From Booklist
This is another in the Grove Library of Art, the publisher's spin-off from the magisterial 34-volume
Dictionary of Art (1996). The library is organized into six separate series, covering ancient art, Asian art, African art, Australasian art, European Art, and art of the Americas. We reviewed two volumes from the last group,
Encyclo pedia of American Art before 1914 and
Encyclopedia of Latin American and Caribbean Art, in our April 1, 2000, issue.
Encyclopedia of Italian Renaissance and Mannerist Art covers major artistic developments in Italy during a particularly fertile period, from around 1300 to 1600. There are approximately 1,770 A-Z entries derived from the parent set, accompanied by 1,000 black-and-white illustrations and a section containing almost 200 color plates. Among the topics treated here are the lives and works of Botticelli, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Titian; the design and building of St. Peter's Basilica; the painting of the Sistine Chapel ceiling; the influence of important patrons, such as the Medici; and the arts in Florence, Siena, and Rome. Each article was sent to the original contributor to be reviewed and revised as needed. Additional updating has occurred in the bibliographies. The entry on Perugino, for example, now lists the catalog for the exhibition
Pietro Perugino: Master of the Italian Renaissance, which took place at the Grand Rapids (Michigan) Art Museum in 1997. Many bibliographies include titles published as recently as 1999. Appendixes list the current location of each work of art mentioned, periodical titles cited in abbreviated forms in the bibliographies, standard reference books and series, and contributors.Though by no means inexpensive, these volumes will be welcomed by public and academic libraries that do not have the larger
Dictionary of Art but want to provide a scholarly resource on Italian art of the period. Libraries owning the
Dictionary may wish to add this and other volumes in the Grove Library of Art as more convenient guides to particular aspects of art history. REVWR
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
These two alphabetically arranged volumes cover the major artistic developments in Italy from circa 1300 to circa 1600, a period that marks the Renaissance (or rebirth) of the humanistic spirit of classical antiquity. It is the period in which some of the most famous artists of all time were active, including Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo. Beginning with transitional Late Gothic artists such as Giotto, the biographies trace the evolution of new modes of artistic expression, from scientific naturalism and the development of linear perspective to the exploration of new secular themes derived from Classical literature and mythology. All three phases of Renaissance art are covered, early, high and late (the latter period also known as Mannerist). Besides biographies on all types of artists, from painters, illuminators, sculptors and architects to printmakers and maiolica designers, patrons and collectors, there are entries on styles such as "all'antica", important art forms such as "cassone", cities such as Siena, Florence, Perugia, Venice and in-depth surveys of all the fine and decorative art forms in Italy during the Renaissance and Mannerist periods.
