John Peacock – författare

This book examines the importance of the topic of ‘feeling tone’ (vedanā) as it appears in early Buddhist texts and practice, and also within contemporary, secular, mindfulness-based interventions.The volume aims to highlight the crucial nature of the ‘feeling tone’ or ‘taste of experience’ in determining mental reactivity, behaviour, character, and ethics. In the history of Buddhism, and in its reception in contemporary discourse, vedanā has often been a much-neglected topic, with greater emphasis being accorded to other meditational focuses, such as body and mind. However, ‘feeling tone’ (vedanā) can be seen as a crucial pivotal point in understanding the cognitive process, both in contemporary mindfulness and meditation practice within more traditional forms of Buddhism. The taste of experience, it is claimed, comes as pleasant, unpleasant, and neither pleasant nor unpleasant – and these ‘tones’ or ‘tastes’ inevitably follow from humans being embodied sensory beings. That experience comes in this way is unavoidable, but what follows can be seen in terms of reactivity or responsiveness.This book was originally published as a special issue of Contemporary Buddhism.

This interdisciplinary study examines painted portraiture as a defining metaphor of elite self-representation in early modern culture. Beginning with Castiglione’s Book of the Courtier (1528), the most influential early modern account of the formation of elite identity, the argument traces a path across the ensuing century towards the images of courtiers and nobles by the most persuasive of European portrait painters, Van Dyck, especially those produced in London during the 1630s. It investigates two related kinds of texts: those which, following Castiglione, model the conduct of the ideal courtier or elite social conduct more generally; and those belonging to the established tradition of debates about the condition of nobility –how far it is genetically inherited and how far a function of excelling moral and social behaviour. Van Dyck is seen as contributing to these discussions through the language of pictorial art.The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, cultural history, early modern history and Renaissance studies.

This interdisciplinary study examines painted portraiture as a defining metaphor of elite self-representation in early modern culture. Beginning with Castiglione’s Book of the Courtier (1528), the most influential early modern account of the formation of elite identity, the argument traces a path across the ensuing century towards the images of courtiers and nobles by the most persuasive of European portrait painters, Van Dyck, especially those produced in London during the 1630s. It investigates two related kinds of texts: those which, following Castiglione, model the conduct of the ideal courtier or elite social conduct more generally; and those belonging to the established tradition of debates about the condition of nobility –how far it is genetically inherited and how far a function of excelling moral and social behaviour. Van Dyck is seen as contributing to these discussions through the language of pictorial art.The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, cultural history, early modern history and Renaissance studies.

A bumper edition of John Peacock’s renowned costume drawings, charting the development of women’s and men’s clothing from the 1920s onwards. This beautifully illustrated, easy-reference volume features over 2,100 meticulous illustrations that record in fascinating detail the ways in which fashion has changed year by year, decade by decade, from the boyish silhouette of the 1920s right through to the structured ‘power dressing’ of the 1980s. Day wear, evening dress, sports and leisure wear, accessories, underwear and wedding wear are all portrayed, accompanied by complete descriptions of colour, cut, necklines, lapels, sleeves, pockets, fastening, buttons and belts. The reference section includes a chart that summarizes the evolution of fashion and garment-shapes through the decades, as well as biographies of the outstanding designers of each era. The Complete Fashion Sourcebook will be indispensable to all fashion enthusiasts, historians and collectors, and will be an invaluable sourcebook for any designer or student working in the performing arts.

This beautifully illustrated, full-colour history of costume has been produced by bestselling author John Peacock especially for children.With over 320 hand-drawn illustrations, and clearly written descriptions on every page, the book offers a broad survey of Western costume from ancient times through to the present day, and is sure to delight any child with an interest in fashion or history, as well as being an invaluable educational resource.

This lavishly illustrated book is a full-length study of Inigo Jones as a stage-designer. Jones's designs for the Stuart court masques (and associated court entertainments) between 1605 and 1640 played a crucial role in transmitting the visual language of the Italian Renaissance tradition into English culture, where, because of geographical and historical factors, it had not yet become acclimatized. John Peacock shows that almost all of Jones's designs were copied and adapted from Italian and continental sources (many identified here for the first time), and argues that this is to be understood in terms of 'imitation', a concept and a practice central to the very tradition of which Jones is a messenger and propagandist. His exploration adds an alternative dimension to our knowledge and understanding of a figure who is generally considered the most important English artist of the seventeenth century.

