This book deals with microbial mats, stromatolites and coated grains. Recent and ancient stromatolitic ecosystems are described in peritidal environments, including siliciclastic, carbonaceous and evaporite-dominated back-barrier systems. Various relevant categories were distinguished: - mat-forming microbiota - environmental conditions controlling mat types and lithology - bioturbation and grazing. Recent and ancient microbial mat systems show a latitudinal arrangement which can be used for paleoclimatological and paleogeographical reconstructions. This book should be of special interest to sedimentologists, coastal engineers, ecologists, zoologists, salt plant engineers and marine scientists, as well as to students interested in these fields.

Honoring the genius of Rembrandt, the author first explores the painter's obsession with Flemish master Peter Paul Rubens--a fixation that profoundly influenced the evolution of his work and was not overcome until Rubens' death

“I believe in the absolute necessity of a new art of colour, of drawing and―of the artistic life,” Vincent van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo in 1888. “And if we work in that faith, it seems to me that there’s a chance that our hopes won’t be in vain.” His prediction would come true. In his brief and explosively creative life―he committed suicide a few years later at the age of thirty-seven―Van Gogh made us see the world in a new way. His shining landscapes of Provence and somber portraits of workers shattered the relationship between light and dark, and his hallucinatory visions were so bright they nearly blinded the world.He was a great writer as well. In his six hundred–plus letters to Theo he chronicled with heartbreaking urgency his mental breakdowns, acrimonious family relations, and struggles with art dealers, who largely ignored him until the last years of his life. Shading this dark story is the artist’s acquaintance with prostitutes and penury, stormy scenes with his friend Paul Gauguin, and dissipated Parisian nights with Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Julian Bell’s passion for his subject brings the painter to life. Bell writes with slashing intensity, at once scholarly and defiantly partisan. “I have written this book out of my love for Vincent van Gogh, the uniquely exciting painter, and Vincent van Gogh, the letter writer of heart-piercing eloquence,” he declares. For Bell, Van Gogh was an artistic genius and more: he was a wonder of the world.

It's a story that made Dutch painter Han van Meegeren famous worldwide when it broke at the end of World War II: A lifetime of disappointment drove him to forge Vermeers, one of which he sold to Hermann Goering, making a mockery of the Nazis. And it's a story that's been believed ever since. Too bad it isn't true. Jonathan Lopez has drawn on never-before-seen documents from dozens of archives to write a revelatory new biography of the world’s most famous forger. Neither unappreciated artist nor antifascist hero, Van Meegeren emerges as an ingenious, dyed-in-the-wool crook who plied the forger's trade far longer than he ever admitted—a talented Mr. Ripley armed with a paintbrush. Lopez also explores a network of illicit commerce that operated across Europe: Not only was Van Meegeren a key player in that high-stakes game in the 1920s and '30s, landing fakes with powerful dealers and famous collectors such as Andrew Mellon, but he and his associates later offered a case study in wartime opportunism as they cashed in on the Nazi occupation. The Man Who Made Vermeers is a long-overdue unvarnishing of Van Meegeren’s legend and a deliciously detailed story of deceit in the art world.

Product Description: Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675) is one of the most admired and influential European painters. His limited output, as well as his extremely private life and his supposed use of a camera obscura, have until recently made him appear to be an isolated genius shrouded in mystery...read more

The dramatic story of Dutch master painter Jan Vermeer is told against the backdrop of the 'golden age' of Dutch culture in the seventeenth century and offers a compelling portrait of Vermeer's life, his artistic career, and his influence on the history of Western art. Reprint. 20,000 first printing. (view table of contents)

(view table of contents)

Product Description: Most scholars have argued that van Gogh was insane and that his religious life was a product of this madness - and was something he happily abandoned when he left the Christian ministry to pursue a career as an artist. This biography by Kathleen Powers Erickson is the first to demonstrate the falsehood of such assumptions and to argue that van Gogh's spiritual life was essential to the unfolding of his unique artistic vision...read more

Offers information on accommodations, restaurants, and activities in Washington, D.C.

Offers information on accommodations, restaurants, and activities in Washington, D.C.

This book is not only a fascinating biography of one of the greatest painters of the seventeenth century but also a social history of the colorful extended family to which he belonged and of the town life of the period. It explores a series of distinct worlds: Delft's Small-Cattle Market, where Vermeer's paternal family settled early in the century; the milieu of shady businessmen in Amsterdam that recruited Vermeer's grandfather to counterfeit coins; the artists, military contractors, and Protestant burghers who frequented the inn of Vermeer's father in Delft's Great Market Square; and the quiet, distinguished "Papists Corner" in which Vermeer, after marrying into a high-born Catholic family, retired to practice his art, while retaining ties with wealthy Protestant patrons. The relationship of Vermeer to his principal patron is one of many original discoveries in the book.

Traces the life of the troubled Dutch painter, discusses his stern, religious upbringing, and looks at his relationship with his brother

Offers an overview of the life of the Dutch painter and examines some of his masterpieces

(view table of contents)

Evolution of human speech. Includes over 100 black-and-white photos, figures and tables.

Product Description: 270pp in good cond.