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Angels & Fairies
Whether inspired by Classical legend, traditional tales or simply their own imagination, countless artists have been captivated by these heavenly and mythological creatures. "Angels and Fairies" is a beautiful reference book that takes a look at some of the art that has been produced as a result of a fascination with these mysterious beings.
- GenresArt
384 pages, Paperback
First published May 13, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 29, 2008
A beautiful collection of major 19th century fairy artists (with a dose of 20th century artists). Actually, the title of "Angel and Fairies" is a bit misleading, as the ratio of angel paintings is rather low and only make a significant proprotion of the second part of the book. Having said that, the quality of the images is very good (though some of the reproductions suffer from the book's small scale and the smaller fairies and some details are not to easy to make out), and a whole range of styles and subjects is present. Zaczek's notes to each picture are illuminating (without being pompous), and often link several pictures, from the same or diverse creators.
January 21, 2014
Welcome to the world of fairies and angels. Another in this
simply stunning series. Iain Zaczek delves deep into the Victorian
psyche in which fairies and angels played so prominent a part in
art. Apparently the ethereal themes were often an excuse to make
a nude respectable as in Victorian times nudes were often
considered pornographic - but not when they were set amidst a
background of cupids, fairies and angels ie Guillame Seignac's
"The Awakening of Psyche".
As initially portrayed fairies were often mischievous sprites,
usually associated with stolen babies, teasing defenceless animals
and exchanging innocent babies with hideous changlings. Earliest
of these painters (in this book) is Henry Fuseli, with his compellingly
painting "The Nightmare" which combines horror, darkness and
tortured sexuality.
Zaczek also explains why fairyland settings also made mediocre
paintings popular. When Alexandre Cabanel's "Birth of Venice" with
a myriad of cupids was shown at the Paris Salon in 1863 it was a
resounding success and people were queueing around the block just
to view this flowery painting but, two years later, when Manet's
"Olympia", with it's modern setting, was shown at the same Salon,
it caused an outrage with the public describing it as pornography.
In the early 19th century gas lighting was introduced - replacing
candles, and that innovation was able to cast an eerie glow when
plays such as "The Tempest" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream" were
produced thus sparking an interest in fairy and magical subjects.
In this book artists like W.A. Bouguereau who was scoffed at by
Impressionists and Modernists are allowed to shine. His cupids,
and angels are reprinted frequently ("Cupid and Psyche" or "The
First Kiss"). Possibly the most bizarre artist was Richard Dadd whose
exquisite paintings of Puck, Titania and the myriad of fairies
were mostly painted in Broadmoor where he was incarcerated for
being criminally insane.
As with the other books in this series it is small but chunky (over
370 pages) each picture has its own page, there are notes, usually
detailing the origins of the subjects (Queen Mab, the origin of
Cupid and how warmly the robin was regarded in Victorian times)
and biographical data on the artist. There are some artists who
painted mostly fairy scenes, apart from the unfortunate Dadds,
there are Sir Joshua Noel Paton, John Anster Fitzgerald and John
Atkinson Grimshaw who seems to have painted the same fairy, Iris,
to represent different seasons. Then toward the turn of the 19th
century, illustrators found their fame with Arthur Rackman, Walter
Crane, Charles Robinson, Warwick Goble, Edmund Dulac and Gustave
Dore.
"A Midsummer Night's Dream" was the yardstick that fairies were
measured but not exactly as Shakespeare would have imagined it. By
the Victorian era it was presented as an opera and a ballet with
the emphasis being on the Titania and Oberon scenes - when David
Garrick presented the play he removed all but 600 lines of the
original text. Zaczek also delves into the history of gardens. In
the early 19th century people thought of woodland and trees as
structured because it was part of God's plan but the publication
of Darwin's "The Origin of Species" caused people to rethink their
theories and also fairy artists to change their depiction of
"little folk".
A really fascinating book to read.
simply stunning series. Iain Zaczek delves deep into the Victorian
psyche in which fairies and angels played so prominent a part in
art. Apparently the ethereal themes were often an excuse to make
a nude respectable as in Victorian times nudes were often
considered pornographic - but not when they were set amidst a
background of cupids, fairies and angels ie Guillame Seignac's
"The Awakening of Psyche".
As initially portrayed fairies were often mischievous sprites,
usually associated with stolen babies, teasing defenceless animals
and exchanging innocent babies with hideous changlings. Earliest
of these painters (in this book) is Henry Fuseli, with his compellingly
painting "The Nightmare" which combines horror, darkness and
tortured sexuality.
Zaczek also explains why fairyland settings also made mediocre
paintings popular. When Alexandre Cabanel's "Birth of Venice" with
a myriad of cupids was shown at the Paris Salon in 1863 it was a
resounding success and people were queueing around the block just
to view this flowery painting but, two years later, when Manet's
"Olympia", with it's modern setting, was shown at the same Salon,
it caused an outrage with the public describing it as pornography.
In the early 19th century gas lighting was introduced - replacing
candles, and that innovation was able to cast an eerie glow when
plays such as "The Tempest" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream" were
produced thus sparking an interest in fairy and magical subjects.
In this book artists like W.A. Bouguereau who was scoffed at by
Impressionists and Modernists are allowed to shine. His cupids,
and angels are reprinted frequently ("Cupid and Psyche" or "The
First Kiss"). Possibly the most bizarre artist was Richard Dadd whose
exquisite paintings of Puck, Titania and the myriad of fairies
were mostly painted in Broadmoor where he was incarcerated for
being criminally insane.
As with the other books in this series it is small but chunky (over
370 pages) each picture has its own page, there are notes, usually
detailing the origins of the subjects (Queen Mab, the origin of
Cupid and how warmly the robin was regarded in Victorian times)
and biographical data on the artist. There are some artists who
painted mostly fairy scenes, apart from the unfortunate Dadds,
there are Sir Joshua Noel Paton, John Anster Fitzgerald and John
Atkinson Grimshaw who seems to have painted the same fairy, Iris,
to represent different seasons. Then toward the turn of the 19th
century, illustrators found their fame with Arthur Rackman, Walter
Crane, Charles Robinson, Warwick Goble, Edmund Dulac and Gustave
Dore.
"A Midsummer Night's Dream" was the yardstick that fairies were
measured but not exactly as Shakespeare would have imagined it. By
the Victorian era it was presented as an opera and a ballet with
the emphasis being on the Titania and Oberon scenes - when David
Garrick presented the play he removed all but 600 lines of the
original text. Zaczek also delves into the history of gardens. In
the early 19th century people thought of woodland and trees as
structured because it was part of God's plan but the publication
of Darwin's "The Origin of Species" caused people to rethink their
theories and also fairy artists to change their depiction of
"little folk".
A really fascinating book to read.
August 6, 2019
The Classical Art Works are Whimsical and Terrifying. Beautiful book
December 24, 2025
Some pictures are better than others.
May 1, 2016
I love these small books filled with art under specific topics.
You get a nice sampling of different styles that would not normally be together in once place.
The quality of the book itself is quite high with nice paper stock and binding and the color and details of the paintings come across beautifully, which is not always the case with art books.
You get a nice sampling of different styles that would not normally be together in once place.
The quality of the book itself is quite high with nice paper stock and binding and the color and details of the paintings come across beautifully, which is not always the case with art books.
December 5, 2025
Purtroppo la scelta grafica penalizza la lettura: font quasi illeggibile e assolutamente non adatto al piccolo formato del libro.
Ottimi contenuti, impaginazione tremenda.
Ottimi contenuti, impaginazione tremenda.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews