Renaissance: The Art of the Italian Renaissance

It's a nice book. I wanted a little more explanation of the paintings regarding who was in the painting and why it was painted.

A beautiful coffee table-quality book filled with high-end pictures of the artistic accomplishments of the Renaissance. A real joy to read.

beautiful

What we have here is a wonderful visual feast of Italian Renaissance art, sculpture and architecture from Tandem Verlag publishers. They have invited Rolf Tomin in as a general editor who (wisely) has decided not to provide all the detailed commentary himself throughout the publication. He has invited ten other scholars in the field who each provide a specialist's viewpoint starting with Alick McLean's Italian Architecture of the Late Middle Ages to Alexander Rauch's Renaissance painting in Venice and Northern Italy.Given the focus only on Italy one is overawed by the sheer volume of the examples of paintings, many of full page size and in bright colour. Total page length is 463, but do not let put you off, as the chapter approach allows you to dip in where you like. Tomin provides the overall context addressing the perennial questions when the Renaissance begins, how to define it,what trends predated it and what changed foci emerged. In Architecture we can see the development of new styles from Brunelleschi's Duomo in Florence,thru Palladio's influence in public buildings and then the magnificent St. Peters in Rome by Michelangelo.The attractions on this book are:* its handy coffee table size* hardbound format with glossy pages* its full colour presentation of the art works* its vast scope from Giotto and his contemporaries to Leonardo and MichelangeloThis is an outstanding example of what publishers can do with books on art history and is a benchmark in the field. The only downside is a rather small fontsize. Designed for students of art history,students of general history and the sophisticated traveler this is a delightful feast for the eyes. Highly recommended.

A very good book. Excellent quality photos and not all of the same old things we have all seen. Interesting text too.

Huge disappointment about print quality issues. Yellowish cast, and (mostly) magenta sky, with notable lack of contrast at many photos. Shame, I love (and own) many of Rolf Toman's books