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Nowhere is the ›stripped‹ book as visible as in the library, where the bared spines of books line up in metres upon metres of shelves. The loss of the dust jacket is therefore as salient as it is familiar. Reason enough to trace the supposedly inconspicuous ›life‹ of the dust jacket. But what exactly is ›a dust jacket‹? What makes it special? And how does it relate to the text within? The author draws our attention to selected writings on art and cultural history, whose outsides and insides interact with one another in unsuspecting ways. We will come to see that dust jackets are manifests of the ideas and aesthetics expressed in the covered books.

From the 19th century, loan exhibitions flourished all over Europe. Local collectors in the bigger cities collaborated in order to present their private art treasures to the public. This exhibition format is a predecessor of today’s museum practise and it contributed to the development of new curatorial strategies. This study examines ten Berlin loan exhibitions between 1872 and 1914, that have been curated by museum makers like Wilhelm von Bode, Max J. Friedländer and Ludwig Justi. It focusses on the potential social implications for the lenders as well as the cultural-political intentions of the organisers of these art shows.

In the 14th and 15th centuries, the outer walls of numerous palaces, churches and public buildings in Florence were decorated in sgraffito, a design based on the scratching of motifs into the white-washed plaster surface. Among the most prominent examples are the courtyards of the Medici Palace and the Palazzo della Signoria. The study examines the history of the technology and the practical execution, considers the status as an (architectural) image and gives an overview of the use of sgraffito in other Italian cities. The detailed catalogue includes 34 Florentine buildings with sgraffito decorations executed in the Tre- and Quattrocento.

Erstmals katalogisiert werden hier Schmuckanhänger in Buchform, die zwischen dem 15. und 17. Jahrhundert entstanden. Die Autorin analysiert die Funktion der Schmuckstücke zwischen lesbarem Buch, verdichteter Miniatur, nahsichtigem Andachtsobjekt, kostbarem Statussymbol und wirkmächtigem Amulett.

Provenienzen und Erwerbungsgeschichten stehen seit mehr als einem Jahrzehnt im Fokus der internationalen Museumsforschung und der Politik. Das vorliegende Buch analysiert anhand von Fallbeispielen die Wege der Objekte in das Berliner Ägyptische Museum während der ersten Amtsjahre des Direktors Adolf Erman (1854–1937). Dafür werden erstmalig zwei Quellen aus dem Zentralarchiv der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin ausgewertet und publiziert. Durch sie können nicht nur einzelne Provenienzen erschlossen, sondern auch die Umstände der Erwerbungen kontextualisiert werden. Die Objekte kamen auf verschiedene Weise nach Berlin: durch Auktionen in Paris, als Geschenke aus London, durch Ankäufe aus Europa, durch Erwerbungen in Ägypten und dank der Unterstützung von namhaften Förderern wie James Simon.

Die Erfassung der verschiedenen Kunst- und Antikenmärkte, Händler, Museen und Akteure, der Handelspraktiken und der Erwerbungsstrategien gibt ein sehr anschauliches Bild vom Antikenhandel im 19. Jahrhundert in Ägypten und Europa.

In the spring of 1732 Filippo Juvarra sent from Rome an album with 41 Disegni di Prospettiva Ideale meant for August the Strong, prince-elector of Saxony and king of Poland. Bearer of the gift was Antonio Giuseppe Gabaleone Count of Wackerbarth Salmour – the Turin nobleman naturalized in Saxony – who at that time was in the papal city on a secret mission on the king’s behalf.
The album preserved in the Kupferstich-Kabinett of Dresden celebrates the exemplarity of Rome over the centuries. Through its themes, its staged compositions, and its graphic technique, an evocative narration unfolds – a further confirmation of Juvarra's multifaceted qualities as a great director of the arts.
The drawings are here analyzed as a whole for the first time, together with some unpublished letters that help shed light on an artistic exchange involving the courts of Rome, Turin and Dresden.