Publishers will pay a graphic designer a few hundred dollars for a cover and aren't willing to spend for photography or original art, so this is what you get: images in the public domain.
A forever trend for classical music album covers.
Greatly done by Standard Ebooks too, I guess for the aesthetic as well as for old paintings being in public domain.
This is a good way for these books to signal what they are like to their readership (bad).
The thing that bothers me about this trend is that, for the most part, only details of paintings are used. To me, a cropped detail never looks complete. It is like a book missing half its chapters.
Of all the book cover design trends, I think I like this one the best. I certainly prefer it to blobby illustrations or poor imitations of Saul Bass. I wonder what the next trend will be!
love the juxtaposition! beautiful paintings with hideous typography on top
https://archive.ph/wFgG5