Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

An innovative, interdisciplinary approach to a far-reaching phenomenon, revealing how artists, scientists, inventors and the public developed and responded to new ideas, technologies and aesthetics during the 18th and 19th centuries.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

First, a word about what this book is not; it is not a book that will tell readers about the nature of light. True, many of the giants who worked in the field of electromagnetic theory are mentioned, but the reader should not expect to gain an insight into the physics involved. It is also not a book about the technology of lighting, although it is liberally sprinkled with both illustrations and descriptions of lighting devices from candles to lamps to Edison's light bulb. The book is a magnificent celebration of the human sense of sight predominantly through the great artists of the ages. From the brilliant splashes of color by van Gogh to the brooding darks of Decamps, authors Bluhm (Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam) and Lippincott (Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh) offer readers a melange of light in all its variations and the response to it. They have included a chronology of discoveries in light technology as well as a catalog of artwork and photographs. This book will be a highly welcome addition to library collections in art and the history of technology; readers will revel in its pages. C. G. Wood formerly, Eastern Maine Technical College