Renaissance Faces: Van Eyck to Titian
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,History & Criticism
Renaissance Faces: Van Eyck to Titian Details
Review "Handsomely reproduced. As enjoyable an art book as I've opened this season. The illustrations include some of the best work of Raphael, Titian, Holbein."—Robert Fulford, National Post (Robert Fulford National Post 2008-12-09)"The entire book was printed in color with high-quality images, making it an important visual resource. . . . An extremely valuable contribution to our understanding of portraiture, Renaissance Faces is highly recommended for students and scholars alike."—Annemarie Sawkins, (Annemarie Sawkins Sixteenth Century Journal) Read more About the Author Lorne Campbell is Beaumont Senior Research Curator and Luke Syson is curator of Italian paintings 1460–1500 at the National Gallery, London. Miguel Falomir is head curator of Italian Renaissance painting at the Museo Nacional del Prado. Jennifer Fletcher was until recently senior lecturer at the Courtauld Institute. Read more
Reviews
The catalogue for the current exhibition at the National Gallery in London, this book is a wonderful study of the art of portraiture in the Renaissance. Highlighting famous works by Van Eyck (the Arnolfini Betrothal), Holbein (the Ambassadors)or Raphael that belong to the museum, alongside lesser-known works by the likes of Metsys (a wonderful pair of portraits from 1513, one - long a part of the National Gallery's collection - of an ugly old woman, and its companion piece, an old man - probably her unlucky husband - belonging to a private collection), Pontormo or Beccafumi, the book succeeds in placing the portraits in their historical context, explaining their role in Renaissance society and stressing the fact that many were painted based on oral descriptions of the model or even by studying the corpse of the dead model, making the posthumous portrait a genre in its own right (as in the famous portrait by Ghirlandaio of an old man with his famously ugly nose, now in the Louvre).Top-quality illustrations make this book a valuable addition to any fine arts library.