How to Read Italian Renaissance Painting

True Renaissance art lovers will truly appreciate this book devoted to the era between the 15th through the sixteenth centuries.I have studied art history in college and have been collecting books on art for years especially this era and will treasure this one. This book unlike many others which just have beautiful photographs of paintings with the same type of descriptions and limited information about the painters. This book actually tells the reader the techniques, materials and actual pigments used by many of the painters plus the quality of the reproductions of the paintings is extremely high and was published by Abrams which is one of the best.There is also much description of the symbolism and the deeper meanings of each artwork.Highly recommend this book for Renaissance lovers and other artists who want to know more about this gorgeous era in Italy.

I bought this book as a gift for my wife, as this is the style of art that mostappeals to her. She really loves it. It's choc full of some of the greatestartwork from this era. The only thing I would like to stress is that this bookis not as big as I was expecting. It measures approx 10" x 6", which isjust a little larger than a paperback. A quality book nonetheless, filledwith brilliant examples of artwork in this style throughout.

What a fascinating art history book with hundreds of images and details of Renaissance paintings. Do not let the paperback description discourage you, the book is similiar to the new paperback format that Taschen Publishers have been using for years and I prefer it to the clumsy heavy hardback artbooks.This book will inspire and greatly enlarge reader's knowledge of the Renaissance period and be enjoyable at the same time. Many of the artists and paintings profiled will surprise those readers only familiar with the mainstream artists of the Renaissance such as DaVinci, Michelangelo and Raphael. Did you know that large blonde Italian women were esteemed and painted during the Renaissance, check it out!

Easy to find exactly what you are looking for: FILLED with color photographs of great works. Sorted by category/topic

each double page spread covers a basic renaissance concept in an engaging way without dumbing it down. You can graze it or read it straight through. Ideal for a plane ride over to Italy to get smart in a hurry before you hit the Uffizi.

This book is fantastic and a must read for art lovers and painters who will visit Venice, Florence & Rome. It will enhance your painting viewing experience greatly as you begin to understand the expressions & gestures used by the Renaissance painters. Have a giant magnifying glass nearby to be able to enjoy every detail of the high quality, gorgeous illustrations & photos of the paintings, because in person, these paintings are of huge scale.

Beautiful book. Interesting text. Fine paper. Nice colour Photographs. Well documented.

For its size it is very strong on art history and organized in terms of art themes in a most masterful way. It serves as an introduction to lead you to go into greater depth. A start would be to search Wikipedia for each of the paintings.

I loved it!This book is a dictionary in order to understand the elements of a Renaissance painting. Beautifully enriched with pictures that are used as example of the keyword discussed (Portrait or altarpiece for example), this book would be ideal to bring to an exhibition. However, as dictionary one would expect the first word would be the letter A but it starts with the letter P. So, pity that but my whole mark is 5/5