Book Secret Knowledge: Discovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters - Thames and Hudson

Secret Knowledge caused a sensation when it was first published. David Hockney's fascinating story about how some great works of Western art were created using mirrors and lenses, and about how images dominate in optics, captured media attention worldwide and sparked an intense debate in the fields of science and art history. Now, in this expanded edition, Hockney continues his thesis, revealing new and exciting discoveries for the first time. Hockney's exploratory journey began when he was driven by a desire to understand how artists of the past depicted the world around them so accurately and vividly. As a painter facing similar technical challenges, he asked himself: “How did they do it?” Over the next two years, he dedicated himself as an artist to following this mysterious trail, obsessively hunting for the hidden secrets of the Old Masters. As news of his controversial research spread, he gained support from scientists and art historians around the world.

In Secret Knowledge, Hockney recounts the story of his journey as it unfolds. He explains how he uncovered successive scientific and visual evidence, each revealing further insights into the past. From an artist’s perspective, he examines the most important works in art history and reveals the truth about how artists like Caravaggio, Velázquez, van Eyck, Holbein, and Ingres used mirrors and lenses to help create their famous masterpieces. In this new edition, Hockney uses drawings, images, and photographs of his own experiments to show how Renaissance artists used mirrors and lenses to develop perspective and chiaroscuro — radically challenging our understanding of how these two foundations of Western art were created. Hundreds of images and sketches — including the most renowned and beloved works in Western art history — are reproduced and accompanied by Hockney’s infectious and enthusiastic descriptions. His own photographs and drawings illustrate various methods used by ancient artists to capture accurate likenesses and achieve the results they would have. Additionally, extracts from many historical and contemporary documents he discovered provide further intriguing evidence, and correspondence with a range of international experts offers exciting insights into this extraordinary story.

Secret Knowledge is not only about the lost techniques of the Old Masters. It also concerns how we see, treat, and create images in an era of digital manipulation. By questioning received ideas and practices without taking anything for granted, Hockney opens our eyes to how we perceive and represent the world — offering privileged insight into art history through the work of an extraordinarily prolific and original artist.

Thames & Hudson was founded in 1949 by Walter and Eva Neurath. Their greatest passion and mission was to create a “museum without walls” and to make the world of art and leading scientific research accessible to a broad public. To reflect international perspectives, the company’s name combined the rivers flowing through London and New York, represented in its logo by two dolphins symbolizing friendship and intelligence, one facing east, the other west, suggesting a connection between the Old World and the New.

Today, still an independent, family-owned company, Thames & Hudson is one of the leading publishers of illustrated books worldwide, with over 2000 titles in print. It publishes high-quality books across all areas of visual creativity: fine arts, applied arts, decorative arts, performing arts, architecture, design, photography, fashion, film, and music, as well as archaeology, history, and popular culture. The list of children’s books is also expanding. Headquartered in London, with a sister company in New York and branches in Melbourne, Singapore, and Hong Kong. In Paris, another subsidiary, Interart, distributes English-language books in France.

History of Thames & Hudson

Walter Neurath was born in Vienna in 1903. In 1938, he left his hometown — where he ran an art gallery and published illustrated books — for London. Initially, he worked as production director at Adprint, a company founded by Viennese émigré Wolfgang Foges. Neurath and Foges developed a pioneering concept of what is now called book packaging (or co-publishing), where book ideas are developed, commissioned, produced, and sold to publishers operating in different markets and languages, to create large print runs and thus reduce unit production costs. Neurath’s concept was the first of many innovations introduced into the publishing world through Thames & Hudson.

Seeking to continue packaging {collectors’ books|books} in the second edition and recognizing the need to amortize the high costs of illustrated book production, Neurath founded his own publishing company, with offices in London and New York, in autumn 1949. Eva Neurath, who arrived in London from Berlin in 1939, was a co-founder.

Of the ten titles published on Thames & Hudson’s first list in 1950, *English Cathedrals*, with photographs by Martin Hürlimann, was the first and most successful. The company’s strong conviction in the longevity of books remained evident, as it stayed in print until 1971. The first year’s publication also included *Out of My Later Years* by Albert Einstein, an early indicator of the program’s scope. As the list gradually expanded from ten titles in 1950 to 144 in 1955, the company moved its offices from High Holborn and, in 1956, relocated to a Georgian townhouse at Bloomsbury Street 30, near Bedford Square, becoming the epicenter of book publishing in London. The manufacturing remained at this address, eventually expanding to five houses by 1999, when it returned to High Holborn.

In 1958, Thames & Hudson launched one of its most famous series, *World of Art*, which became the foundation of a highly diverse list. Characterized by pocket-sized format and black spines, the series expanded in just seven years to include 49 titles. Nearly 60 years later, the series boasts over 300 titles, which, according to Christopher Frayling, are “stained with paint copies” in every art school across the country.

Other important series that added depth and prestige to the list include *Ancient People and Places*, edited by Glyn Daniel, who from the 1950s contributed to pioneering archaeological interest, both in print and television. Over 34 titles were published in this series over 34 years. The large-format *Great Civilizations* series, published in 1961, featured contributions from esteemed scholars such as Alan Bullock, Asa Briggs, Hugh Trevor-Roper, A. J. P. Taylor, and John Julius Norwich.

After building one of the most significant publishing houses in Europe in less than two decades, Walter Neurath died in 1967 at the age of 63. Sculptor Henry Moore wrote that “his death was a loss to our cultural life.” Sir Herbert Read noted that Neurath “more than anyone else was responsible for the revolution in art publishing” and was “one of those rare entrepreneurs who successfully combine business acumen with idealism.” Eva Neurath became chairwoman. Walter’s son, Thomas, who joined the company in 1961 along with his sister Constance, became managing director; Constance later served as art director for several decades. Both Thomas and Constance remain on the Thames & Hudson board, as do Thomas’s daughters, Johanna and Susanna.

From producing the first commercial edition of *The Book of Kells* to the triumphant publication of the six-volume *Vincent van Gogh — Letters*, from innovations like “French folds” to the controversial documentation of graffiti art in *Subway Art*, Thames & Hudson has always been at the forefront, both culturally and in terms of production techniques.

2016 marked an extraordinary new chapter for the company, announcing publishing partnerships with two of the world’s most important museums: the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The world of art and scholarships remains at the heart of Thames & Hudson's publishing program, which stays true to its fundamental principle: providing a “museum without walls”.
Today, Thames & Hudson is a recognizable international brand that symbolizes British publishing. Its extensive catalog includes thousands of original book titles. Many of these are exclusive collector's editions.

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