Manual of Painting and Calligraphy was José Saramago's first novel. Written eight years before the critically acclaimed Baltasar and Blimunda, it is a story of self-discovery set in Portugal during the last years of Antonio Salazar's dictatorship. It tells the story of a struggling artist who is commissioned to paint a portrait of an influential industrialist. Disheartened by his squandered talent, the artist soon undergoes a creative and political...

Immerse yourself in the captivating world of Renaissance art with Bernard Berenson's authoritative and insightful book, "The Italian Painters of the Renaissance." Renowned as one of the foremost art historians of the 20th century, Berenson offers a profound and comprehensive analysis of the artists and masterpieces that defined this golden age of creativity and innovation. In "The Italian Painters of the Renaissance," Berenson meticulously examines...

A portraitist and a flower painter, Nora Heysen's life was defined by an all-consuming drive to draw and paint. In 1989, aged 78, Nora re-emerged on the Australian art scene when the nation's major art institutions restored her position after years of artistic obscurity. Extensively researched, and containing artworks and photographs from the painter's life, Nora Heysen: a portrait is the first biography of the artist, the Heysen family has enthusiastically...