This book will accompany a 'once in a generation' show, the like of which has not been seen for over thirty years. The Ashmolean Museum and the Albertina are collaborating on a two-part exhibition project that will examine anew the role and the significance of drawing in Raphael's career.

Contains a stunning array of previously unpublished material, including a new essay on the life and work of master Chinese artist, Liu Dan
Beautifully bound in cloth with embossed artist signature

Power and Protection: Islamic Art and the Supernatural is a ground-breaking investigation of divinatory arts in the Islamic world discussing their impact on, and expression through, material culture. This part of the Islamic tradition has hitherto received limited attention, leaving a fascinating and rich chapter of Islam's cultural production largely unexplored.

A soupcon of the delights in this book: "... with Degas's large colored drawing, in chalk and pastel, of a woman drying herself ... that we sense something really massive has happened.. "... the vigorous lines of a Matisse wood cut... seem spiritually connected to the delirious intensity of the only print Van Gogh ever created, a small etching of the doctor who treated him..." "... Leger's Mother and Child are boldly delineated against panels of abstract color that... sing out... " "...a group of large and exuberantly exotic Picasso drawings...." Mark Hudson, writing in London's Telegraph