Francis Haskell
Rediscoveries in Art: Some Aspects of Taste, Fashion and Collecting in England and France.
Cornell University Press, 1980. Cornell Paperbacks. First printing ("with some revisions"). 0801491878 234 pages.
Softcover volume, measuring approximately 6" x 8.5", is in fine condition. Numerous b&w textual illustrations.
"This widely acclaimed book, first published in hardback in 1976, opens many important questions in its examination of the perennial fluctuations in taste. It is primarily concerned with the hundred years between 1780 and 1880, and investigates why painters such as Piero della Francesca, Botticelli, Vermeer, and El Greco, who had long been ignored or despised, were "rediscovered" with extreme enthusiasm in the eighteenth century, while others, such as Guido Reni, dropped from favor. Francis Haskell examines the phenomenon in historical terms: the influence of Ruskin; the parts played by dealers and financial speculation; by scholars and collectors; by religious, political, and social affiliation; by the organization of museums and exhibitions; and by the fortuituous accessibility of certain pictures as a result of wars and revolutions.