IN SEARCH OF A MASTERPIECE

CHRISTOPHER LLOYD    Book Number: 92484    Product format: Hardback

Sub-titled 'An Art Lover's Guide to Great Britain and Ireland', this expensive-looking Thames & Hudson publication reproduces 273 colour illustrations in a personal selection by the author. Christopher Lloyd has come across and enjoyed artworks in public collections during his 20 years at the Ashmolean Museum Oxford, and his principal areas of expertise are the Italian Renaissance, French Impressionism and British art. The aim of his book is to encourage people to visit galleries and museums and his search begins in London, but very much lies further afield including some surprises and many pictures of marvellous quality as he travels through England to Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The Industrial Revolution brought great wealth to many British cities and the Museum Acts of 1845 and 1850 enabled boroughs to divert a portion of the rates towards local amenities including art, scientific, library and other cultural institutions. For example the interior of the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow is redolent of the exhibition hall which helped to finance it. Genuine acts of philanthropy have led to many municipal museums and galleries being founded such as the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, the Harris Museum in Preston, the Usher Gallery in Lincoln, Cartwright Hall in Bradford, the Holburne Museum in Bath, the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, the Williamson Art Gallery in Birkenhead and the Burrell Collection in Glasgow among them. Other galleries have flourished under the auspices of universities and many today uphold their founding principles and have been lucky enough to secure extraordinary works of art. In the course of his journey, Christopher Lloyd introduces 266 paintings by a host of artists from different centuries and countries, from c.1300 to the present day and each entry includes an account of the artist. At the Tate Modern you will discover Pablo Picasso's Woman in a Chemise which belongs to the final phase of his Blue Period and coincided with his decision to move for good from Spain to Paris where he established a studio in Montmartre. The next entry is Bonnard's The Bath, a modern Ophelia, followed by Mondrian and Jackson Pollock. We glance sideways to the V&A with works by Raphael and Degas and Aspley House (famously No.1 London) with Velásquez's The Water-Seller of Seville, and Sir David Wilkie's Chelsea Pensioners Reading the Waterloo Dispatch 1822. There are page after page of superbly curated and chosen entries, and one of our favourites must be the dappled light on the flock of geese reaching the watering hole under the eyes of the viewer in The Water Splash on page 196 and the three beautifully dressed Victorian ladies enjoying archery on page 215 in a painting to be found in Exeter. From Penzance to Derby, Cambridge and Hull to Manchester and Cardiff, this is a journey of exploration and a feast for the eyes. 496 large pages in a beautifully bound heavyweight tome.

Published price: £29.95

Bibliophile price: £16