More than 1000 illustrations, including 578 plates in full color. First edition. Fine condition in fine dust jacket. Includes biographical dictionary, timeline, bibliography and index.
This book is aimed at beginners, it provides few details (eg, work locations are missing) and the text is terse, yet it contains such an extraordinary wealth of well chosen, thematically-arranged pictures that even if you are particularly knowledgeable about Renaissance art, browsing it will each time bring new joys and ideas.
The Renaissance is such a vast subject that this barely scratches the surface of it. But it uses contemporary illustrative materials in an innovative, thematic approach that demonstrates the scope of the Renaissance while inviting the casual reader to study deeper. Thoroughly recommended.
Failed to deliver in the way the companion 'The Medieval World Complete' did deliver to really explain that time and place. Good presentation of art ...that's all
A lavishly illustrated overview of the European Renaissance. Aston balances the Italian origins of the movement with a solid understanding of its spread across Europe. The appendices are useful supplements to the beautiful plates.
Not an easy read in places but it still manages to be close to a masterpiece in itself. The author somehow manages to show paintings, sculpture and architecture from every aspect of renaissance life but covers each subject to the extent that you feel you know Leonardo's every brush stroke and toilet break. Never read a book quite like it.