Giotto

Category: Books,Arts & Photography,History & Criticism

Giotto Details

From Publishers Weekly This ravishing album combines a scholarly text with 200 superb color reproductions and 150 black-and-white illustrations representing all phases of Giotto's career. D'Arcais, a University of Verona art history professor, believes that the tensions in the Florentine painter's works reflect the medieval theological battle between those who emphasized Christ's humanity and those who centered on his divinity. Tracking Giotto's sojourns in Assisi, Rome, Naples, Rimini and Padua, and systematically commenting on his fresco cycles, individual masterpieces and architectural commissions, she deems him a revolutionary innovator not only because of his illusionistic space and his "avant-garde" use of color but also for his emotional candor and his attention to the minute particulars of everyday life. A magnificent gift book. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. Read more From Booklist One of the giants of Italian Renaissance painting (1266^-1337), Giotto receives his due in what will be the standard book on his work for years to come. In large-format display, the wealth of sensitive reproductions are equal to the text, written by an authority noteworthy for demonstrating obvious erudition without pretension. Giotto was a bridge between medieval and modern principles and techniques, and the significance of that linkage is fully explored within the greatest aspects of his genius: his use of space, light, and color, and the viability of his human figures. The prose is less biographical than analytical; we learn less about the private man than the artist, which, however, is exactly the intended purview of this gorgeous book no active art history collection can do without. Brad Hooper Read more Language Notes Text: English (translation) Original Language: Italian Read more From the Back Cover Professor Francesca Flores d'Arcais's chronological survey of Giotto's life and work incorporates an impressive range of sources, from fourteenth-century Latin and Italian documents to the most recent art-historical investigations. Her international research leads her to important re-attributions of Giottesque paintings and to new insights regarding the execution and dating of famous and less well-known works. The engaging text is illustrated by hundreds of oversize, superbly reproduced photographs - some on double gatefold pages. The illustrations are drawn from new photography of Giotto's paintings, many of which have been recently restored to their original brilliance. Read more About the Author Francesca Flores d'Arcais is Professor of Medieval and Modern Art History at the University of Verona, Italy. Read more

Reviews

I have wanted this book for a long time but could not justify the original price. Got a very nice copy of the original edition, As fine as you would expect from a reputable publisher about an essential artist of Western Civilization: full of compassion not found in Eastern artists.

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