BookArt: 30 Stunning Classic Paintings of Reading People

Ars longi, vita brevis

For centuries, artists all over the world have demonstrated the amazing ability to capture the diverse moments of human life. Earlier I have already featured here the set of pictures that showed reading kids. This time let’s continue the journey without any limitations: today’s collection captures readers of all ages and in a variety of environments. The presented artworks have been painted by the artists of different times and moved through decades keeping the magic of the moment when readers are absorbed with a world opened by the books. Welcome to enjoy.

Just click or tap on any illustration to see them in the gallery mode.

By Steven Christopher Seward

By Emil Brack

By Vladimir Volegov

By Walter Firle

By Jim Daly

By George Goodwin Kilburne

By James Pelham

By James Wells Champney

By Franz von Defregger

By Albert Anker

By Carl Spitzweg

By Francis John Wyburd

By Abraham van Strij

By William Wood

By Edwin Henry Landseer

By Albert Chevallier Tayler

By Arthur John Elsley

By James Charles

By Albert Bartholome

By Richard Boyer

By M. Knoop

By Edouard John Mentha

By Ilia Galkin

By Jean Monti

By Michael Peter Ancher

By Albert Anker

By Carlton Alfred Smith

By Hermann von Kaulbach

By Johann Georg Meyer

By Carl Spitzweg