I would wholeheartedly recommend this book for anyone, from
teenagers onwards, requiring an introduction to current views on
Renaissance art.

Johnson has succeeded in packing a great deal of intelligent discussion into a very limited space. I would wholeheartedly recommend this book for anyone, from teenagers onwards, requiring an introduction to current views on Renaissance Art

Botticelli, Holbein, Leonardo, Dürer, Michelangelo: the names are familiar, as are the works, such as the Last Supper fresco, or the monumental marble statue of David. But who were these artists, why did they produce such memorable images, and how would their original beholders have viewed these objects? Was the Renaissance only about great masters and masterpieces, or were "mistresses" also involved, such as women artists and patrons? And what about the 'minor'-pieces that Renaissance men and women would have encountered in homes, churches and civic spaces? This exciting and stimulating volume will answer such questions by considering both famous and lesser-known artists, patrons and works of art within the cultural and historical context of Renaissance Europe.

Botticelli, Holbein, Leonardo, Durer, Michelangelo: the names are familiar, as are the works, such as the Last Supper fresco, or the monumental marble statue of David. But who were these artists, why did they produce such memorable images, and how would their original beholders have viewed these objects? Was the Renaissance only about great masters and masterpieces, or were "mistresses" also involved, such as women artists and patrons? And what about the 'minor'-pieces that Renaissance men and women would have encountered in homes, churches and civic spaces? This exciting and stimulating volume will answer such questions by considering both famous and lesser-known artists, patrons and works of art within the cultural and historical context of Renaissance Europe.

Geraldine A. Johnson is University Lecturer in History of Art at the University of Oxford, and a fellow of Christ Church, Oxford. She received her Ph.D. from Harvard University. Her publications range from studies of Italian Renaissance art to considerations of contemporary American sculpture, and from women patrons in Early Modern Europe to the history of photography. Her work has appeared in important journals such as The Burlington Magazine, The Art Bulletin,
Art History, and Renaissance Quarterly. In 1997, Cambridge University Press published a prize-winning essay collection she co-edited titled Picturing Women in Renaissance and Baroque Italy. The same press also published another volume she edited in 1998 titled Sculpture and Photography: Envisioning the Third Dimension. At present, she is completing a book on the tactile and visual reception of sculpture in Early Modern Italy.

2008-05-01 Top Notch

Does exactly what it says on the tin. This is a very short introduction to key themes, ideas and works of Renaissance Art. You might think that this doesn't need a comment, given the title of the book, but this OUP series, although always fascinating, is not always geared to the rank amateur and is very much subject to the interests and focus of the particular author. Consequently some books in the series are actually quite specialised and do require prior knowledge of the subject to get the benefit of them. This is not one of them. You do not need to know anything at all about Renaissance art before picking up this book.

It also starts with an invaluable chapter on what the Renaissance actually was and who it applied to, which given the nebulous nature of historical terms is always useful.

The chapters are clearly laid out and well explained. The art works depicted are the ones the author actually talks about, which is not as common as you might think, so definitely worth mentioning. The only short-coming is that the format of the book does not allow for particularly great pictures as they are small, due to the fact that the books are pocket sized, and in black and white, which makes the books more affordable. This is however, the publisher's issue and not the author's, which is why it still gets five stars in my book.

The art works are always discussed in the context of their contemporary use as well as modern understandings and the author does an excellent job of making the reader appreciate the gap between now and then and what it means to those of us interested in understanding the art thoroughly. Highly recommended, one of the best of the OUP series.