Manchester University Press, 2001 (also Rutgers University Press, 2001) (ISBN: 9780719058677)

This book sees the first collation of sources on artists' colonies across Europe and an examination of the topic of artists' colonies not previously addressed in such theoretical detail before: the role of innkeepers in disseminating the work of rural painters and in creating new place-myths which then fuelled tourism; the role of touristic infrastructures in supporting the emergence of rural artists' colonies and in sustaining both the artistic and touristic influx of urbanites into villages; the role of place-myths (a term coined by the sociologist R. Shields and here applied for the first time to artists' colonies) in shaping artists' perceptions of a place and, in turn, the role of artists' work in shaping and changing a place's place-myth.

In its significant contribution to the knowledge of rural artists' colonies in 19th century Europe the book enhances our understanding of the role of nature and place-myths in the formal look of rural paintings and in the practices of painters working in rural environments. This major phenomenon in the 19th century art world was previously drastically under-studied.

Peer was reviewed by academic Readers for the two university presses. It was also was reviewed in the Annals of Tourism Research, Cultural Geographies, History Workshop Journal, The Oxford Art Journal, The Times Literary Supplement and Book of the Year in The Spectator.

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