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Summary
Summary
Between the `Black Death' in the mid-fourteenth century and the French invasions at the end of the fifteenth, artists such as Masaccio, Donatello, Fra Angelico, and Leonardo, working in the kingdoms, princedoms, and republics of the Italian peninsula, created some of the most influential and exciting works in a variety of artistic fields. Yet the traditional story of the Renaissance has been dramatically revised in the light of new scholarship, and new issues have greatly enriched our understanding of the period. Emphasis has been placed on recreating the experience of contemporary Italians - the patrons who commissioned the works, the members of the public who viewed them, and the artists who produced them. In this book Evelyn Welch presents a fresh picture of the Italian Renaissance. Giving equal weight to the Italian regions outside Florence, she discusses a wide range of works, from paintings to coins, and from sculptures to tapestries, examines the issues of materials, workshop practises, and artist-patron relationships, and explores the ways in which visual imagery related to contemporary sexual, social and political behaviour.
Reviews (3)
Booklist Review
The Oxford University Press has long published works that combine scholarliness with accessibility. The Oxford History of Art series exemplifies their signature style with the added value of gorgeous reproductions. The series promises to be a grand and inclusive series of truly global dimensions. Each of the inaugural five volumes presents sumptuous reproductions and dynamic syntheses of artistic and historical themes. The authors offer fresh and stimulating theories of how art has defined and challenged national and regional identities and mirrored or questioned officially sanctioned gender roles and class divisions. In the three volumes about art in Europe and China, the authors, art historians with impeccable credentials and engaging prose styles, carefully resurrect neglected or forgotten artists; trace important artist-mentor relationships; reveal the nexus between art, religion, and politics; explore the connections between fine and decorative arts; and track the symbiotic evolution of art and technology, a theme found front and center stage in the series' excellent volumes on photography and twentieth-century design. With nearly 50 projected titles, the Oxford History of Art will become a mainstay in art history collections. --Donna Seaman
Choice Review
Part of the "Oxford History of Art" series, this book beautifully articulates and comprehensively introduces the artistic organization and patronage of Renaissance art and its function within the society. Welch (European studies, Univ. of Sussex) presents the material topically rather than chronologically, with chapters on the artistic enterprise, audience, art and politics, and art and the domestic setting. Within these chapters she presents the widest range of examples, including manuscript pages, designs for textiles, and majolica. Although the familiar works by major artistic figures do appear, the book is especially rich in its presentation of little-known works, providing new texture to the fabric of Renaissance art history. In addition, original sources are integrated seamlessly into the text, giving vivid glimpses of the everyday business of art. The color illustrations are of uniformly high quality. Ample numbers of architectural plans and reconstructions of disassembled altarpieces are included, which deepens one's understanding of works in their original settings. The book includes a remarkably up-to-date and thorough bibliographic essay and a useful time line. General; undergraduate (including two-year technical program). J. T. Paoletti Wesleyan University
Library Journal Review
Turner's (arts and humanities, New York Univ.) introduction to early Renaissance Florence neatly articulates the economic, political, and religious milieu of the city's artistic efflorescence. Within that context, he artfully limns an image of the expanding urban fabric of the 14th and 15th centuries. Besides evoking the problems of artistic function, patronage, and the training and professional life of the artist, the author articulates the intricate stylistic byways that mark the onset of the new Renaissance approach in sculpture, architecture, and painting, including a survey of the interior decoration of monasteries and homes and a contextual overview of some of the key monuments of the later 15th century. While unsurprising in its approach and conclusions, this carefully etched work is more than adequate as a primer to the study of the early Renaissance in Florence. Welch (Art and Authority in Renaissance Milan, Yale Univ., 1995) casts his investigative net over all Italy. Giving particular emphasis to the social ambiance in which art is produced and consumed, his discussion is marked by its scholarly breadth, clarity of argument, and willingness to include objects not within the canonic corpus. Readers should derive a deeper appreciation of the way contemporaries may have experienced works of art and the historical, religious, and intellectual environment from which they emerged. Along with keen analyses of the materials and the making of objects, workshop practices, and the relationship of artists and patrons, the context and function of sacred, public, and domestic works are vividly delineated here. While largely eschewing the formal analysis of traditional art history, Welch's deeply informed and wide-ranging synthesis is a significant and welcome addition to the literature.Robert Cahn, Fashion Inst. of Technology, New York (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.