- research into the history of each urn lend added depth and authenticity to the exquisite precision and detail of the paintings. An authoritative introduction traces the history of these lovely pieces - whether in marble, bronze, lead, stone or terracotta - and sets them in the context of the history of garden design. Reproduced at full-page size, the watercolours in this book form a visual survey of an intriguing aspect of the development of the decorative arts in Europe in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.

Andrew Zega was born and raised in Upper Makefield, PA and graduated with high honors from Princeton University. Renouncing a doctoral program in English literature at UVA, he instead spent two years in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico. Afterwards he settled in Manhattan to work as an editor at William Morrow, Bantam Doubleday Dell and Chanticleer Press before becoming an architectural watercolorist and designer, eventually joining Robert A.M. Stern Architects.

There he met the German architect Bernd H. Dams, and the pair formed their partnership, Architectural Watercolors, in 1994, year of their first exhibition at the Manhattan gallery, Didier Aaron, Inc. Both moved to Paris, France, the following year, and since then have co-authored and co-illustrated eight books, three of them limited-edition artists books and three others with Rizzoli New York.