The Ear of the Beholder

With wit, clarity and deep scholarship, Mallalieu explores how artists from Van Eyck and Vermeer to Caravaggio and the Futurists have suggested sound - music, voices, joy, suffering and silence itself – to tell their stories. It’s a compelling investigation into what he calls “visual acoustics” and it challenges centuries of assumptions about how we engage with art.

Far more than a traditional art history book, The Ear of the Beholder reveals how painters have always aimed to captivate not just the eye, but the ear and the imagination, drawing viewers into a sensory experience that is richer than we realise.

Huon Mallalieu is one of the UK’s most respected voices in the field, best known as the antiques columnist for Country Life magazine and a regular contributor to The Oldie. His deep connoisseurship and elegant prose make this book a joy to read for art lovers, musicians, historians and anyone who’s ever wondered what a painting might sound like.

Thomas Del Mar Ltd. Published on 12th November.