiction, and one of the most sensational kidnapping cases of the 20th century, many of Getty’s heirs have achieved great success. In addition to Mark Getty, a cofounder of Getty Images, and Anne G. Earhart, an award-winning environmentalist, others have made significant marks in a variety of fields, from music and viniculture to politics and LGBTQ rights.

Now, across four continents, a new generation of lively, unique, and even outrageous Gettys are emerging, and not coasting on the dynasty’s still-immense wealth. August Getty designs extravagant gowns worn by Katy Perry, Cher, and other stars; his sibling, Nats—a fellow LGBTQ rights activist who announced his gender transition following his wedding to transgender icon Gigi Gorgeous—produces a line of exclusive streetwear. Their fascinating cousins include Balthazar, a multi-hyphenate actor-director-DJ-designer, and Isabel, a singer-songwriter-MBA candidate. A far-flung yet surprisingly close-knit group, the ascendant Gettys are bringing this iconic family onto the global stage in the 21st century.

Through extensive research, including access to J. Paul Getty’s diaries and love letters, and fresh interviews with family members and friends, Growing Up Getty offers an inside look into the benefits and burdens of being part of today’s world of the ultra-wealthy.

James Reginato, a writer-at-large for Vanity Fair and a contributor to Sotheby’s magazine, was formerly the features director for W magazine. He is the author of Great Houses, Modern Aristocrats, and The Carlyle. A graduate of Columbia University, he lives in New York City.

A new edition of this pioneering book, first published in 1995:

Gretchen Gerzina, with a foreword by Zadie Smith, Black England: A Forgotten Georgian History (London: John Murray Press, 2022), 304 pages, ISBN: 978-1399804882, £20.

The idea that Britain became a mixed-race country after 1945 is a common mistake. Georgian England had a large and distinctive Black community. Whether prosperous citizens or newly freed slaves, they all ran the risk of kidnap and sale to plantations. Black England tells their dramatic, often moving stories.

In the eighteenth century, Black people could be found in clubs and pubs, there were special churches, Black-only balls and organisations for helping Black people who were out of work or in trouble. Many were famous and respected: most notably Francis Barber, Doctor Johnson’s beloved manservant; Ignatius Sancho, a correspondent of Laurence Sterne; Francis Williams, a Cambridge scholar, and Olaudah Equiano whose Interesting Narrative went into multiple editions. But far more were ill-paid and ill-treated servants or beggars, despite having served Britain in war and on the seas. For alongside the free world there was slavery, from which many of these Black Britons had escaped.

The triumphs and tortures of Black England, the Ambivalent relations between the races, sometimes tragic, sometimes heart-warming, are brought to life in this wonderfully readable history. Black England explores a fascinating chapter of our shared past, a chapter that has been ignored too long.

Information about Gretchen Gerzina is available from her faculty profile page at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and from her personal website.