Catalogue Raisonné
Great Books on Art and Art History
For titles that are in the public domain, there is a “Read free” link to a full scan or edition on the Internet Archive or Project Gutenberg.
Introductory books
- The Story of ArtE.H. Gombrich
- Arts and ArtistsJeremy Kingston
- The Annotated Mona Lisa: A Crash Course in Art History from Prehistoric to Post-ModernCarol Strickland and John Boswell
- Ways of SeeingJohn Berger
- The Story of Art Without MenKaty Hessel
Want more free resources? Subscribe for periodic art history articles and get a free flashcard deck of 50 essential masterpieces.
Books on the history of styles
- Reflections on the Imitation of Greek Works in Painting and SculptureJohann Joachim Winckelmann
- Writings on ArtJohann Joachim Winckelmann
- The Critical Historians of ArtMichael Podro
- Renaissance and BaroqueHeinrich Wölzin
- Classic Art: An Introduction to the Italian RenaissanceHeinrich Wölzin
- Principles of Art HistoryHeinrich Wölzin
- Abstraction and EmpathyWilhelm Worringer
- The Life of Forms in ArtHenri Focillon
Books on connoisseurship
- Italian Painters of the RenaissanceBernard Berenson
- Drawings of the Florentine PaintersJohn Murray
- On Art and ConnoisseurshipMax J. Friedländer
- FakesOtto Kurz
- Fake? The Art of DeceptionMark Jones
Art dictionaries
- The Penguin Dictionary of Art and ArtistsPeter and Linda Murray
- The Penguin Dictionary of Decorative ArtsJohn Fleming and Hugh Honour
- The Oxford Companion to ArtHarold Osborne
- The Oxford Companion to Decorative ArtsHarold Osborne
Handbooks on styles and periods
- Pelican History of ArtNikolaus Pevsner
- Oxford History of English ArtT.S.R. Boase
- Phaidon Colour LibrariesPhaidon
- World of ArtThames & Hudson
- A World History of ArtHugh Honour and John Fleming
- A History of ArtH.W. Janson
- An Introduction to Italian SculptueJohn Pope-Hennessy
- The Heibonsha Survey of Japanese ArtHeibonsha
- Encyclopedia of World ArtMcGraw-Hill
Books on technique
- SculptureRudolf Wittkower
- The Techniques of Greek SculptureSheila Adam
- The Artist's Handbook of Materials and TechniquesRalph Mayer
- An Introduction to the History of WoodcutA.M. Hind
- A History of Engraving and EtchingA.M. Hind
- Drawing in the Italian Renaissance WorkshopFrancis Ames-Lewis and Joanne Wright
Books on taste and collecting
- The Rare Art Tradition: The History of Art Collecting and its Linked PhenomenaJoseph Alsop
- Taste and the AntiqueFrancis Haskell and Nicholas Penny
- Painting and Experience in the Fifteenth-Century ItalyMichael Baxandall
- The World of the Florentine Renaissance Artist: Projects and Patrons, Workshop and Art MarketMartin Wackernagel
- Patrons and PaintersFrancis Haskell
- Rediscoveries in ArtFrancis Haskell
- The Economics of TasteGerald Reitlinger
Books on subject-matter in art
- Art in France: The Twelfth CenturyEmile Mâle
- Religious Art in France: The Thirteenth CenturyEmile Mâle
- Religous Art from the Twelfth to the Eigtheenth CenturyEmile Mâle
- The Survival of the Pagan GodsJean Seznec
- Studies in IconologyErwin Panofsky
- Meaning in the Visual ArtsErwin Panofsky
- A Heritage of ImagesFritz Saxl
- Symbolic ImagesE.H. Gombrich
- Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in ArtJames Hall
- Signs and Symbols in Christian ArtG. Ferguson
- Landscape into ArtKenneth Clark
- The NudeKenneth Clark
- Still Life Painting: From Antiquity to the Twentieth CenturyCharles Sterling
Books on social history in art
- A Social History of ArtArnold Hauser
- Meditations on a Hobby HorseE.H. Gombrich
- Florentine Painting and its Social BackgroundFrederick Antal
- Image of the People: Gustave Courbet and the Revolution of 1848T.J. Clark
- The Obstacle RaceGermaine Greer
- Vision and Difference: Femininity, Feminism and the Histories of ArtGriselda Pollock
- Art in Modern CultureFrancis Frascina and Jonathan Harris
Books on the psychology of art
- Art and PsychoanalysisPeter Fuller
- Painting as an ArtRichard Wollheim
- Painting and the Inner WorldAdrian Stokes
- Art and IllusionE.H. Gombrich
- The Sense of OrderE.H. Gombrich
- The Image and the EyeE.H. Gombrich
- Art and Visual PerceptionRudolf Arnheim
- The Power of Images: Studies in the History and Theory of ResponseDavid Freedberg
Books on the philosophy of art
