A Rothschild Renaissance: Treasures from the Waddesdon Bequest by Dora Thornton is a magnificent scholarly catalogue celebrating one of the world's finest collections of Renaissance decorative arts housed at the British Museum. Published to accompany the opening of the museum's redesigned Waddesdon Bequest Gallery in 2015, the book explores nearly 300 extraordinary works of art collected by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild (1839–1898). These masterpieces—ranging from jeweled goldsmiths' work and rock crystal carvings to Renaissance enamels, ivory sculptures, clocks, silverware, and rare objets d'art—reflect the splendor of the European princely cabinets of curiosity (Kunstkammern).

Drawing on years of research, Dora Thornton examines the artistic, historical, and cultural significance of each object while explaining the collecting passions of the Rothschild family and the Renaissance courts that originally commissioned these treasures. Lavishly illustrated with over 300 colour photographs, the volume provides detailed catalogue entries, historical essays, and close-up images that reveal the exceptional craftsmanship of Europe's greatest Renaissance artisans. It is both an authoritative academic reference and an elegant coffee-table book for art historians, collectors, museum professionals, and lovers of Renaissance art.