Victorian Painting by Phaidon books is a comprehensive and exhaustive study on the wide gamut of art work created over the span of the Victorian Era, covering a multitude of subject matter and movements, from Romantic Realism to Symbolism and more.

I love the book for its expansive content, well over 500 pages of big and beautifully reproduced paintings. It certainly helps that the art work created over this period include some of my favourite movements and art groups – Romanticism, Realism, Symbolism and groups like the Pre-Raphaelites.

The size ( 9.8 x 1.7 inches ) of the book is big enough such that no single painting is spread across two pages, preserving the integrity and allowing the reader to fully immerse in each piece of art work.

(above right) John Singer Sargent’s “Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose”, which I saw during my trip to Tate Britain in 2011. The lanterns seem to illuminate light from behind the canvas.

(above right) A Mermaid by JW Waterhouse. His Lady Of Shalott is my favourite painting of all times.

I browse this book from time to time when I need inspiration, and it gives me the kick I need every time. The images shown in this post are but a very small sampling of the amazing art work you can find inside. I give this book my highest recommendations.

p.s – the version I reviewed is the soft cover. If you have the cash to spare I suggest getting the hard cover version – the spine binding is much more robust, which is important to preserve such a heavy book and browsing is much easier as you can open up the book much wider.

“Victorian Painting” art book details :

Dimensions – 9.8 x 1.7 x 11.4 inches
Soft cover, 512 pages
Color, in English

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