Explanation and Value in the Arts offers penetrating studies by art historians, literary theorists, and philosophers, of issues central to explaining works of literature and painting. The first chapters look at the sources of interest in the fine arts and point to the intimate relation between aesthetic and other values. The next contributions develop the interaction between value and explanation in the study of the arts, including considerations of the nature of creativity and the principles for the explanations of works. A final section takes up questions of the role of ideology and the determining role of power.

Product Description: A distinguished group of scholars here probes the complex structure of aesthetic responses to nature in a discussion enriched with insights from art history, literary criticism, geography and philosophy. Exploring the interrelation among nature, beauty and art, they show that natural beauty is impregnated with concepts derived from the arts and from particular accounts of nature...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

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Product Description: Nietzsche's writings have shaped much contemporary reflection on the relation between philosophy and art. This book brings together a number of distinguished contributors to examine his aesthetic account of the origins and ends of philosophy...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: Not the quaint genre scenes and peaceable landscapes generally associated with this Dutch and Flemish paintings, but intellectually demanding and problematic manifestations of the Netherlandish tradition. Distributed by Woodstocker Books.

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A collection of the paintings and grisailles of the Dutch marine artists

Product Description: This volume investigates Vermeer's art and the milieu in which he worked. The contributors offer a range of approaches, including technical studies of his paintings, iconological studies of his images, archival studies of his surroundings, and historical studies of the reception of his art...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: Vermeer's Wager stands at the intersection of art history and criticism, philosophy and museology. Using a familiar and celebrated painting by Johannes Vermeer as a case study, Ivan Gaskell explores what it might mean to know and use a work of art...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)