21 Books Like Burntcoat

Mary Hoffman has said that what she likes best when writing historical fiction is plenty of facts but a great big gap at the centre. That’s how she came to write about Gabriele, her imagined model for Michelangelo’s iconic sculpture.

Renaissance Florence is full of rivalries, intrigues, and conflicts, into which this unworldly youth is plunged, at first manipulated, later learning to find his way and decide where his loyalties lie. With a strong narrative pace and sumptuous detail of fashionable Florentine society, the story creates a believable background to one of the world’s most famous and recognisable masterpieces. 

This is a great introduction to the architecture of cathedrals, abbeys, and churches—a friendly guided tour of various periods, styles, and techniques that shows us how buildings and carvings in stone have evolved. New cathedrals in their day represented state-of-the-art magnificence, inspiring awe, and they continue to do so now.

If you wonder how weighty stone can soar heavenwards, take on lacy airiness, and capture light, this book will help you to appreciate the skills, craftsmanship, and often bravery required of masons whose names are usually unknown to us.

I love Sue Gee’s writing; she is such a keen observer of the natural world and of the complexities and nuances of human relationships. This, set in the years following the First World War, concerns a group of artists who meet at the Slade School of Art, then form enduring relationships.

Painter Walter Cox and wood-engraver Sarah are joined by sculptor Euan, whose carvings explore the deep trauma of warfare and loss; watching him work in stone, Walter knows: ‘This was the real thing...a marriage between man and material which felt entire, complete.’

Sue Gee’s characters are so real that we feel thoroughly immersed in the period and their lives, both in the London art scene and in the Kentish countryside.

This book includes one of the most famous portrayals of a sculpture on stage, and is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays. One of his later works, it combines a story very like the tragedy of Othello with a second half that has an entirely different mood of youth and hope, love, and redemption.

In the play’s final scene (spoiler alert!), a party including King Leontes and his newly-found daughter, Perdita, gathers to admire the work of a celebrity sculptor, Julio Romano. The statue perfectly depicts Leontes’ wronged wife, Hermione, whom he believed dead.

In this glorious moment, Hermione comes back to him in the form of a living statue stepping down from its pedestal. There’s a delightful ballet version of the play, too.

A book begs you to sit up and take notice when Maurice Sendak writes this cover blurb: “Astonishing drawings!...An entirely unique work of art.” This wordless picture book with remarkable charcoal sketches shows the heartwrenching abandonment of a dog and shocking aftermath. Does the open-ended finale offer a flicker of hope for our canine hero? You decide. No dialogue needed, but this book is sure to spur conversations with young animal lovers (keep tissues handy).

Eric Sloane’s books are a celebration of early American life and have a historical bent that nicely complements the artwork. Here, too, it was hard to pick which of his books rose to the top for us.  Reverence for Wood speaks to values that are enduring through the ages and will resonate with other traditional builders as they do with us. Sloane’s writing, and his illustrations, are beautiful.

Setting up and maintaining a backyard homestead is honest, fulfilling work. For those who prefer productive labor as exercise (rather than heading to a gym), this book is an inspiring look backward at satisfying, useful skills. Take Seymour’s wattle hurdle. Used as a herding panel, the hurdle is woven entirely from hazel sticks. Any supple wood will do. The result is a portable fence panel that cost nothing but a bit of labor.

Many of the projects featured are out of reach (like millstone dressing or coopering or charcoal burning) but all are fascinating and most still relevant today. For example, Seymour demonstrates that engineering a wooden gate that wouldn’t sag was worked out a long time ago—in several variations. Like all of Seymour’s books, this one is exquisitely illustrated.

In this 376-page drawing “bible”, all aspects of drawing are covered in great detail, from portraits and figure studies to still life and landscapes. After the first chapter on materials and equipment, Giovanni illustrates the bone structure, musculature, and features of the head, hands, and feet using pencil, ink, and charcoal. It’s the most comprehensive approach I’ve seen in any portrait book.

Further chapters on shadows, shading, composition, sketching, perspective, and aerial perspective are also extremely helpful. This book is a mine of information, and one I turn to when in need of technical know-how for portraiture.

I love sketching and encourage my students to do as much as possible to improve both drawing techniques and observation. In this comprehensive book, Peter guides us through many different aspects of sketching using pencil, pen, and pen & wash, demonstrating his S-E-T method, reminding us constantly to consider Shapes, Edges, and Tones. His drawings and pen and wash studies are a feast for the eyes; he guides the reader through simple step-by-step drawings as well as larger projects, and everything is conveyed in an easy-to-understand way, making it a pleasure to dip into this book.

Little Tigers tells the story of a mom tiger and her cubs searching for a new safe place to live. It’s a simple story about animals and survival, but it serves as a metaphor for humans too; when the place where we live isn’t safe anymore, don’t we seek refuge in a new home too? This book is perfect in every way, and Jo’s charcoal illustrations are just magical.