A Companion to Renaissance and Baroque Art


Book Description

A Companion to Renaissance and Baroque Art provides a diverse, fresh collection of accessible, comprehensive essays addressing key issues for European art produced between 1300 and 1700, a period that might be termed the beginning of modern history. Presents a collection of original, in-depth essays from art experts that address various aspects of European visual arts produced from circa 1300 to 1700 Divided into five broad conceptual headings: Social-Historical Factors in Artistic Production; Creative Process and Social Stature of the Artist; The Object: Art as Material Culture; The Message: Subjects and Meanings; and The Viewer, the Critic, and the Historian: Reception and Interpretation as Cultural Discourse Covers many topics not typically included in collections of this nature, such as Judaism and the arts, architectural treatises, the global Renaissance in arts, the new natural sciences and the arts, art and religion, and gender and sexuality Features essays on the arts of the domestic life, sexuality and gender, and the art and production of tapestries, conservation/technology, and the metaphor of theater Focuses on Western and Central Europe and that territory's interactions with neighboring civilizations and distant discoveries Includes illustrations as well as links to images not included in the book




Renaissance and Baroque Art


Book Description

Leo Steinberg was one of the most original art historians of the twentieth century, known for taking interpretive risks that challenged the profession by overturning reigning orthodoxies. In essays and lectures ranging from old masters to contemporary art, he combined scholarly erudition with an eloquent prose that illuminated his subject and a credo that privileged the visual evidence of the image over the literature written about it. His writings, sometimes provocative and controversial, remain vital and influential reading. Steinberg’s perceptions evolved from long, hard looking at his objects of study. Almost everything he wrote included passages of formal analysis, but always put into the service of interpretation. This volume begins and ends with thematic essays on two fundamental precepts of Steinberg’s art history: how dependence on textual authority mutes the visual truths of images and why artists routinely copy or adapt earlier artworks. In between are fourteen chapters on masterpieces of renaissance and baroque art, with bold and enlightening interpretations of works by Mantegna, Filippo Lippi, Pontormo, El Greco, Caravaggio, Steen and, finally, Velázquez. Four chapters are devoted to some of Velázquez’s best-known paintings, ending with the famously enigmatic Las Meninas. Renaissance and Baroque Art is the third volume in a series that presents Steinberg’s writings, selected and edited by his longtime associate Sheila Schwartz.




Body and Soul


Book Description

Body and Soul is the catalogue of the exhibition held from 21 October to 19 November 2010 at Moretti Fine Art Gallery - Adam Williams Fine Art Gallery (20 East 80th Street, New York City). The catalogue presents great masterpieces of Italian Renaissance and Baroque sculpture. It was supervised by Andrew Butterfield and Fabrizio Moretti, two of the world's foremost experts of antique trade. The sculptures that the book deeply analyzes all have something in common: they combine ideality and naturalism of form with intensity and depth of expression, so that both the outer appearance and the inner life of the character represented manage to emerge. In short, not even one of these sculptures submitted to the strict academic rules which have always influenced art. They were selected because they celebrate life in every single aspect, both physical and spiritual. Among the artists whose works are here described are Andrea Del Verrocchio, Jacopo Sansovino, Andrea Riccio, Alessandro Algardi, Domenico Pieratti, Giambattista Foggini, Pierre Le Gros, Giuseppe Mazzuoli, Giuseppe Piamontini and Giovachino Fortini. The book includes introductions by Andrew Butterfield, Fabrizio Moretti and Marc Fumaroli as well as in-depth essays by Andrea Bacchi, Andrew Butterfield, C. D. Dickerson, Marc Fumaroli, Giancarlo Gentilini, Tomaso Montanari and Riccardo Spinelli, providing historical and technical information. The volume is rich in colour images and each essay is accompanied by a detailed bibliography.




