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Thomas Lawrence (Chaucer Art) by Geoffrey Ashton
– Hardcover: 144 pages International Publishers Marketing;
Illustrate edition (January 13, 2006)
Sir Thomas Lawrence painted some of the best known and loved
images of the Regency period, Cherry Ripe, Pinkie and Master
William Lambton (The Red Boy) which became some of the most
famous images of Victorian and early twentieth century times.
However, Lawrence's real genius was to bring to life a huge
cross-section of late Georgian and Regency society. These range
from the elderly and kindly Queen Charlotte, wife of George
III, to the swashbuckling grandees of parliament and church.
Lawrence had an uncanny ability to bring society to life, even
when he was painting the Archbishop of Canterbury. Today, he
is also regarded as the leading portrait painter of the whole
of Europe of his time, and is best seen in the Waterloo Chamber
at Windsor Castle, where the Pope presides over the allied monarchs
of Europe who defeated Napoleon. This beautifully illustrated
book contains some of his finest work.
Raphael
by Pierluigi De Vecchi – Hardcover: 386 pages Publisher:
Abbeville Press; 1st edition (December 1, 2002)
All of Raphael's most important paintings as well as a significant
number of his drawings and engravings are reproduced, principally
in color, in this splendid new tribute to one of the most admired
artists of the Italian Renaissance.
In this lavishly illustrated book featuring some 300 illustrations, the author takes
a fresh, critical look at the life and work of Rafaello Sanzio, or, as he signed certain
paintings, Raphael Urbinas—in homage to his native city of Urbino. Described as
"an artist touched by grace," Raphael is considered along with Michelangelo
and Leonardo to be one of the greatest painters of the Italian Renaissance.
Raphael (1483-1520), whose birth and death were on a Good Friday, belonged to a family
of merchants; aside from his training in the studio of Perugino, little is known about
his earliest years. He arrived in Florence in 1504, where he studied the masters: Masaccio,
Ghirlandaio, Leonardo and produced magnificent paintings of the Madonna as well as remarkable
portraits; in 1508 he went to Rome, where he died a dozen years later at the height
of his powers, after creating monumental works at the Vatican. At thirty years of age,
he was, in the eyes of his contemporaries, a living legend. In his Lives of the Artists,
Vasari wrote: " While we may term other works paintings, those of Raphael are living
things, the flesh palpitates, the breath comes and goes, every organ lives, life pulsates
everywhere."
In a fascinating text De Vecchi reexamines each of the major periods of Raphael's short
career dispelling the myths about him that have accumulated over the centuries. He reminds
us that the most "profound" element of Raphael's art was his striving to express
in his work the dialectic between earthly and heavenly love, which was an important
concern of his contemporaries The coverage of the text extends beyond the paintings
to Raphael's significant work as an architect and designer of interiors. The reference
material in the Appendix includes a chronology and a bibliography.
Hailed as the greatest Venetian painter after Titian, Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556) is known
for a delightfully idiosyncratic artistic vision that has special appeal for 20th-century
sensibilities. The authors draw on a large number of original documents, including Lotto's
will, letters, and meticulously kept account books. The volume also describes and reproduces
many of Lotto's paintings such as SAINT JEROME IN THE WILDERNESS. 80 color and 100 b&w
illustrations.
These two volumes follow 25 others in the "Pegasus Library" series, advertised
as presenting "the passions that drive the masters." Waldmann, a Spanish art
specialist, delves into the suspicion some people have entertained over the centuries
that Francisco de Goya and one of his patrons, the 13th Duchess of Alba, had an adulterous
relationship. Some intriguing paintings, drawings, and prints produced in the 1790s
suggest that perhaps they did, but the salacious quotes from a romantic novel and a
final image of the duchess's exhumed and decayed corpse are more suited to a tabloid.
In contrast, Zollner (art history, Univ. of Leipzig) uses Sandro Botticelli's art to
explore virtuous love within marriage. He discusses the intended usage of the paintings
in Italian bridal chambers and cites classical and Renaissance literary references for
his analysis of iconographic motifs in "La Primavera," "Birth of Venus,"
and several other paintings. Translated from German, the text of both books flows clearly;
they are sturdily constructed, and the color illustrations complement the text well.
Certain aspects, however, such as the slender physical format and dust jackets with
erotic spine and cover designs, suggest that these books are intended for gift-giving
or collecting rather than purchase by libraries. The exception would be libraries that
acquire every title on a particular artist. —Anne Marie Lane, American Heritage
Ctr., Laramie, WY Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Botticelli: Life and Work by Ronald Lightbown – Hardcover, 336 pages
(November 1989) Abbeville Press, Inc.
Every aspect of Botticelli's work—his devotional and secular art, portraits, illustrations,
and depictions of classical myth—are examined with a text that is a perfect complement
to the magnificent art. 350 illustrations, 250 in full color.
Giotto (1266-1337) is considered one of the founders of modern painting, having broken
away from the rigid, stereotyped figures of Byzantine and medieval art to give his characters
natural expression and solid three-dimensionality. D'Arcais leads readers on a chronological
survey of Giotto's life and works. Features hundreds of colorful reproductions of his
paintings.
