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Portraits Unmasked: The Stories Behind the Faces
The world's most famous portraits and the hidden stories behind their subjects are explored in this fascinating and highly entertaining book.
Portraiture is one of the oldest and most studied genres of art. While most scholars will look at a painting's composition, style, and themes, often questions remain unanswered--who were these people and why were they painted? This entertaining book reveals the identities and lives of some of the most famous characters that populate art history--from the Renaissance to the 21st century. Readers will learn how the fifteen-year-old subject of da Vinci's Lady with an Ermine nearly destroyed a marriage; that van Dyck's depiction of Prudence in wild clothes is actually one of the most controversial aristocrats of the seventeenth century; and that Francis Bacon's character George Dyer was a man he met in a Soho nightclub. These and other stories behind works by Picasso, Klimt, Rubens, Warhol, and dozens of other artists show how portraiture remains one of the most enthralling genres. Based on art scholarship and conveyed in an accessible tone, these fascinating tales of power, lust, intrigue, jealousy, vengeance, and romance will help readers understand masterpieces of art history in an entirely new light.
Portraiture is one of the oldest and most studied genres of art. While most scholars will look at a painting's composition, style, and themes, often questions remain unanswered--who were these people and why were they painted? This entertaining book reveals the identities and lives of some of the most famous characters that populate art history--from the Renaissance to the 21st century. Readers will learn how the fifteen-year-old subject of da Vinci's Lady with an Ermine nearly destroyed a marriage; that van Dyck's depiction of Prudence in wild clothes is actually one of the most controversial aristocrats of the seventeenth century; and that Francis Bacon's character George Dyer was a man he met in a Soho nightclub. These and other stories behind works by Picasso, Klimt, Rubens, Warhol, and dozens of other artists show how portraiture remains one of the most enthralling genres. Based on art scholarship and conveyed in an accessible tone, these fascinating tales of power, lust, intrigue, jealousy, vengeance, and romance will help readers understand masterpieces of art history in an entirely new light.
- GenresArtNonfiction
208 pages, Hardcover
Published September 1, 2020
29 people want to read
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November 14, 2020
Fascinating view of portraits through the ages, this time looking at the people portrayed in the paintings. You get a bit about the artist too of course, but little about the technique of the painting, which is fine with me. I'm much more interested in the subject: who they were, why they were painted, their relationship with the artist, if any, and what happened to them later in life. Instead of a strictly chronological arrangement, the paintings are gathered into eight different categories. Within each category the paintings are arranged chronologically. The earliest from da Vinci in 1489-90; the latest from 2016. Most of the artists are well known, others are completely unknown at least to me.
Chapters are: Love will tear us apart; Appearances can be deceiving; Behind the curtains of power; Breaking boundaries; Lives on the fringe; Dangerous liaisons; Family affairs; Remembrance of past memories.
This could have used more editing by somebody. Perhaps the authors, being Italian aren't completely familiar with English? But somebody should have caught and fixed: "she was the nephew" and the prepositional phrase that immediately repeats. Also the reference to Adele Bloch-Bauer's jewelry as a pendant, when it is rightly a choker, collar or necklace. There's no pendant.
One of the strangest is by Frida Kahlo. She painted a Memento mori, or painting of a dead person. Apparently this is an old Mexican custom, popular but expensive. This one is of the 3-year-old son of her housekeeper.
Probably the best known, at least to Americans, is Grant Wood's American Gothic.
Even with the well-known artists, the portrait chosen here is often not among their best-known work, but perhaps chosen for the interesting story of the person portrayed.
Chapters are: Love will tear us apart; Appearances can be deceiving; Behind the curtains of power; Breaking boundaries; Lives on the fringe; Dangerous liaisons; Family affairs; Remembrance of past memories.
This could have used more editing by somebody. Perhaps the authors, being Italian aren't completely familiar with English? But somebody should have caught and fixed: "she was the nephew" and the prepositional phrase that immediately repeats. Also the reference to Adele Bloch-Bauer's jewelry as a pendant, when it is rightly a choker, collar or necklace. There's no pendant.
One of the strangest is by Frida Kahlo. She painted a Memento mori, or painting of a dead person. Apparently this is an old Mexican custom, popular but expensive. This one is of the 3-year-old son of her housekeeper.
Probably the best known, at least to Americans, is Grant Wood's American Gothic.
Even with the well-known artists, the portrait chosen here is often not among their best-known work, but perhaps chosen for the interesting story of the person portrayed.
Displaying 1 of 1 review