Castles Author:David Day, Alan Lee Castles: the very word conjures up magical images of romantic ladies, daring lovers, sieges, bards, feasts, hidden dungeons, secret passages - a world of mystery and wonder inspired by the fantastic and sometimes massive structures built to house feudal barons and the military power that sustained their rule. — Castles have long ... more »exercised an emotional hold on the imagaination and never more so than on one particular boy who never gave up dreaming about the marvels of a time long gone. As he grew up and discovered his own extraordinary talent, Alan Lee was able to give expression to his consuming interest in the magnificent world of castles in intricate drawings and paintings of both delicacy and power. His life-long dream of castles is now given reality in this richly illustrated book.
Beginning with the landscape of a ruin, the artist takes the reader back in time to the original castle at the height of its rich and busy life. Here a traveller tells tales - of other castles he has known, of castles in myth and legend, taking his audience from one ancient Great Hall to another in stories retold in the grand tradition - the Norse Sagas, Celtic myths, the tales of the Age of Chivalry - and always at the heart of each epic is the castle - this rich, fascinating and enduring symbol.« less