His works are models of good art-historical writing, and reflect his humanism and his deep and abiding concern with the standards and values of our cultural heritage.
Gifted with a powerful mind and prodigious memory, he was also an outstanding communicator, with a clear and forceful prose style. He won numerous international honours, including a knighthood, the Order of Merit and the Goethe, Hegel and Erasmus prizes. He came to London in 1936 to work at the Warburg Institute, where he eventually became Director from 1959 until his retirement in 1976. Gombrich was born in Vienna in 1909 and died in London in November 2001. His books further include The Sense of Order (1979) and The Preference for the Primitive (2002), as well as a total of 11 volumes of collected essays and reviews. His best-known book, The Story of Art - first published 50 years ago and now in its sixteenth edition - is one of the most influential books ever written about art. Specifications:Įrnst Gombrich was one of the greatest and least conventional art historians of his age, achieving fame and distinction in three separate spheres: as a scholar, as a popularizer of art, and as a pioneer of the application of the psychology of perception to the study of art. In its new edition, this classic work continues its triumphant progress tirelessly for yet another generation, to remain the title of first choice for any newcomer to art or the connoisseur. In these respects the new edition is true to its much-loved predecessors: the text runs as smoothly as ever and the improved illustrations are always on the page where the reader needs them. The Story of Art has always been admired for two key qualities: it is a pleasure to read and a pleasure to handle. The bibliographies have been expanded and updated, and the maps and charts redrawn. The text has been revised and updated where appropriate, and a number of significant new artists have been incorporated. The illustrations, now in colour throughout, have all been improved and reoriginated, and include six fold-outs. Attracted by the simplicity and clarity of his writing, readers of all ages and backgrounds have found in Professor Gombrich a true master, and one who combines knowledge and wisdom with a unique gift for communicating his deep love of the subject.įor the first time in many years the book has been completely redesigned. The Story of Art, one of the most famous and popular books on art ever written, has been a world bestseller for over four decades. It was during this period that England produced her greatest architect, Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723) who was given the task of rebuilding London’s churches after the disastrous fire of 1666.” This even applies to England during the Restoration period, when the Stuart court looked towards France and abhorred the taste and outlook of Puritans. The Protestant countries could not help being impressed by this all-pervading fashion but, nevertheless, they did not actually adopt it. Gombrich writes: “The period around 1700 had seen the culmination of the Baroque movement in Catholic Europe. Yet why give such a tribute to so long-dead an architect? Because, as the great historian EH Gombrich explains in our multi-million selling edition, The Story of Art, Wren is Britain’s most important architect, one who took the great European styles of the early eighteenth century and found a way to introduce an English sobriety to it, following the British capital’s devastation.Īs with so much of Gombrich's commentary, the causes for artistic development can often be traced back to greater forces in history in the case of Wren it's the split between Catholic and Protestant Europe.
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