Our
Favorite Books about Artists working in the Renaissance
Renaissance
Rivals: Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael, Titian
by Rona Goffen
Walking Tours of
Florence loves to tell fascinating tales about the rivalry between the
great masters of Italian Renaissance art. If visting Florence you can
find out more on our Original Florence Walk
and Uffizi tours. or read this book!
The
Agony and the Ecstasy: A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo
by Irving Stone
The all time classic
on the life of Michelangelo. Walking
Tours of Florence can organize private tours of Michelangelo's favorite
places to hang out in Florence.
The
Lives of the Artists (Oxford World's Classics)
by Giorgio Vasari, Julia Conaway Bondanella (Translator),
Peter Bondanella (Translator), Giorgi Vasari
This book by Vasari
is the primary source on the artists that lived in the Reniassance.
Vasari knew Michelangelo personally and was an artist himself.
This book has been
used extensivly by Walking Tours of Florence as a source of information
for tours.
Brunelleschi's
Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture
by Ross King
A delightful new book
focusing on the incredible achievment which was the building of the dome
on Florence's Cathedral, full of intetresting information and told beautifully.
Michelangelo:
The Complete Sculpture, Painting, Architecture
by Michelangelo Buonarroti, William E. Wallace
How
to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day
by Michael J. Gelb
Amazon.com
Here's a personal growth guidebook that's won the admiration and recommendation
of Ted Hughes, Poet Laureate of England. He calls this "a brilliant,
practical guide to awakening and training our vast, unused resources of
intelligence and ability." Author Michael Gelb, founder of High Performance
Learning and consultant for companies including AT&T and National
Public Radio, says that we all can unlock the "da Vincian" genius
inside us. Gelb says there are seven critical principles that need to
be followed for success, whether you're learning a new language, studying
to be a gourmet chef, or just hoping to be more effective on the job:
Curiosita: An insatiably
curious approach to life.
Dimonstratzione: A commitment to test knowledge through experience.
Sensazione: The continual refinement of the senses, especially sight,
as the means to clarify experience.
Sfumato: A willingness to embrace ambiguity, paradox, and uncertainty.
Arte/Scienza: The development of the balance between science and art,
logic and imagination ("whole-brain thinking").
Corporalita: The cultivation of ambidexterity, fitness, and poise.
Connessione: A recognition and appreciation for the connectedness of
all things and phenomena; "systems thinking."
Gelb discusses each of these principles in relation to what da Vinci
accomplished, thereby giving this book a built-in history lesson. The
illustrations from the master's work and time add a nice warmth to the
work. As the president of NPR said after working with Gelb, this is
a program recommended for "anyone who wants to experience a personal
and professional Renaissance." --
Leonardo
Da Vinci: Origins of a Genius
by David Alan Brown
Andrew Butterfield, New Republic
David Alan Brown illuminates Leonardo's early career better than anyone
has previously. . . . His account is learned and intuitive, and he presents
his conclusions in clear and fearless prose. . . . To say anything intelligent
and new about Leonardo requires a great deal of looking and a certain
measure of daring. Brown's book exhibits both of these virtues.
Book Description
This beautiful book is the first full-length study of Leonardo's beginnings
as an artist. It discusses his years in Verrocchio's workshop and his
subsequent work on his own, the development of his technique, and the
relationship of his early paintings to each other and to their sources.
Sandro
Botticelli: Life and Work
by Ronald Lightbown
San Diego Tribune, 12/8/89
Lightbown's monograph . . . has long been considered the definitive text
on Botticelli. A newly revised version just released updates the author's
critical consideration of the artist's work, and presents new, fresh illustrations
of works that have been cleaned in the past decade. . . . Even in reproduction
these works have never looked so good.
Ingram
Every aspect of Botticelli's work--his devotional and secular art, portraits,
illustrations, and depictions of classical myth--are examined with a
text that is a perfect complement to the magnificent art. 350 illustrations,
250 in full color.
Raphael
by Pierluigi De Vecchi
All of Raphael's most important paintings as well as a significant number
of his drawings and engravings are reproduced, principally in color, in
this splendid new tribute to one of the most admired artists of the Italian
Renaissance.
Raphael:
The Stanza Della Segnatura (The Great Fresco Cycles of the Renaissance)
by James Beck
This diverse, lavishly
illustrated group is unified by its focus on the art form of the fresco--the
application of pigment to wet plaster--and can be taken together or
separately, highlighting the beginning, middle, and end of the Renaissance.
With diagrams and background material, these books simplify the planning
and execution of frescos so that even young adults can understand these
great undertakings. Cole's book begins by describing the medium and
method of fresco painting and can function as an introduction to the
series. It then discusses the Scrovegni Chapel, one of the early complete
cycles of Giotto. Cole explains clearly the significance of the individual
works in the cycle, which movingly tell the story of redemption through
Christ. Background on the Scrovegni family, who commissioned the work,
along with some biographical facts about the painter, who presaged the
Renaissance with lifelike figures and emotional expression rather than
Byzantine symbolic form. The Brancacci Chapel has been the subject of
much attention since the completion of its restoration in 1990. Ladis
is not so much concerned with conservation as with the art of fresco
painting, covering similar territory as Cole in his opening chapter,
though more briefly. He provides one diagram, which shows the layout
of individual paintings on the wall and who the artist for each was--e.g.,
Massaccio, Masolino, and Filippino Lippi--so one can compare the contrasting
and complementing styles. Another diagram of Masaccio's famous painting,
``The Tribute Money,'' numbers the order in which the plaster segments
were painted Beck describes the interaction of the paintings in the
Stanza, which embody the four areas of knowledge at the time--poetry,
philosophy, theology, and justice. The book is liberally illustrated
with color plates and contains biographical information about Raphael,
who was originally commissioned by Pope Julius II to paint the Stanza
as a library. Each of these beautifully produced volumes contain a tailored,
selected bibliography and a glossary of fresco terms. They will introduce
the student, traveler, and interested lay reader to Western civilization's
unequaled art. Highly recommended for most art book collections.
Ellen Bates, New
YorkCopyright 1993 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
This list has only just begun, please visit often to see what is on
offer
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