The Best Art Books

Art historian and TV presenter Dan Cruickshank explains the beauty of Palladian proportions, takes us on a tour of some key English country houses and describes the poetry of Le Corbusier’s Unité d’Habitation in Marseilles. He recommends the best books on 'architectural history'

Bestselling author Harry Mount thinks that the British sell themselves short when they fail to appreciate their architecture. He also expresses his thanks that Christopher Wren didn't redesign London on a Parisian/New York grid system following the 1666 fire.

Leading architectural historian, chooses books on art and culture in the Elizabethan era. From CS Lewis on literature, to the fantastic embroideries at Hardwick Hall, to baked rabbit and more.

Award-winning novelist and playwright positions himself among a new breed of Israeli historians: "I think I am part of a new trend in Israel to be critical of the way we tell our history"

Architecture depends at the building stage on money and politics, and later on users, time and weather. Jeremy Till picks five books to allow you behind the scenes of the building sites.

The British design guru on which book to buy if you want to know how to design a racing car in the 1960s style, American pop culture, modern architecture, and how "Liverpool in the 1960s was like Florence in the 1440s"

Managing Director of design and decoration company says British interiors in 1615 were bright and colourful. Plus a bit of trivia: "lamp black" got its name because burning porcelain over a lamp produced the colour

The arts books publisher chooses a book about Rembrandt’s representation of his own nose, and tells the bigger story is about the way in which Rembrandt renders sense of flesh in his prints and his oil paintings