Piero
Della Francesca by Maurizio Calvesi, Andrew Ellis (Translator) – Hardcover,
248 pages (November 1998) Rizzoli International Publications
Holbein (Colour Library) by Helen Langdon – Paperback, Published by
Phaidon/Chronicle Books, 1993
Georges De LA Tour by Jacques Thuillier – Hardcover, 320 pages (October
1993) Abbeville Press, Inc.
Georges de La Tour ranks with Vermeer and the Le Nain brothers among those seventeenth-century
painters whose unmistakable talent is matched only by the aura of mystery that surrounds
the artists themselves. Jacques Thuillier's groundbreaking monograph, first published
in 1993, places La Tour's oeuvre in the specific context of the Lorraine region where
he lived and worked, but also repositions La Tour alongside the greatest European masters.
Available for the first time in paperback, this beautifully designed volume, complete
with an illustrated catalogue raisonné and translations of key documentary sources,
remains the essential reference work on this important and fascinating artist.
Hans Holbein by Oskar Batschmann, Pascal Griener (Translator), Cecilia Hurley
(Translator) – Hardcover, 256 pages (September 1997) Princeton Univ Press
To commemorate the 500th anniversary of the birth of Renaissance artist Hans Holbein
the Younger (1497-1543), Court Painter to England's Henry VIII, this richly illustrated
work provides a major advance in our understanding of Holbein's contribution to European
art. 70 color illustrations. 190 b&w photos.
Sir Thomas Lawrence by Michael Levey – Hardcover:
256 pages Publisher: Yale University Press (March 8, 2006)
Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830) was the most gifted and successful
British portrait painter in the generation following Gainsborough
and Reynolds, and his pre-eminence was confirmed by his election
as President of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1820. Yet Lawrence’s
work has often been dismissed as flashy and meretricious.
This beautifully illustrated, eloquently written, and comprehensive
account reverses that view, demonstrating that Lawrence was
an intelligent, hard-working, and profoundly conscientious
artist.
The book is the first sustained study of Lawrence’s work
in many years, and the first ever to look closely at his highly
accomplished drawings as well as his paintings. Tracing the
steps in his career, Michael Levey analyses and illustrates
the finest of Lawrence’s achievements, making pertinent
comparisons with the work of British contemporaries and with
foreign artists like Goya and Ingres. Utilizing published
and unpublished sources and focusing detailed attention on
individual works, Levey presents a persuasive argument for
reconsideration of Lawrence as an artist of the top rank.
George Romney 1734-1802 by Alex Kidson – Paperback
Publisher: National Portrait Gallery (February 22, 2002)
George Romney, 1734-1802 by Alex Kidson – Hardcover:
256 pages Publisher: Princeton University Press (February
19, 2002)
This handsome catalogue, which accompanies a major international
exhibition commemorating the bicentennial of George Romney's
death, offers the first in-depth modern overview of a key
figure in eighteenth-century British art. Romney was the main
rival of Sir Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough—and
for much of his career more fashionable than either. A
century ago, collectors fought to buy the portraits he created
with a distinctive mix of elegance, mannerism, and informality;
especially popular were those of Emma Hart (later the notorious
Lady Hamilton), who became his favorite model and muse. Romney's
chief ambition, however, was to succeed as a history painter,
and he made countless drawings for literary and mythological
pictures that he never had time to paint. These drawings,
executed with a spontaneity and dramatic expressiveness that
have appealed to many modern artists, mark Romney as one of
the first Romantics.
Reproducing over two hundred works, this is the most generously
illustrated volume on Romney to date. In a major departure
from earlier treatments, the book devotes equal attention
to his drawings and his paintings, persuasively demonstrating
how interdependent the two media were in his art. Alex Kidson
has written an invitingly personal, intriguingly speculative
text, in which Romney emerges as one of the most brilliant
and inventive artists of his time. From now on, any serious
consideration of his work must begin with this book.
Correggio by David Ekserdjian – Hardcover,
288 pages (February 1998) Yale Univ Press
This beautifully illustrated book is the first full-scale
chronological and critical account of the paintings and drawings
of Correggio (1489-1534)—a genius of the Italian Renaissance.
The author places the artist in the context of 16th-century
Italy and his isolation from fellow artists of the period,
examines his particular creative process, and sheds new light
on Correggio's patrons. 200 color and 50 b&w illustrations.
Correggio (The Library of Great Masters) by Lucia
Fornari Schianchi, Schianch, Correggio, Book Co Riverside,
Lucia F. Schianchi, Christopher Evans – Paperback (November
1994) Riverside Book Company
Correggio is the twenty-second artist to be profiled in this
reasonably priced yet high-quality paperback series devoted
to artists of the Italian Renaissance. Each volume in the
Library of Great Masters provides succinct historical and
biographical information about the artist and his work, accompanied
by approximately 100 colorplates including many full-page
(81/4 inches by 11 inches) reproductions.
Washington Times, January 11, 1998 The production of
the book is elegant, as befits Giorgione: wide margins, very
high quality color plates, close-ups that allow one to drink
in the special Giorgione effect.
