Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet and the Painting of the Water Lilies (74 page)

Le Bassin aux nymphéas, reflets verts
, ca. 1920–26

Austria
Léopold Museum, Vienna

Nymphéas
, 1916–19

Albertina Vienna

The Water Lily Pond
, 1917–19

Germany
Neue Pinakothek, Munich

Nymphéas
, 1914–17

Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne

Nymphéas
, 1914–17

Sweden
Goteborg Museum of Art, Goteborg

Water Lilies
, 1907

Australia
National Gallery, Canberra

Nymphéas
, 1914–17

Japan
Chichu Art Museum, Naoshima

Water-Lily Pond
(diptych), c. 1915–26

Water-Lilies, Cluster of Grass
, 1914–17

Water Lilies
, 1914–17

Water-Lily Pond
, 1917–19

Water Lilies, Reflections of Weeping Willows
, 1916–19

National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo

Water Lilies
, 1914

Bridgestone Museum of Art, Tokyo

Water Lilies
, 1907

Water Lilies
, 1916

Tokyo Fuji Art Museum

Water Lilies
, 1908

Museum of Modern Art, Gunma

Nymphéas
, 1914–17

Oyamazaki Museum, Kyoto

Nymphéas
, 1914–17

A NOTE ON THE AUTHOR

Ross King is the bestselling author of seven books on art and history, including
Brunelleschi’s Dome
,
Leonardo and The Last Supper
, and
The Judgment of Paris
. His books have been translated into more than a dozen languages and have won both the Book Sense Book of the Year Award in the United States and the Governor General’s Award for nonfiction in Canada. He has lectured widely in Europe and North America, including at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Smithsonian, the Aspen Institute, and the Frick Collection. He has also lectured and given guided tours in Florence, Rome, Milan, Paris, and Giverny. Born and raised in Canada, he moved to England in 1992 for his postdoctoral studies. He now lives near Oxford with his wife, Melanie.

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

NONFICTION

Brunelleschi’s Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture

Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling

The Judgment of Paris: The Revolutionary Decade That Gave the World Impressionism

Machiavelli: Philosopher of Power

Leonardo and The Last Supper

Defiant Spirits: The Modernist Revolution of the Group of Seven

Florence: The Paintings & Frescoes, 1250–1743

FICTION

Ex-Libris

Domino

LEONARDO AND THE LAST SUPPER

After a decade at the court of Ludovico Sforza, the duke of Milan, Leonardo was at a low point: at forty-three, he had failed, despite a number of prestigious commissions, to complete anything that truly fulfilled his astonishing promise. Amid war and the political and religious turmoil around him, and beset by his own insecurities and frustrations, Leonardo created the masterpiece that would forever define him—
The Last Supper
. Ross King unveils dozens of stories that are embedded in the painting, and overturns many of the myths surrounding it. Bringing to life a fascinating period in European history, he presents an original portrait of one of history’s greatest geniuses through the lens of his most famous work.

“Quickly dispenses with the outlandish myths spread by
The Da Vinci Code
. . . history is in many ways more surprising than Dan Brown’s popular fiction.” —
New York Post

“[A] dramatic, vivid, and brainy mix of biography and art history.” —
Booklist
(starred review)

THE JUDGMENT OF PARIS: THE REVOLUTIONARY DECADE THAT GAVE THE WORLD IMPRESSIONISM

While the Civil War raged in America, another revolution took shape across the Atlantic, in the studios of Paris: The artists who would make Impressionism the most popular art form in history were showing their first paintings amidst scorn and derision from the French artistic establishment. Indeed, no artistic movement has ever been quite so controversial. The drama of its birth, played out on canvas and against the backdrop of the Franco-Prussian War and the Commune, would at times resemble a battlefield; and as Ross King reveals, it would reorder both history and culture, and resonate around the world.

“A well-known story, but one seldom recounted in such vivid detail, or with such a novelistic sense of plot and character.” —Diane Johnson,
The New York Times Book Review

“Riveting . . . So thorough is King’s grasp of the Second Empire’s cultural politics, so ironic his wit and choice of detail, that his text remains a page-turner throughout.” —
Los Angeles Times

MICHELANGELO AND THE POPE’S CEILING

Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling
 recounts the fascinating story of the four extraordinary years the artist spent laboring over the twelve thousand square feet of the vast ceiling, while war and the power politics and personal rivalries that abounded in Rome swirled around him. A panorama of illustrious figures intersected during this time—the brilliant young painter Raphael, with whom Michelangelo formed a rivalry; the fiery preacher Girolamo Savonarola and the great Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus; a youthful Martin Luther, who made his only trip to Rome at this time and was disgusted by the corruption all around him. Ross King blends these figures into a magnificent tapestry of day-to-day life on the ingenious Sistine scaffolding and outside in the upheaval of early-sixteenth-century Italy, while also offering uncommon insight into the connection between art and history.

“A legend-busting, richly detailed account of the four-year making of the Sistine Chapel frescos.” —
Kirkus Reviews
(starred review)

“This amazing book transports the listener back to Italy in the early 16th century. King is able to describe the intricacies of fresco painting while also portraying the day-to-day life of that era . . . Highly recommended.” —
Library Journal

BRUNELLESCHI’S DOME: HOW A RENAISSANCE GENIUS REINVENTED ARCHITECTURE

Brunelleschi’s Dome
 is the story of how a Renaissance genius bent men, materials, and the very forces of nature to build an architectural wonder we continue to marvel at today. This drama was played out amid plagues, wars, political feuds, and the intellectual ferments of Renaissance Florence—events Ross King weaves into the story to great effect, from Brunelleschi’s bitter ongoing rivalry with the sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti to the near capture of Florence by the Duke of Milan. King also offers a wealth of fascinating detail that opens windows onto fifteenth-century life: the celebrated traditions of the brickmaker’s art, the daily routine of the artisans laboring hundreds of feet above the ground as the dome grew ever higher, the problems of transportation, the power of the guilds.

“Ross King has a knack for explaining complicated processes in a manner that is not only lucid but downright intriguing . . . Fascinating.” —
Los Angeles Times

“An altogether enchanting tale.”—Dava Sobel, author of
Longitude
and
Galileo’s Daughter

Bloomsbury USA

An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

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This electronic edition published in 2016 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Bloomsbury is a registered trademark of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

First published 2016

© Ross King, 2016

All rights reserved
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ISBN: 978-1-63286-012-5 (HB)

ISBN: 978-1-63286-014-9 (eBook)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

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