Here we present the viewpoint that art essentially engages the social brain, by demonstrating how art processing maps onto the social brain connectome—the most comprehensive diagram of the neural dynamics that regulate human social cognition to date. We start with a brief history of the rise of neuroaesthetics as the scientific study of art perception and appreciation, in relation to developments in contemporary art practice and theory during the same period. Building further on a growing awareness of the importance of social context in art production and appreciation, we then set out how art engages the social brain and outline candidate components of the “artistic brain connectome.” We explain how our functional model for art as a social brain phenomenon may operate when engaging with artworks. We call for closer collaborations between the burgeoning field of neuroaesthetics and arts professionals, cultural institutions and diverse audiences in order to fully delineate and contextualize this model. Complementary to the unquestionable value of art for art’s sake, we argue that its neural grounding in the social brain raises important practical implications for mental health, and the care of people living with dementia and other neurological conditions.

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The Painter's Practice in Renaissance Tuscany by Anabel Thomas, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995, 397 pp., 16 col. plates, 93 b. & w. illus., £55.00Dutch Painting 1600–1800 by Seymour Slive, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1995, 379 pp., 111 col. plates, 321 b. & w. illus., £40.00Diderot on Art Volume One: ‘The Salon of 1765’ and ‘Notes on Painting’, edited and translated by John Goodman, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1995, 250 pp., 51 b. & w. illus., £30.00 hdbk, £12.95 pbkVolume Two: ‘The Salon of 1767‘, 344 pp., 39 b. & w. illus., £30.00 hdbk, £12.95 pbkThe American Landscape. Literary Sources and Documents, edited and with an introduction by Graham Clarke, Mountfield: Helm Information Ltd., 1993, 3 vols, 530 pp.; 480 pp.; 736 pp., £200.00The English Garden. Literary Sources and Documents, edited and with an introduction by Michael Charlesworth, Mountfield: Helm Information Ltd., 1993, 3 vols, 444 pp.; 600 pp.; 524 pp., £200.00The Picturesque. Literary Sources & Documents, edited and with an introduction by Malcolm Andrews, Mountfield: Helm Information Ltd., 1994, 3 vols, 512 pp.; 358 pp.; 367 pp., £200.00Visions of the ‘Neue Frau‘: Women and the Visual Arts in Weimar Germany edited by Marsha Meskimmon and Shearer West, Aldershot, Hants: Scolar Press, 1995, 187 pp., 34 b. & w. illus., £42.50Burning the Box of Beautiful Things: The development of a postmodern sensibility by Alex Seago, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995, 234 pp., 14 col. plates, 106 b. & w. illus., £35.00 hdbk, £16.95 pbk

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