Painting in Spain


Book Description

El Greco, Ribera, Velázquez, Murillo--these are but a few of the great sixteenth- and seventeenth-century artists of Spain's golden age of painting. In this authoritative and handsome book, an enlarged, extended, and revised version of his Golden Age of Painting in Spain, eminent Spanish art scholar Jonathan Brown surveys the development of painting in Spain during this fascinating period. Focusing on the interaction between art and the socioeconomic and political conditions that prevailed in Spain's golden age, this book offers information about religious beliefs, social attitudes, the activities of patrons and collectors, and how these were absorbed and interpreted by painters. The author sets the history of Spanish paintings within a European context and explores Spain's contact with artistic centers in Italy and the Netherlands. He discusses not only Spanish artists but also such non-Spanish painters as Titian, Ruben, and Luca Giordano, who either worked in Spain or influenced other artists there. Brown also examines the collections of foreign paintings that Spanish noblemen and prelates assembled and how these collections affected the production of art and the social status of the Spanish artist. In this up-to-date and innovative analysis of two hundred years of Spanish painting, Brown describes a country that brilliantly transformed the artistic impulses it received from abroad to fit the needs of its own society.







Art and the Religious Image in El Greco’s Italy


Book Description

Art and the Religious Image in El Greco’s Italy is the first book-length examination of the early career of one of the early modern period’s most notoriously misunderstood figures. Born around 1541, Domenikos Theotokopoulos began his career as an icon painter on the island of Crete. He is best known, under the name “El Greco,” for the works he created while in Spain, paintings that have provoked both rapt admiration and scornful disapproval since his death in 1614. But the nearly ten years he spent in Venice and Rome, from 1567 to 1576, have remained underexplored until now. Andrew Casper’s examination of this period allows us to gain a proper understanding of El Greco’s entire career and reveals much about the tumultuous environment for religious painting after the Council of Trent. Art and the Religious Image in El Greco’s Italy is a new book in the Art History Publication Initiative (AHPI), a collaborative grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Thanks to the AHPI grant, this book will be available in popular e-book formats.




El Greco


Book Description

Cretan-born painter Domenicos Theotocopoulos, better known by his Spanish nickname, El Greco (c.1545-1614), studied under Titian in Venice before settling down in Toldeo. Commissioned by the church and local nobility, El Greco produced dramatic paintings marked by distorted figures and vibrant color contrasted with subtle grays. Though his work was appreciated by his contemporaries, especially intellectuals, it wasn't until the 20th century that it was widely embraced and admired, influencing in particular the Expressionist movement.




El Greco


Book Description

A visually stunning examination of El Greco’s work that considers the artist’s constant reinvention and professional drive Renowned for a singular artistic vision, Domenikos Theotokopoulos, known as El Greco (1541–1614), developed his distinctive painting style as he assiduously pursued professional success. This fresh and engaging survey of El Greco’s work explores varied aspects of the artist’s career—his aesthetic education in Italy, the mixed reception of his mature works in Spain, his uncompromising approach to business, and the baroque logistics of his Toledo workshop—and reveals the depth of El Greco’s astounding ambition. The impressive volume focuses in particular on his 1577–79 altarpiece paintings for the Church of Santo Domingo el Antiguo in Toledo—among them the magnificent Assumption of the Virgin—which heralded the artist’s arrival in Spain after productive periods of formation and re-formation in Crete, Venice, and Rome. Lavishly illustrated and clothbound with gilded edges, this publication features reproductions and scholarly discussions of more than 60 works ranging from large-scale canvases to intimate panels, with essays that elucidate the motives and meanings behind the artist’s constantly changing and inventive approach.










The Prado. Art Guide


Book Description

The most wonderful and clear art guide to explore and learn all the fundamentals of the greatest works, artists, schools of art and styles in the Prado Museum. Discover the Prado, one of the premier art galleries in the world. Explore and appreciate the greatest masterpieces and the artists who created them: El Greco, Velázquez, Goya, Botticelli, Raphael, the Venetians, Rubens, Rembrandt, Lorraine, Poussin, 19th century Spanish painting plus the best sculptural and decorative works it treasures in its collections. Learn its history and transformation from picture gallery to global treasured museum, which houses one of the very best collections of European art in the world including the most complete collection of Spanish paintings.




The Glory of Angels


Book Description

A stunning oversized collection of our most sacred guardians, The Glory of Angels, begins by organizing angels by their closeness to God. Illustrations, short stories, and quotes highlight the importance of guardian angels and archangels including Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. Special features explore such topics as the use of music as the voice of angels, angels in mythology, and angels and the last judgement. They explore how angels guide us by protecting and warning us of danger, healing and comforting us, and urging us to follow God′s path. In-depth essays reveal the stories of fallen angels, angels in disguise, and angels who have given in to temptation. There are also inspiring accounts of those who have been visited by angels--Joan of Arc, King Lear, Willaim Blake, Lot, Daniel, Jacob--and how each eventually overcame his hardship with the help of an angel. A full reference section is included in the back of the book, along with a visual glossary of images and illustrations describing each piece of art in detail and noting the name, date, location and artist.




El Greco To Murillo


Book Description

A study of the art and artists of seventeenth-century Spain examines historical, religious, cultural, and political influences. Including entries on the School of Madrid, Baroque painting of Seville and artists; El Greco, Luis Tristan, Juan Sanchez Cotan, Pedro Orrente, Juan Bautista Mayno, Juan van der Hamen, and Vicencio Carducho.