Renaissance and Baroque Ceiling Masterpieces


Book Description

The lofty painted ceilings of Europe's palaces and churches rank among the greatest treasures of the Renaissance and Baroque eras. This unique assemblage features brilliant full-color reproductions of some of the finest examples of such art. Drawn from two rare French and German portfolios of the nineteenth century, this unique volume re-creates more than 60 magnificent ceilings from Parisian drawing rooms, German castles, and Italian galleries. Richly depicting scenes from nature and mythology, this collection abounds in chubby cherubs, ethereal goddesses, heroes in full battle armor, and all manner of animals, both legendary and realistic. In addition, a generous assortment of floral ornaments includes rosettes, garlands, and clusters of acanthus and other decorative leaves and vines. Whether used in their entirety or as individual motifs, these designs will add beauty and sophistication to any art or craft project.




Masterpieces of the J. Paul Getty Museum: Decorative Arts


Book Description

This beautifully illustrated work brings together more than one hundred objects from the J. Paul Getty Museum’s collection of European decorative arts. Included here is a generous selection of French and Italian furniture from the mid-sixteenth to the early nineteenth century. Masterpieces by André-Charles Boulle, Bernard (II) van Risenburgh, and others reveal the virtuoso craftsmanship that makes these objects such compelling examples of the furniture maker’s art. Many of the Museum’s finest pieces of porcelain, glass, and tin-glazed earthenware are also represented. Tapestries from Gobelins and Beauvais, bronze firedogs from Fontainebleau, and a lathe-turned ivory goblet of astonishing complexity from Saxony are among the other highlights of this handsome volume.




Masterpieces of Western Art


Book Description

This volume traces the history of painting from medieval times to modern times with a focus on each era and its major artists. This volume traces the history of painting from medieval times to modern times with a focus on each era and its major artists.




Renaissance Art: A Very Short Introduction


Book Description

Botticelli, Holbein, Leonardo, Dürer, Michelangelo: the names are familiar, as are the works, such as the Last Supper fresco, or the monumental marble statue of David. But who were these artists, why did they produce such memorable images, and how would their original beholders have viewed these objects? Was the Renaissance only about great masters and masterpieces, or were "mistresses" also involved, such as women artists and patrons? And what about the 'minor'-pieces that Renaissance men and women would have encountered in homes, churches and civic spaces? This exciting and stimulating volume will answer such questions by considering both famous and lesser-known artists, patrons and works of art within the cultural and historical context of Renaissance Europe. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.




Classical Masterpieces for Electric Guitar


Book Description

Famous and popular selections include works by Bach, Sor, Clementi, Byrd, Rameau, Grieg, Moussourgsky, and Paganini. Tablature, historical notes, and performance tips appear with each piece.




Luxury Arts of the Renaissance


Book Description

Today we associate the Renaissance with painting, sculpture, and architecture—the “major” arts. Yet contemporaries often held the “minor” arts—gem-studded goldwork, richly embellished armor, splendid tapestries and embroideries, music, and ephemeral multi-media spectacles—in much higher esteem. Isabella d’Este, Marchesa of Mantua, was typical of the Italian nobility: she bequeathed to her children precious stone vases mounted in gold, engraved gems, ivories, and antique bronzes and marbles; her favorite ladies-in-waiting, by contrast, received mere paintings. Renaissance patrons and observers extolled finely wrought luxury artifacts for their exquisite craftsmanship and the symbolic capital of their components; paintings and sculptures in modest materials, although discussed by some literati, were of lesser consequence. This book endeavors to return to the mainstream material long marginalized as a result of historical and ideological biases of the intervening centuries. The author analyzes how luxury arts went from being lofty markers of ascendancy and discernment in the Renaissance to being dismissed as “decorative” or “minor” arts—extravagant trinkets of the rich unworthy of the status of Art. Then, by re-examining the objects themselves and their uses in their day, she shows how sumptuous creations constructed the world and taste of Renaissance women and men.




Renaissance and Baroque Bronzes from the Hill Collection


Book Description

"The Hills' taste centers on the Florentine bronze, but their interests range to superb examples from northern Italy and Rome, as well as those from France and northern Europe. Giambologna, the great Flemish sculptor practicing in Florence in the late sixteenth century, is revered for the subtlety of his compositions and for his technical ability. He is well represented in the Hill collection through works from his own hand and those cast after his models by his assistant - and master in his own right - Antonio Susini."--"Director's foreword", p 8.