'Secret Knowledge: Recovering the lost techniques of the Old Masters' by David Hockney

A new, expanded edition of David Hockney's 2001 celebrated book 'Secret Knowledge: Recovering the lost techniques of the Old Masters', republished in 2006 by Thames & Hudson and featuring a more detailed and thorough analysis of the Old Masters, of whom David Hockney has famously taken inspiration for his own work. The book is a combination of critical analysis, Hockney's musings and images of paintings by the Old Masters and their techniques. The book is split into three parts; the first being a visual presentation of Hockney's thesis, the second is a collection of extracts from his research documents and the third is a selection of notes, essays and letters kept by Hockey as the book progressed and as part of a dialogue with other experts, including Martin Kemp, Charles Falco and John Walsh. The new edition features drawings, paintings and photographs of Hockney's own experiments that aim to demonstrate 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 established." The front cover features a black and white photograph of David Hockney drawing with the aid of a camera lucida, taken by Phil Sayer in 1991. The back page features Hockney's 'The Great Wall', a collection of photographs displaying a plethora of varying Renaissance paintings.