- Artistic Theory in ItalyAnthony Blunt
- Giotto and the OratorsMichael Baxandall
- Idea: A Concept in Art TheoryErwin Panofsky
Books by leading art critics
- Modern PaintersJohn Ruskin
- The RenaissanceWalter Pater
- Ruskin TodayRuskin
- The Lamp of Beauty: Writings on Art by John RuskinJohn Ruskin
- The Letters of William Morris to his Family and FriendsPhilip Henderson
- The Painter of Modern LifeCharles Baudelaire
- Art in ParisCharles Baudelaire
- The Masters of Past TimeEugène Fromentin
- French Eighteent-Century PaintersEdmond and Jules de Goncourt
- Pages from the Goncourt JournalsEdmond and Jules de Goncourt
- Genius of the FutureAnita Brookner
- Vision and DesignRoger Fry
- Cézanne: A Study of his DevelopmentRoger Fry
- Lat LecturesRoger Fry
- The Meaning of ArtSir Herbert Read
- The Tradition of the NewHarold Rosenberg
- The Anxious Object: Art Today and its AudienceHarold Rosenberg
- Art and CultureClement Greenberg
Anthologies
- A Documentary History of ArtElizabeth Holt
- The Expanding World of Art 1874-1902Elizabeth Holt
- The Art of GreeceJ.J. Pollitt
- The Art of RomeJ.J. Pollitt
- The Art of the Byzantine EmpireCyril Mango
- Early Medival ArtCaecilia Davis-Weyer
- Gothic ArtTeresa G. Frisch
- Italian ArtCreighton Gilbert
- Northern Renaissance ArtWolfgang Stechow
- Italy and SpainRobert Enggass and Jonathan Brown
- Neoclassicism and RomanticismLorenz Eitner
- Realism and Tradition in ArtLinda Nochlin
- Impressionism and Post-ImpressionismLinda Nochlin
- Patrons and Artists in the Italian RenaissanceD. S. Chambers
- Artists on ArtRobert Goldwater and Marco Treves
- Nineteenth-Century Theories of ArtJoshua C. Taylor
- Theories of Modern Art: A Source Book by Artists and CriticsHerschel B. Chipp
- Art in Theory: An Anthology of Changing IdeasCharles Harrison and Paul Wood
- Chapters on the History of ArtPliny
- Description of GreeceJ.G. Frazer
- Guide to GreecePausanias
- The Spirit of the BrushShio Sakanishi
- Abbot Suger on the Abbey Church of Saint Denis and its Art TreasuresAbbot Suger
- The Various ArtsTheophilus
- The Craftsman's HandbookCennino d'Andrea Cennini
- On Painting and SculptureLeon Battista Alberti
- The Literary Works of Leonardo da VinciJ.P. Ritcher
- Treatise on PaintingLeonardo da Vinci
- Leonardo on PaintingMartin Kemp
- The Letters of MichelangeloE.H. Ramsden
- The Complete Poems and Selected Letters of MichelangeloCreighton Gilbert
- The Poetry of MichelangeloJames M. Saslow
- The Life of MichelangeloAlice Sedgwick Wohl
- The Writings of Albrecht DürerW.M. Conway
- The Painter's ManualDürer/W.L. Strauss
- Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and ArchitectsGiorgio Vasari
- The Autobiography of Benvenuto CelliniCharles Hope
- Life of BrunelleschiAntonio Manetti
- Life of BerniniFilippo Baldinucci
- Dutch and Flemish PaintersCarel van Mander
- Lives of the Eminent Spanish Painters and SculptorsAntonio Palomino
- The Letters of Peter Paul RubensRuth Saunders Magurn
- Sir Joshua Reynolds: Discourses on ArtRobert R. Wark
- The Analysis of BeautyWilliam Hogarth
- Memoirs of the Life of John ConstableC.R. Leslie
- Complete Correspondence of John ConstableR.B. Beckett
- Journals of Eugène DelacroixLucy Norton
- Letters of Eugène DelacroixJean Stewart
- Goethe on ArtJohn Gage
- The Letters of Gustave CourbetPetra ten-Doesschate
- Théodore Duret's Manet and the French ImpressionistsThéodore Duret
- The Letters of Camille PissarroJohn Rewald
- The Letters of DegasMarcel Guérin
- The Letters of CézanneJohn Rewald
- Renoir, My FatherJean Renoir
- The Complete Letters of Vincent van GoghVincent van Gogh
- The Letters of GauguinPaul Gauguin
- Noa Noa: Gauguin's TahitiPaul Gauguin
- Gentle Art of Making EnemiesJames McNeill Whistler
- My LifeOskar Kokoschka
- Diary of a GeniusSalvador Dalí
- On Modern ArtPaul Klee
- Why Abstract?Hilaire Hiler
- The Collected Writings of Robert MotherwellRobert Motherwell
- Concering the Spiritual in ArtWassily Kandinsky
- Matisse on ArtHenri Matisse
- Kandinsky: The Complete Writings on ArtWassily Kandinsky
- DadaH. Richter
- SurrealismP. Waldberg
- The Cubist Painters: Aesthetic MeditationsGuillaume Apollinaire
- Surrealism and PaintingAndré Breton
- Modern Artists on ArtRobert L. Herbert
- Henry Moore on SculpturePhilip James