Robin and Linda are 21-year-old twins who were given up for adoption shortly after birth. Having traced their biological mother, Helena, they lure her to an abandoned house on the pretext that she will be meeting Michael, her former lover. Here the twins reveal their identity to Helena, taunting her with sinister re-enactments of her past. Eventually she is forced to confess the true circumstances of her children's birth. With echoes of the myth of Romulus and Remus, Children of the Wolf is a dark, engrossing play with an intensely shocking twist.

This richly illustrated history explores every aspect of life in Edinburgh. This book covers the history of the city of Edinburgh from the first Mesolithic explorers who camped on the shores of the Forth some 10,000 years ago to the controversies of modern times. Taking a wider perspective it explores the ever-changing world resulting from industrialisation, which brought immigrants, wealth and poverty. Following that, new methods of transport opened up Edinburgh to the wider world. Now, with its historic architecture the city can become a battleground between developers and motorists who want more space in the central areas and conservationists who wish to protect the city’s landscape.

Based on a close study of Van Dyck's Self-portrait with a Sunflower, this book examines the picture's context in the symbolic discourses of the period and in the artist's oeuvre. The portrait is interpreted as a programmatic statement, made in the ambience of the Caroline court after Van Dyck's appointment as 'Principal Painter', of his view of the art of painting. This statement, formulated in appropriately visual terms, characterizes painting as a way of looking and seeing, a mode of vision. In making such a claim, the artist steps aside from the familiar debate about whether painting was a manual or an intellectual discipline, and moves beyond any idea of it as simply a means of representing the external world: the painter's definitive faculty of vision can reach further than those realities which present themselves to the eye. John Peacock analyses the motif of looking - the ways in which figures regard or disregard each other - throughout Van Dyck's work, and the images of the sunflower and the gold chain in this particular portrait, to reveal what is essentially an idealist conception of pictorial art. He contradicts previous opinions that the artist was pedestrian in his thinking, by showing him to be familiar with a range of ideas current in contemporary Europe about painting and the role of the painter.

This book examines the importance of the topic of ‘feeling tone’ (vedanā) as it appears in early Buddhist texts and practice, and also within contemporary, secular, mindfulness-based interventions.The volume aims to highlight the crucial nature of the ‘feeling tone’ or ‘taste of experience’ in determining mental reactivity, behaviour, character, and ethics. In the history of Buddhism, and in its reception in contemporary discourse, vedanā has often been a much-neglected topic, with greater emphasis being accorded to other meditational focuses, such as body and mind. However, ‘feeling tone’ (vedanā) can be seen as a crucial pivotal point in understanding the cognitive process, both in contemporary mindfulness and meditation practice within more traditional forms of Buddhism. The taste of experience, it is claimed, comes as pleasant, unpleasant, and neither pleasant nor unpleasant – and these ‘tones’ or ‘tastes’ inevitably follow from humans being embodied sensory beings. That experience comes in this way is unavoidable, but what follows can be seen in terms of reactivity or responsiveness.This book was originally published as a special issue of Contemporary Buddhism.

Based on a close study of Van Dyck's Self-portrait with a Sunflower, this book examines the picture's context in the symbolic discourses of the period and in the artist's oeuvre. The portrait is interpreted as a programmatic statement, made in the ambience of the Caroline court after Van Dyck's appointment as 'Principal Painter', of his view of the art of painting. This statement, formulated in appropriately visual terms, characterizes painting as a way of looking and seeing, a mode of vision. In making such a claim, the artist steps aside from the familiar debate about whether painting was a manual or an intellectual discipline, and moves beyond any idea of it as simply a means of representing the external world: the painter's definitive faculty of vision can reach further than those realities which present themselves to the eye. John Peacock analyses the motif of looking - the ways in which figures regard or disregard each other - throughout Van Dyck's work, and the images of the sunflower and the gold chain in this particular portrait, to reveal what is essentially an idealist conception of pictorial art. He contradicts previous opinions that the artist was pedestrian in his thinking, by showing him to be familiar with a range of ideas current in contemporary Europe about painting and the role of the painter.