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Los secretos de las obras de arte: Renacimiento italiano
Awe-inspiring classics become accessible, captivating stories thanks to this investigation into the covert world of Renaissance masterpieces. From Botticelli to Michelangelo, delve into the works of Italian masters like never before. Rose-Marie and Rainer Hagen meticulously dissect 12 key pieces alongside analytical essays and enlarged details to explore what makes these works so exceptional.
- GenresArtHistoryRenaissance
96 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 24, 2018
A wonderfully elucidating analysis of twelve Renaissance paintings, completed in the hundred years from the 1440s to the 1540s and presented in chronological order. Each work is discussed within historical and cultural context—both that of the depicted subject and that of the artist’s life—and then certain features are enlarged and explained in more particulars.
The glossy pages and the quality of the reproductions make studying the pictures independently a worthy pursuit in its own right.
Two audiences will benefit from the presentation: firstly, anyone interested in the Italian Renaissance; secondly, anyone interested in the interpretation of symbols on paintings generally. The name of the series clearly indicates this is not a book geared at experts.
The book features the following twelve paintings, in this order:
Paolo Uccello, The Battle of San Romano,
Benozzo Gozzoli, Procession of the Magi,
Antonello da Messina, St Jerome,
Sandro Botticelli, Primavera—Spring,
Ercole de’ Roberti, Lorenzo Costa, The Ship of the Argonauts,
Sandro Botticeli, The Story of Nastagio degli Onesti,
Michelangelo, The Creation of Adam,
Pinturicchio, Penelope and the Suitors,
Giorgione, The Tempest (La Tempesta),
Raphael, The Sistine Madonna,
Raphael, The Fire in the Borgo,
Dossso Dossi, Witchcraft of Allegory of Hercules.
Here is an example of the type of interesting points you may learn about a painting. Take Antonello da Messina’s St Jerome (c. 1475).
Notice the animals in the picture: a lion on the right, walking through the shadows, a peacock and a partridge at the front.
The two birds at the foreground signify Jerome’s poise between good and evil, between Hell and Heaven: he was rumoured not to have been a sinless man in life, though his deeds expatiated him eventually and he became a saint (depicted as a cardinal, though he was not one in life). In particular, the partridge is a symbol of the devil trapping the young, as it stole the eggs of other birds. The peacock, on the other hand, had been in heaven, and especially with its folded, non-pretentious tail, it was a symbol of goodness. It also faces a bowl, which at the time of painting, would have been seen as a baptismal font.
As an introductory book, I very much enjoyed it, and would highly recommend it. A full five stars in that category.
Overall, however, it’s four stars, because once an (adult) reader has imbibed its contents, the next natural step would be to seek out deeper, more detailed studies, and not to return and revisit.
The glossy pages and the quality of the reproductions make studying the pictures independently a worthy pursuit in its own right.
Two audiences will benefit from the presentation: firstly, anyone interested in the Italian Renaissance; secondly, anyone interested in the interpretation of symbols on paintings generally. The name of the series clearly indicates this is not a book geared at experts.
The book features the following twelve paintings, in this order:
Paolo Uccello, The Battle of San Romano,
Benozzo Gozzoli, Procession of the Magi,
Antonello da Messina, St Jerome,
Sandro Botticelli, Primavera—Spring,
Ercole de’ Roberti, Lorenzo Costa, The Ship of the Argonauts,
Sandro Botticeli, The Story of Nastagio degli Onesti,
Michelangelo, The Creation of Adam,
Pinturicchio, Penelope and the Suitors,
Giorgione, The Tempest (La Tempesta),
Raphael, The Sistine Madonna,
Raphael, The Fire in the Borgo,
Dossso Dossi, Witchcraft of Allegory of Hercules.
Here is an example of the type of interesting points you may learn about a painting. Take Antonello da Messina’s St Jerome (c. 1475).
Notice the animals in the picture: a lion on the right, walking through the shadows, a peacock and a partridge at the front.
Legend had it that a lion came limping up into the monastery, and all the other monks fled. Jerome, however so the story goes, “approached him as if he were welcoming a guest.” He called back the other monks, and together they sought the lion’s injury, found a thorn, and pulled it out. In art, the saint was portrayed performing this treatment himself.
The two birds at the foreground signify Jerome’s poise between good and evil, between Hell and Heaven: he was rumoured not to have been a sinless man in life, though his deeds expatiated him eventually and he became a saint (depicted as a cardinal, though he was not one in life). In particular, the partridge is a symbol of the devil trapping the young, as it stole the eggs of other birds. The peacock, on the other hand, had been in heaven, and especially with its folded, non-pretentious tail, it was a symbol of goodness. It also faces a bowl, which at the time of painting, would have been seen as a baptismal font.
As an introductory book, I very much enjoyed it, and would highly recommend it. A full five stars in that category.
Overall, however, it’s four stars, because once an (adult) reader has imbibed its contents, the next natural step would be to seek out deeper, more detailed studies, and not to return and revisit.
February 21, 2019
Uno dei principali meriti della pittura è la conquista dello spazio. Gli artisti gotici avevano rappresentato il cielo, simbolo di eternità e del regno di Dio, come un'enorme distesa che sovrastava una sottile striscia di terra. I pittori del primo Rinascimento mostravano invece lo spazio come appariva agli occhi.
January 25, 2022
I love reading these break downs of paintings. Looking forward to learning more
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews