Ebook Gallery

Even the most ardent art lovers will admit that the subject can be a little… overwhelming. Take a stroll through the halls of the Louvre and though it is incredible, sometimes it is a little TOO incredible – after a while you just need to sit down. It’s estimated that to see everything that is on display in the Louvre you would need to be there for about three weeks. Solidly. Seeing masterpiece after masterpiece can get a little confusing, and after a while they might start to blur together… Just be thankful that galleries don’t tend to look like this anymore:

Giovanni Paolo Pannini, Picture Gallery with Views of Modern Rome, 1757. Oil on canvas, 170.2 x 244.5 cm. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Even so, sometimes it’s good to simplify things a little and learn about one artist at a time. It can be very refreshing to visit the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, for example, and feel like you can really immerse yourself in the art of just one of the numerous great masters history has produced. It’s also a good way to learn a little more about art, and pick up some interesting facts to throw across the table at a dinner party – “Did you know that Leonardo da Vinci was the illegitimate son of a peasant girl?”

Leonardo da Vinci, Self-Portrait, c. 1512. Red chalk on paper, 33.3 x 21.3 cm. Biblioteca Reale, Turin.

If you’d like to learn a little more about some of the greatest artists in history, from Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael to Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh, then Parkstone International has just the thing for you. Our new Art Gallery collection contains ten pocket-sized books, each dedicated to a different artist and offering information on their life and art, as well as a beautiful selection of their best works. Flick through at your leisure and pick up some interesting tit-bits to throw out next time you want to impress…