An Umbrian painter, student of Piero della Francesco (with
fellow student Leonardo), master of a great Florentine workshop,
supervisor of the Sistine Chapel wall paintings of Botticelli,
Ghirlandiao, Signorelli, and others (before Michelangelo),
teacher of Raphael, and inspiration of the Pre-Raphaelites,
Perugino?born Pietro di Cristoforo Vannucci (1450-1523)?has
had a one-man show in Grand Rapids, MI, after 500 years. This
is also the first exhibit of his work outside Italy in 50
years. Nine Italian and American scholars have contributed
brief, informative essays to this book. The core, however,
is a catalog of the 35 works of art exhibited, including nine
paintings shipped from the National Gallery of Umbria, Perugia,
sister city of Grand Rapids, and 26 borrowed from museums
in the United States. This stunning, beautifully rendered
monograph provides a modern reappraisal of Perugino's entire
career; one has to reach all the way back to 1933 (R. Van
Marle, The Development of the Italian School of Painting,
Vol. 14) for as complete a treatment of Perugino in English.
An annotated chronology reflects the latest scholarship. Essential
for anyone with an interest in Renaissance art. —Ellen
Bates, New York Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From 1514 to 1542, Dosso Dossi was official painter to the
court of Ferrara, one of the most enlightened centers of the
Italian High Renaissance. His accomplished allegorical works
and landscapes were very highly regarded—in 1568, Vasari,
the leading critic of the time, described him as the greatest
landscape painter in northern Italy. This book catalogs almost
all of Dosso's surviving paintings, brought together in exhibitions
by the Metropolitan Museum in New York and the Getty Museum
in L.A.
Georges De LA Tour and His WorldPaperback,
Natl Gallery of Art (June 1996) by Philip Conisbee (Editor),
Georges Du Mesnil d LA Tour, Philip Conishee
Georges de La Tour, now considered one of the greatest painters
of 17th-century France, was virtually forgotten until the
early 20th century. Since the major retrospective in Paris
in 1972, new paintings have continued to emerge. This beautiful
book is a complete overview of La Tour's work and will serve
as the catalogue for a major exhibition opening at the National
Gallery in October 1996. 40 b&w illustrations. 150 color plates.
Pierre-Paul Prud'Hon by Sylvain Laveissiere, N.
Metropolitan Museum of Art – Hardcover, 368 pages (April
1998) Harry N Abrams
In an age of great painters like David, Gericault, and Delacroix,
Pierre-Paul Prud'hon's (1758-1823) anomalous genius seems
to stand slightly apart and below. A romantic Neoclassicist
and a proto-Romantic classicist, the French master could boast
a considerable achievement, amply expatiated and reverently
documented in this handsome exhibition catalog by Laveissiere,
who is compiling the catalogue raisonne on Prud'hon. While
every aspect of the artist's creative range is given its due,
his complex allegorical compositions and his extraordinarily
accomplished and justly famous nude academies will continue
to garner the greatest appreciation. Not slighted, however,
is his genuine achievement as illustrator and painter of portraits
and mythologies. Collections with an interest in this critical
art historical moment will wish to acquire this now-fundamental
volume. —Robert Cahn, Fashion Inst. of Technology, New
York Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
The Atlantic Monthly, Phoebe-Lou Adams Pierre-Paul
Prud'hon (1758-1823) was a painter and decorator
who enjoyed considerable success before withdrawing
into collaboration with Constance Mayer. He
did less and less painting of his own but spent
a great deal of time on what was considered
student practice—chalk studies of nudes.
Prud'hon was a masterly draftsman, and the drawings
(académies) reproduced in this generously illustrated
book are impressive. They are also a bit strange.
The female nudes are graceful nymphs doing nothing
in particular. The male nudes, in contrast,
are usually actively posed and frequently display
girlishly pretty heads incongruously attached
to heavily muscled adult bodies. Mr. Elderfield's
text never truly accounts for this sexual disparity,
but he makes a brave attempt at it, and the
drawings can easily and happily be enjoyed for
their own sake.
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Thomas Lawrence (Chaucer Art)
Anecdote Lives of William Hogarth, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Thomas
Gainsborough, Henry Fuseli, Sir Thomas Lawrence and J.M.W. Turner
A
Striking Likeness: The Life of George Romney
Raphael
Lorenzo Lotto: Rediscovered Master of the Renaissance
Botticelli: Images of Love and Spring (Pegasus Library) 
Botticelli: Life and Work 
Giotto 
Piero
Della Francesca 
Holbein
Holbein Portrait Drawings: 44 Plates
Georges De LA Tour 
Hans Holbein 
Sir Thomas Lawrence 
George Romney 1734-1802
Correggio 
Correggio (The Library of Great Masters)
Giorgione: The Painter of 'Poetic Brevity': Including Catalogue
Raisonne 
Pietro
Perugino: Master of the Italian Renaissance
Dosso Dossi: Court Painter in Renaissance Ferrara 
Georges De LA Tour and His World
Pierre-Paul Prud'Hon
The Language of the Body: Drawings by Pierre-Paul Prud'Hon
