Italian Renaissance Painting

by James H. Beck

Book by Beck, James

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Art History, History

516 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1981

Reviews

[Michael Finocchiaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a tour de force in art history. Beck breaks up the Italian Renaissance into three parts - early, high, late - and each of these by either Lyrical or Monumental painting. A truly interesting way of looking at the greatest artists of this fascinating period of creativity and change. I reviewed what I knew about the big three - Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael - and learned about lots of other extraordinary and somewhat ordinary painters in this richly illustrated (albeit in black-and-white). It is a bit dated, and I wonder how researchers in 2022 would modify/correct some of the biographical info with more recent data. I also liked how he gave a sort of encapsulated biography of each painter before summarizing their work. It was sad to see so many of these artists died so young (reminded me of rock artists in the 60s, or grunge artists in the 90s-now) and how much we really don't know about them - and that what we do know is primarily from the subjective lens of Vasari. Unfortunately, civil war, the plague, the sack of Rome, and WWII as well as rapacious collecting (by both individuals and rival European states) damaged, destroyed, or definitively lost so many important works of art. Nonetheless, this is an excellent place to start for those interested in learning about the key artists of this unique period.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

De indeling van schilders uit verschillende fasen van de Renaissance in drie categorieen kwam aanvankelijk wat gekunsteld op mij over maar na uitlezen bleek het zeen goede vondst om de veelheid aan kunsthistorische informatie wat meer te ordenen. Ik miste nogal eens een schilderij, ondanks de grote hoeveelheid afbeeldingen. Gelukkig zijn Google’s kunstpagina’s dan wel dichtbij.

[Fritz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Das Buch bietet einen fundierten Überblick über die Malerei der italienischen Renaissance in sehr guter Qualität. Der -leider nicht mehr existierende- Verlag Könemann zeigt einmal mehr sein Gespür für Qualität und bereitet bereits beim losen durchblättern wahre Freude. Der Schwerpunkt liegt nicht zuletzt durch das Buchformat von "nur" 26x22 cm doch auf dem kunsthistorischen Überblick. Wer nur blättern und genießen möchte fährt mit den großformatigen Könemann-Titeln zu einzelnen Malern oder dem großen Renaissance-Band von Könemann besser. Ansonsten ein absolut zu empfehlendes Buch!