Master Drawings of the Italian Renaissance

by Claire Van Cleave

A beautifully designed selection of the finest Italian Renaissance drawings from the British Museum, the Louvre and other French public collections, giving remarkable insight into the creative processes of some of the greatest artists in history. This book features masterpieces of Italian Renaissance drawings from the British Museum, the Louvre and other French public collections in Lille, Rennes and Chantilly. Beginning with an examination of drawing as part of the creative process, and showing how it reveals the artist's mind at work, the author explains in detail the materials and techniques used in Renaissance drawings. It also considers how drawings were used, how they changed stylistically through the period and how they varied in different regions of Italy. It concludes with a brief look at connoisseurship and collecting. The main body of the book showcases 112 of the finest drawings by more than 40 Italian Renaissance masters, including Michelangelo, Leonardo, Botticelli, Raphael and Andrea del Sarto, accompanied by a concise sketch of the life and work of each artist. Arranged chronologically, they reveal stylistic and geographical trends as well as personal interactions between the artists themselves, and provide an extraordinary insight in to the artistic world of Renaissance Italy.

Genres: Art

192 pages, Hardcover

First published October 22, 2007

Reviews

[Martha Smith · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is a little art history book of the master drawings of the Italian Renaissance. Every other page has a color photograph of a master's drawing from a museum collection. It is a fun book to thumb through just for the photos. Art lovers will appreciate having rare drawings at their fingertips. However, this is a book that I personally would not display on my coffee table or buy. It is great to thumb through. I would have like to see many more drawings by each artist.