What do you think?
Rate this book
World of Art
The High Renaissance and Mannerism: Italy, the North, and Spain, 1500-1600
After the death of Raphael in 1520, the next generation in Italy was to see the rise of the complex and refined sensibility summed up in the term "Mannerism." In this uniquely comprehensive guide to sixteenth-century Renaissance art, Linda Murray examines the manifold achievements of Italian artists and identifies the individual forms taken by artists in Northern Europe and in Spain, including Durer, Bruegel and El Greco.
287 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1967
5 people are currently reading
104 people want to read
About the author
Linda Murray
18 books1 followerLinda Murray, née Bramley, (31 October 1913 - 12 November 2004) was a British Renaissance scholar and art historian.
Murray wrote numerous of books with her husband, Peter Murray.
She was the daughter of J. F. Bramley, an exporter, and Hélène Marie Blanche Manso di Villa. She was educated principally by her mother, preferring to travel with them rather than attend boarding school. French and English were her native tongues; she rapidly learned Spanish and Italian.
She studied painting at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts, Brussels. During World War II Bramley worked for the U.S. High Command in London where her skill as an artist was put to work drawing maps of the damage from bombing raids on the continent. She moved to Eisenhower’s staff engaged in intelligence. After the war she entered the Courtauld Institute where her classmates included Oliver Millar (q.v.) and Peter Murray (q.v.). She married Murray in 1947. As Linda Murray, she began teaching in London University’s department of extramural studies in 1949.
Although she taught a variety of subjects, her medieval architecture classes and tours were especially popular. In 1952 she and her husband, now a lecturer at the Courtauld, channeled their pedagogical energies into two support works of art history, a translation, Classic Art: An Introduction to the Italian Renaissance, by Heinrich Wölfflin (q.v.), and the Dictionary of Art and Artists. The Dictionary established their collaborative working method: dividing the research and write up between them and then passing it to the other for revision. The Dictionary was an immediate success and pair became the most famous "art history couple" in the modern age...
Read more via the Dictionary of Art Historians.
Murray wrote numerous of books with her husband, Peter Murray.
She was the daughter of J. F. Bramley, an exporter, and Hélène Marie Blanche Manso di Villa. She was educated principally by her mother, preferring to travel with them rather than attend boarding school. French and English were her native tongues; she rapidly learned Spanish and Italian.
She studied painting at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts, Brussels. During World War II Bramley worked for the U.S. High Command in London where her skill as an artist was put to work drawing maps of the damage from bombing raids on the continent. She moved to Eisenhower’s staff engaged in intelligence. After the war she entered the Courtauld Institute where her classmates included Oliver Millar (q.v.) and Peter Murray (q.v.). She married Murray in 1947. As Linda Murray, she began teaching in London University’s department of extramural studies in 1949.
Although she taught a variety of subjects, her medieval architecture classes and tours were especially popular. In 1952 she and her husband, now a lecturer at the Courtauld, channeled their pedagogical energies into two support works of art history, a translation, Classic Art: An Introduction to the Italian Renaissance, by Heinrich Wölfflin (q.v.), and the Dictionary of Art and Artists. The Dictionary established their collaborative working method: dividing the research and write up between them and then passing it to the other for revision. The Dictionary was an immediate success and pair became the most famous "art history couple" in the modern age...
Read more via the Dictionary of Art Historians.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 25, 2017
Maybe it's just a bad idea to read art histories of eras or schools of art that you find utterly uninteresting and repulsive even, because I found this book to be largely uninteresting and not a little repulsive. Whafuck, you might say! This is the era of the Turtles: Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, and that other guy! And yes, yes, I can concede their momentary genius (the bits on the Sistine Chapel and the Last Judgement are the best parts of this book) but overall, aesthetically, they're really sort of dull. Or maybe it's just that this book is dull. It is a wan sort of book and I've read a lot of these kinds of art histories. If the background and set-up of the art is neat, then you gain a new appreciation for the works. A historical and social background especially helps. But here, save for fleeting mentions, any kind of historical setting is reserved well after 200 pages. By that point I was lost in the humdrum details of commissions, columns, and god-awful religious painting.
It's rare to read a book that makes one wonder, is it the book or is there some sort of satanic presence lingering along the rubbery veins linking my brain and eyeball??!?
It's rare to read a book that makes one wonder, is it the book or is there some sort of satanic presence lingering along the rubbery veins linking my brain and eyeball??!?
February 7, 2017
The one I read was just called "The High Renaissance". I was hoping it was going to be more of a cultural exploration, but it turned out to be art critique, which I have learned I definitely don't care about. Art critique, in this instance, means 200 pages of a lady named Linda gushing about how good Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Titian were. I guess she's probably not wrong.
February 16, 2022
Linda Murray has provided an authoritative and comprehensive guide to the art of the sixteenth century, essential reading for anyone with an interest in art history.
Murray reviews the many achievements of Italian artists of the period but also covers the same period in Northern Europe and Spain, in painting, sculpture and architecture. She shows the many links between artists and how these links spread the principles of the art of the period.
Murray’s huge knowledge and understanding of the artists and their art brings a weight to her analysis of this period in art history. Her writing is easily accessible to the reader and her comments are always relevant and clear.
Murray reviews the many achievements of Italian artists of the period but also covers the same period in Northern Europe and Spain, in painting, sculpture and architecture. She shows the many links between artists and how these links spread the principles of the art of the period.
Murray’s huge knowledge and understanding of the artists and their art brings a weight to her analysis of this period in art history. Her writing is easily accessible to the reader and her comments are always relevant and clear.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 20, 2021
Good resource for European Historians. Secondary or tertiary recommendation.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews