Connecting Worlds

This book explores the concept of travel as inspiration for artists across history. Comprising over one hundred such works, Connecting Worlds: Artists & Travel is the first exhibition dedicated to artists' experiences of travel from the Renaissance to the nineteenth century. A collaboration between the Kupferstich-Kabinett, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, and the Katrin Bellinger Collection, London, the exhibition includes works by major artists, lesser-known professionals, as well as amateurs, mostly from Northern Europe. Divided into three sections, the exhibition begins by exploring the work of artists on the road and what they regarded as important to record in their sketchbooks. The second section looks at Rome as one of the most important destinations for Northern travelers, and the journey ends in Dresden, a center of cultural exchange and glamorous festivities. This richly illustrated catalog features essays by an international panel of experts addressing such topics as the uses of artist sketchbooks across time, written and visual accounts of travel in books and prints, and encounters with the Ottoman world.