Siena, Florence, and Padua Volume 1: Interpretative Essays

by Diana Norman

Siena, Florence and Padua were all major centres for the flowering of early Italian Renaissance art and civic culture. The three communities shared a common concern for the embelishment of their cities by means of painting, sculpture and architecture. The eleven papers in this volume re-examine and re-assess the artistic legacy of the three cities during the 14th century amd locate the various works of art considered within their broader cultural, social and religious contexts. Contributors D Norman (Patrons, politics and art) ; C Harrison (Giotto and the `rise of painting') ; C King (The arts of carving and casting) ; T Benton (The building trades and design methods) ; D Norman (Art and religion after the Black Death) ; C King (The New ideas, new evidence) .

Genres: Renaissance, Italy, Art History, Art, History

Paperback

First published February 22, 1995

About the author

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Reviews

[Martin Ridgway · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book and its companion volume are the main learning materials for a long discontinued Open University (UK) course for, well, exactly what the title tells you.
I'm in no position to say whether or not the books stand on their own because I did the course but they are some of the best books produced by the OU in terms of text and, especially, illustrations. There are 246 in this volume, a good number of which are in colour. So, if you can get hold of them somewhere 2nd hand (you can't have mine!!!) at a reasonable price then go for them.
A word on how to read them: chapter 1 of volume 1, then chapter 1 of volume 2, and carry on that way. Volume 1 provides the context and then volume 2 goes a lot deeper and more detailed on specific objects or ideas.
And it doesn't take months do read the books, that's pretty much the course dates (if I've remembered the right year).