Authors: Frank Zollner. Christof Thoenes. Thomas Popper.
Hardcover, 768 pages
Publisher: Taschen
Publication Date: 2007-10-01


Reviews :

    Michelangelo as never seen before

Before reaching the tender age of thirty, Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) had already sculpted David and Pièta, two of the most famous sculptures in the entire history of art. Like fellow Florentine Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo was a shining star of the Renaissance and a genius of consummate virtuosity. His achievements as a sculptor, painter, draughtsman, and architect are unique--no artist before or after him has ever produced such a vast, multi-faceted, and wide-ranging oeuvre. Only a handful of other painters and sculptors have attained a comparable social status and enjoyed a similar artistic freedom. This is demonstrated not only by the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel but also by Michelangelo's monumental sculptures and his unconventional architectural designs, whose forms went far beyond the accepted vocabulary of his day. Such was his talent that Michelangelo was considered a demigod by his contemporaries and was the subject of two biographies during his lifetime. Adoration of this remarkable man's work has only increased on the intervening centuries. This sumptuous tome also takes account, to a previously unseen extent, of Michelangelo's more personal traits and circumstances, such as his solitary nature, his thirst for money and commissions, his miserliness, his immense wealth, and his skill as a property investor. In addition, the book tackles the controversial issue of the attribution of Michelangelo drawings, an area in which decisions continue to be steered by the interests of the art market and the major collections. This is the definitive volume about Michelangelo for generations to come....

Authors: Michael Scholz-Hansel.
Paperback, 96 pages
Publisher: Taschen
Publication Date: 2004-12-02


Reviews :

    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....

Authors: Jacopo Carucci Pontoromo.
Paperback, pages
Publisher: Borden Pub Co
Publication Date: 1989-12
Edition: 1st

Authors: Ludwig H. Heydenreich.
Paperback, 196 pages
Publisher: Yale University Press
Publication Date: 1996-02-21
Edition: 2nd Revised

Reviews :

    In 15th-century Florence, Brunelleschi's buildings and Alberti's treatise first established the principles of Italian Renaissance architecture in practice and theory. This survey ranges from Brunelleschi's dome for the Florence Cathedral to the works of Bramante and Leonardo in the Quattrocento....

Authors: Wolfgang Lotz.
Paperback, 214 pages
Publisher: Yale University Press
Publication Date: 1995-11-29
Edition: 2nd Revised

Reviews :

    This work presents a survey of Italian Renaissance architecture in the Cinquecento. It discusses the work of Bramante, Giulio Romano, Michelangelo and Palladio, among others, as well as the various centres of architectural activity throughout Italy....

Authors: Branko Mitrovic.
Hardcover, 192 pages
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Publication Date: 2004-05


Reviews :

    An exploration of the design procedures and methodology of Andrea Palladio, arguably the most influential Renaissance architect.

Even when Modernism dimmed interest in classical architecture, Palladio's opus never ceased to attract attention. This book sets him in his context; discusses the theory of the orders, proportions, space composition, and facade design; and presents this material for practicing architects and students, so that the ideas can be applied in their architectural work today. 200 illustrations, 16 pages of color....

Authors: Keith Christiansen. Judith W. Mann.
Hardcover, 480 pages
Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art
Publication Date: 2001-12-01


Reviews :

    Father and daughter Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi were unusual and gifted artists. Orazio Gentileschi (1563–1639) was the most talented follower of Caravaggio and a figure of international renown, active at the courts of Marie de' Medici in France, Charles I in England, and in Rome, Genoa, and Turin. Artemisia (1593– 1652/3) was the first Italian woman artist who was not only praised for her art by her contemporaries but whose paintings influenced the work of later generations. She is today a key figure in gender studies. Essays by an international group of art historians not only explore the development of each of these two painters individually but also compare their work, showing how both were influenced by their times and milieus. The book also includes new transcriptions of key parts of the notorious rape trial of Artemisia....

Authors: S. J. Freedberg.
Paperback, 767 pages
Publisher: Yale University Press
Publication Date: 1993-05-26
Edition: 3

Reviews :

    'Art', declared Vasari in Lives of the Artists, has been reborn and reached perfection in our time'. Indeed the roster of great names in painting of the Cinquecento, which only begins with those of Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael, appears to justify this grand claim. Professor Freedberg here discusses the individual painters and analyses the hallmarks of their work. He traces the classical style of the High Renaissance, the Mannerism that succeeded it, and the events, in North Italy especially, that resist stylistic categories. He has given order to this diversity, but at the same time has preserved the intense individuality of the works of art. The fourth edition of this classic work includes colour illustrations and incorporates textual revisions and an updated bibliography....

Authors: Claudia Strand.
Hardcover, 28 pages
Publisher: Prestel Publishing
Publication Date: 1999-03


Reviews :

    In the fantastic portraits by the 16th-century Italian painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo, compositions of fruit, vegetables, flowers, and books, animals, or garden tools magically turn into vivid depictions of beautiful young women, weathered old men, or the personifications of the seasons and the elements. This volume brings together some of the most curious and inventive of his works which went to make Arcimboldo a celebrated artist in court circles and a unique painter in the history of art....

Authors: Mario Scalini. Benvenuto Cellini.
Paperback, 80 pages
Publisher: Riverside Book Company
Publication Date: 1996-01