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 account of how some of the great works of Western art were created using mirrors and lenses, and how image dominates in optics, captured the attention of the media worldwide and sparked 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 journey of discovery began when he was driven by a desire to find out 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?" For the next two years, he dedicated his time as an artist to following this mysterious trail, obsessively tracking down the hidden secrets of the Old Masters. As news of his controversial research spread, he gained the support of scientists and art historians worldwide.

In Secret Knowledge, Hockney tells the story of his journey as it unfolds. He explains how he discovered successive scientific and visual evidence, each providing further insights into the past. With a painter's eye, he examines the most significant works in art history and reveals the truth about how artists like Caravaggio, Velazquez, van Eyck, Holbein, and Ingres used mirrors and lenses to help them create famous masterpieces. In this new edition, Hockney uses drawings, paintings, and photographs of his own experiments to show how Renaissance artists used mirrors and lenses to develop perspective and chiaroscuro - radically challenging our view of how these two foundations of Western art were created. Hundreds of images and drawings - including the most famous and beloved works in Western art history - are reproduced and accompanied by Hockney's infectious and enthusiastic descriptions. His own photographs and drawings illustrate the various methods used by past artists to capture accurate likenesses and present the results they would achieve. Additionally, extracts from many historical and contemporary documents he discovered provide further intriguing evidence, and correspondence between him and a range of international experts offers exciting accounts of this extraordinary story.

Secret Knowledge is not just about the lost techniques of the Old Masters. It is also about how we see, treat, and create images in an age of computer manipulation. Taking nothing for granted, questioning received ideas and practice, Hockney opens our eyes to the way we perceive and represent the world - a privileged insight into art history by an extraordinarily prolific and original artist.

The brand Thames & Hudson was founded in 1949 by Walter and Eva Neurath. Their greatest passion and mission was to create a "museum without walls" and make the world of art accessible to a wide audience, as well as the research of leading scholars. To reflect international perspectives, the company's name combined the rivers flowing through London and New York, represented in its logo by two dolphins symbolising 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 world's leading publishers of illustrated books with over 2000 titles in print. It publishes high-quality books in all areas of visual creativity: the arts (fine, applied, decorative, performing), architecture, design, photography, fashion, film, and music, as well as archaeology, history, and popular culture. The list of children's books is also growing. Based in London with a sister company in New York and subsidiaries in Melbourne, Singapore, and Hong Kong. In Paris, another subsidiary, Interart, distributes English-language books in France.

The 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 a production director at Adprint, a company founded by Viennese émigré Wolfgang Foges. Neurath and Foges developed the pioneering concept of what is now known as book packaging (or co-edition publishing), where book ideas are developed, commissioned, produced, and sold to publishers operating in different markets and languages to create large print runs, thereby reducing unit production costs. Neurath's concept was the first of many innovations he introduced to the publishing world through Thames & Hudson.

Wishing to continue the packaging of {collector's books|books} in a second edition and recognising the need to amortise the high production costs of illustrated books, Neurath founded his own publishing house, with offices in London and New York in the autumn of 1949. Eva Neurath, who had arrived in London from Berlin in 1939, was a co-founder.

Of the ten titles published on the first Thames & Hudson list in 1950, English Cathedrals, with photographs by Martin Hürlimann, was the first and most successful. A testament to the company's strong belief in the longevity of books from the very beginning, it remained in print until 1971. The first year of publication also saw the release of Albert Einstein's "Out of My Later Years," an early indicator of the programme's breadth. With the gradual and successful expansion of the list, which grew from ten titles in 1950 to 144 in 1955, the company moved its offices to High Holborn and in 1956 relocated to a Georgian townhouse at 30 Bloomsbury Street, near Bedford Square, then the epicentre of book publishing in London. The operation remained at this address, eventually expanding to five houses, until 1999, when it returned to High Holborn.

In 1958, Thames and Hudson launched one of its most famous series, World of Art, which became the foundation of a very diverse list. Characterised by their pocket size and black spines, the series expanded within just seven years to include 49 titles. Nearly 60 years later, the series features over 300 titles, with, according to Christopher Frayling, "paint-splattered copies in every art school in the country."

Other important series that added depth and prestige to the list include Ancient People and Places, edited by Glyn Daniel, which from the 1950s contributed to pioneering interest in archaeology, both in book form and on television. Over 34 titles were published in the series over 34 years. The large-format series Great Civilizations, published in 1961, featured contributions from such esteemed scholars as Alan Bullock, Asa Briggs, Hugh Trevor-Roper, A. J. P. Taylor, and John Julius Norwich.
After building one of the most important 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 any other person was responsible for the revolution in publishing art books" and was "one of those rare entrepreneurs who successfully combined business acumen with idealism." Eva Neurath became chairman. Walter's son, Thomas, who joined the company with his sister Constance in 1961, became managing director; Constance later served as art director for several decades. Both Thomas and Constance remain on the board of Thames & Hudson, 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—The Letters, from such technical innovations as "French folds" to the controversial documentation of graffiti art in Subway Art, Thames and Hudson has always been at the forefront, both culturally and in production techniques.

The year 2016 opened an extraordinary new chapter for the company, announcing a publishing partnership with two of the world's most important museums: the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The world of art and scholarship thus remains at the heart of Thames & Hudson's publishing programme, which stays true to its core principle: providing a "museum without walls".
Today, Thames & Hudson is a recognisable international brand, symbolising English publishing. Their extensive range includes thousands of original book titles, many of which are exclusive collector's editions.