My carefully curated book picks for you Museum Lovers!
A Wonder to Behold
How do you make an eye-popping blue city gate out of mud?? New research on the Ishtar Gate of Babylon explores technique as well as themes like how color expresses divinity. Historical photographs of the incredible excavation and transport of this ancient monument from Babylon to Berlin round out the story. Accompanied an exhibition at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World in New York.
A History of the World in 100 Objects
Telling the history of humanity is impossible. But one of the best attempts to squeeze it into a morsel that fits in both hand and brain is this book. The British Museum’s then-director Neil MacGregor took 100 objects of the museum’s collection and let their stories shine. The book beats out even the excellent 100-part radio/podcast companion program, because of course, it has pictures.
Buried by Vesuvius
Only once in a lifetime can you see the original Roman art that inspired the Getty Villa in an exhibition in the villa! As if walking around the garden colonnade weren’t enough to transport you back to the Bay of Naples 2000 years ago… Now you can explore the sculpture, painting, mosaic, and famous book scrolls of the ancient Villa dei Papyri at Herculaneum, all from your own home library.
Featured book
A Wonder to Behold
What’s so special about this book on the Ishtar Gate of Babylon? Get a sneak peek in Stephanie’s 3-minute book review. Want to know even more? Check out museums.love on YouTube for our Top 5 video on the Ishtar Gate!
The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Masterpiece Paintings
David. Homer. Unremarkable names, in some contexts. But when you’re paging through 500 of The Metropolitan Museum’s most famous paintings, they join Rembrandt, Van Gogh, and Pollock. (Yes, now you’re rereading David in a French accent – good work!) Make up for a missed visit to The Met during the pandemic, or just immerse yourself in the colors and forms of human achievement.
Cats of the Louvre
The biggest giant of social media enters the museum realm… Cats! In this beautiful and profound graphic novel, cats offer a way to see the Louvre – and human experience – with new eyes. Their story meditates on disappearance, the supernatural, and finding oneself in art. Over 400 pages of lavish illustrations make this book a visual journey through a universe parallel to the one you know for this museum.
The Louvre: All the Paintings
Does this book really contain all of the Louvre’s paintings? YES. How many is that? Thousands. How many pages is this book?? Not quite one page per painting, but still no lightweight. Presenting the paintings by school, just like in the museum, this book is the ultimate way to #museumfromhome, remember your own museum visit, or just lose yourself in so many masterpieces.
Vatican: All the Paintings
If you want to join the 5 million tourists per year in the Vatican Museums, this book is your ultimate souvenir of the things everyone was taking photos of. If you don’t, this book is your 100% safe teleportation device! Skip the line and dive into the paintings – and other objects – currently on display. For the artworks stored in the basement, you’ll have to wait for the sequel…
Mesopotamia: Civilization Begins
In the series of blockbuster exhibitions put on by the Getty Villa, Mesopotamia comes after Egypt and before the Levant. Renowned objects from the world’s most famous museums travel to Los Angeles in the show, and to your armchair in this book! Three millennia are covered in top-quality essays; and as usual, the Getty spares no expense on lush photography, every image a treat.
Troy - Myth and Reality
Achilles and Odysseus may be immortal legends, but that doesn’t mean they never change. After 3000 years, anyone would! This companion book to the British Museum’s 2019 exhibition follows the Trojan War myth from its origins to today, with masterpieces to match. Sensuous sculptures and flashy light installations have never been paired to such great effect as here.