World Famous Comics: Italian Frescoes: High Renaissance and Mannerism 1510-1600
Italian Frescoes: High Renaissance and Mannerism 1510-1600
From: Abbeville Press Publisher: Abbeville Press Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: Abbeville Press Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 496 Publication Date: 2004-10
Product Description: Following the success of the previous volumes in this extraordinary Series (The Early Renaissance and The Flowering of the Renaissance), Italian Frescoes: The High Renaissance to the Early Baroque presents twenty-two fresco cycles that include brilliant works by Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, Andrea del Sarto, Parmigianino, Bronzino, Veronese, and Carracci all of them still visible on walls and ceilings of palaces and churches spanning Italy from the Veneto to Rome. The authors present such celebrated sites as the Sistine Chapel in Rome, Palladio Villa Barbaro in Maser, and the Palazzo del Te in Mantua as well as lesser known gems. Each of the twenty-two chapters is concise and authoritative, offering a descriptive and interpretive essay on all aspects of fresco painting, covering the artists and their patrons in the context of their cultural and political history. Each essay concludes with a diagram of the fresco cycle, followed by a series of full- and double-page colour plates showing the entire cycle, many reproduced from new photographs of recently restored frescoes.
Where are the writers for the artists? This review applies to a host of "Art" books. Dry academic writing must be the way to getting published. I am an artist and would love to see some authors writing their books from an artist's viewpoint. An academic perspective leaves me somewhat cold in their analysis of painters, trying to guess what goes on in an artists mind and their place in the Art World. I would like to see more information on the technical aspects of how artwork was created...what the everyday world was like in which they lived. After all, everything was created in the context of the times that artist's worked. Frankly, if the books were large enough with examples of pristine reproductions, I wouldn't care what language it was written in. I am willing to pay the price of books with large reproductions of the artist's work.
ANOTHER HIT OUT OF THE BALLPARK!!!!!!!!! IN ANYONES UNIVERSE!!! These people can do nothing wrong so far, what is really interesting about this book, is we start to see how the evolving influence of the acceptance of oil painting in Italy is starting to influence Fresco.
In the prior books, the color tonality revolves around the support of the egg tempera painting paradigm fresco had been bred under, and the glow and influence of that medium, is transcended in fresco.
This volume starts to show, that oil painting is taking off, and fresco is influenced, and the segway between Tempera and oil is captured with all the subtle changes as fresco evolves.
We are in the carry over from the good old Botticelli days, to the "What is this guy Leonardo up to, days". How this influence migrates into fresco is very interesting and well represented.
What this book really highlites well, is how Raphael, was in the middle and tried to sew it all together...as far as synthesis and integration goes. The quality of the images and text reflect this too perfection.
The contrast back and forth is amazing and captured so well. A darker tonality sets in, but the highlites of still emulating tempera are preserved, so fresco is "keeping up with the times", these books are nothing short of stunning and incredible, if you study fresco, this series is a masterpiece of publishing. I have written reviews before on the other volumes, and the quality never stops coming. IT DOESNT GET BETTER...PERIOD!!!!!!
You would not reget any aspect of your purchase, and the price is more than fair. Once engaged, these are hard books to break away from, you become mesmerized...it is such high quality work.
Here is the best part....the book winds down at the Farnese Palace/Gallery (now the French embassy in Italy)....hopefully this is a bookmark....anticpating the next chapters which would be an early, mid, and late Baroque Fresco book series addition.
These folks are great, and they have to keep going, we left at the Caracci, so hopefully we can look forward to DaCortona at the Pitti and Barberini palace, some Luca Giordono at the Medici, Carlo Marratta, (Clemency) , Pamphili Palace etc. The continuation to the eventual Baroque vs Roccoco vs Neo-Classical shoot out would be incredible to follow, with the effort to quality and integrity that the publisher, author, and photographer are committed to.
I really think Venice Frescos, should be their own book, there is just too much there, just call it Italian Venice Frescoes. Keep the Baroque to Roccoco track focused in 3 volumes. This way lesser known Baroque work can be included in the Baroque volumes and we can pick up the Plethora of Venetian work in its own volume. Tiepolo and Veronese influence would fill its own book too full. What is so great about this effort is it is including great work from lesser known artists. That should keep going.
These books simply cannot stop coming, and cramming the Baroque into one volume would be a mistake.
Yes, this is a long review, so I apologize I am just trying to communicate enthusiam to potential buyers , so the publisher can keep going, you simply cant go wrong...and this is not a solicited nor a planted review...this is real...I have spent time in Italy...these people know exactly what they are doing, and they are doing a job that would exceed anyones expectations.
And finally a very strong thank you to the publisher...a number of frescoes, which I had requested after the first books, were captured in this one, I can only hope that my reviews could contribute to the strategic direction of such great work.
Another in the incredible series It's said that more cultural history can be found in Italy than the rest of the world combined. Nowhere is that better demonstrated than in the masterpieces on the walls of Italian churches and palazzos, still vibrant and alive after 400+ years -a truly amazing medium that reached it's peak in a 200 year period from 1400 - 1600. From the Alps to Sicily, some of the greatest of all frescoes are shown beautifully in this volume. You will not see better photography of these extraordinary frescoe cycles anywhere, and, although the author is new to this series(Kliemann)there is no drop off of historical and artistic insight and explanation in the editorial portion of the book. The other two volumes in this series (Early Renaissance and High Renaissance) are masterworks worthy of a museum. In exploring the later cycles, this book equals or exceeds the previous two. If you have seen any of these frescoes, you will find this book fascinating. If you long to visit Italia to see them but can't, this is as good a look as you could ever hope to have. Rich, dense, and beautiful beyond words, this is the kind of book you can spend a long long time with and treasure forever. Worth every penny and more.
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