Publisher's Synopsis
The Cult of Beauty focuses on a period at the end of the nineteenth century when a group of artists, architects, and designers found themselves linked by the search for anew Beauty. The Aesthetic Movement, as it came to be known, united romantic bohemians, such as Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Morris, and Edward Burne-Jones, with maverick figures like James McNeill Whistler. The Cult of Beauty brings together the finest pictures, furniture, and decorative arts of this extraordinary era, setting them in the context of this glittering cast of characters. This beautiful book also reveals how artists’ houses and their extravagant lifestyles became the object of public fascination. The influence of the “Palaces of Art” created by Rossetti and Morris, Lord Leighton, and others led to a widespread revolution in architecture and interior decoration, while Oscar Wilde made his name promoting the idea of “The House Beautiful.”
Praise for The Cult of Beauty:
“[This] companion volume will surely prove a classic in the field . . . The book offers a finely written in-depth discussion for newcomers to this complex field, while those with a longstanding interest will find a fresh curatorial point of view that places these related works in a new historical context.” —The Magazine Antiques
