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Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- PREFACE -- 1 The Diamond -- 2 The Ancient World -- 3 Early Persia and the East -- 4 Medieval Europe -- 5 The Dawn of Diamond Cutting in Europe -- 6 The Fifteenth-Century Technical Revolution -- 7 Renaissance Table and Point Cuts -- 8 Renaissance Multifaceted Cuts -- 9 The Early Brilliant Cut -- 10 Diamond Cutting in London -- 11 The Value and Assessment of Diamonds -- 12 The Indian Diamond Mines -- 13 The Diamond Trade in India -- 14 Diamond Cutting in India and the East -- 15 The Eclipse of Indian Diamonds -- Epilogue -- APPENDIX: A 1675 Description of the Diamond Mines -- NOTES -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- T -- V -- W -- Y -- Z
This monograph examines the most prestigious political paintings created in Britain during the High Baroque age. It investigates a period characterized by numerous social, political, and religious crises, in the years between the restoration of the Stuart monarchy (1660) and the death of the first British monarch from the House of Hanover (1727). On the basis of hitherto unpublished documents, the book elucidates the creation and reception of nine major commissions that involved the court, private aristocratic patrons, and/or civic institutions. The ground-breaking new interpretations of these works focus on strategies of conflict resolution, the creation of shared cultural memories, processes of cultural translation, the performative context of the murals and the interaction of painted images and architectural spaces.
How St. George became the patron saint of England has always been a subject of speculation. He was not English, nor was his principal shrine there - the usual criteria for national patronage ; yet his status and fame came to eclipse that of all other saints. Edward III's use of the saint in his wars against the French established him as a patron and protector of the king ; unlike other saints George was adopted by the English to signify membership of the "community of the realm". This book traces the origins and growth of the cult of St. George, arguing that, especially after Edward's death, George came to represent a "good" politics (deriving from Edward's prosecution of a war with spoils for everyone) and could be used to rebuke subsequent kings for their poor governance. Most medieval kings came to understand this fact, and venerated St. George in order to prove their worthiness to hold their office. The political dimension of the cult never completely displaced the devotional one, but it was so strong that St. George survived the Reformation as a national symbol - one that continues in importance in the recovery of a specifically English identity.