History of Italian Renaissance Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture [Englisch] [Gebundene Ausgabe]

I don't give 5-star ratings very often. I reserve them for only the best, and this is indeed the best book on the Italian Renaissance. I received both my BA and MA in Art History and this was the text used for my Renaissance classes. The book does not read as a textbook for those looking for leisure reading. It reads like a novel and is written in easy to understand language. Chapters are broken down by time period. There are a TON of pictures! I would say 50% of the book is pictures and 95% of those are in color. There are a few B&W pictures but they are of rather obscure sculptures or paintings.

The book was originally written by Frederick Harrt who was one of the 'Monument Men' in World War II who went around Italy documenting art, missing, damaged, or otherwise. He has passed away, but David Wilkins has kept up on the new editions with the current scholarship being done in Renaissance Art. Whether you get this as a textbook for a class, or leisure reading, a coffee table book perhaps, or even a Christmas book for a hard-to-buy-for relative, it is well worth the money.

This a beautiful book. It is complete and definitive for reference to Italian Renaissance Art. The photographs are clear and the information is concise. I used this for my graduate Italian art history class. I am keeping this book and will not be selling it back!

Illustrating accurately visual art in its presentation and analysis makes sense. Less than 14% of all illustrations being in color in the 4th edition (ISBN: 0133933806) seems somehow disappointing. Otherwise, the book is exquisite including its beautiful printing and bounding. All the illustrations occupy approx. a half of the 696 pages, but the text is what counts. Maps of the centers of Rome, Florence and Venice on the inside of the front cover and on the flyleaf show many important landmarks, but architecture appears to be a bit underrepresented. Approx. a half of illustrations in the 5th edition (768 pp.) is in black and white including a few paintings that still disappoints a bit.

CONTENTS (4th/5th ed.)
Prefaces and Forewords 6
A PORTFOLIO OF THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE 9/10
PRELUDE (5th)
1. Italy and Italian Art 32 (5th)
PART ONE: THE LATE MIDDLE AGES
1. Italy and Italian Art 27 (4th)
2. Duecento Art in Tuscany and Rome 43/58
3. Florentine Art of the Early Trecento 76/92
4. Sienese Art of the Early Trecento 104/124
5. Later Gothic Art in Tuscany and Northern Italy 133/154
PART TWO: THE QUATTROCENTO
6. The Beginnings of Renaissance Architecture 152/180
7. Gothic and Renaissance in Tuscan Sculpture 167/198
8. Gothic and Renaissance in Florentine Painting 187/222
9. The Heritage of Masaccio and the Second Renaissance Style 213/244
10. The Second Renaissance Style in Architecture and Sculpture 229/264
11. Absolute and Perfect Painting: The Second Renaissance Style 252/292
12. Crisis and Crosscurrents 290/328
13. Science, Poetry, and Prose 317/358
14. The Renaissance in Central Italy 350/398
15. Gothic and Renaissance in Venice and Northern Italy 378/424
PART THREE: THE CINQUECENTO
16. The High Renaissance in Florence 430/476
17. The High Renaissance in Rome 479/524
18. High Renaissance and Mannerism 535/580
19. High and Late Renaissance in Venice and on the Mainland 582/630
20. Michelangelo and the Maniera 631/690
Glossary 662/724
Bibliography 669/732
Index 678/746
Credits 696/766

TABLE OF CONTENTS (7th ed.; for details search for pearsonhighered and then for ISBN: 0205705812)
Preface
Chapter 1 PRELUDE: ITALY AND ITALIAN ART 16
PART ONE: THE LATE MIDDLE AGES
Chapter 2 DUECENTO ART IN TUSCANY AND ROME 40
Chapter 3 FLORENTINE ART OF THE EARLY TRECENTO 72
Chapter 4 SIENESE ART OF THE EARLY TRECENTO 102
Chapter 5 LATER GOTHIC ART IN TUSCANY AND NORTHERN ITALY 136
PART TWO: THE QUATTROCENTO
Chapter 6 THE RENAISSANCE BEGINS: ARCHITECTURE 158
Chapter 7 TRANSITIONS IN TUSCAN SCULPTURE 180
Chapter 8 TRANSITIONS IN FLORENTINE PAINTING 202
Chapter 9 THE HERITAGE OF MASACCIO: FRA ANGELICO AND FRA FILIPPO LIPPI 222
Chapter 10 FLORENTINE ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE, c. 1430--1455 238
Chapter 11 FLORENTINE PAINTING AT MID-CENTURY 262
Chapter 12 ART IN FLORENCE UNDER THE MEDICI I 294
Chapter 13 ART IN FLORENCE UNDER THE MEDICI II 318
Chapter 14 THE RENAISSANCE IN CENTRAL ITALY 358
Chapter 15 GOTHIC AND RENAISSANCE IN VENICE AND NORTHERN ITALY 388
PART THREE: THE CINQUECENTO
Chapter 16 THE ORIGINS OF THE HIGH RENAISSANCE 442
Chapter 17 THE HIGH RENAISSANCE IN ROME 486
Chapter 18 NEW DEVELOPMENTS c. 1520--50 542
Chapter 19 HIGH AND LATE RENAISSANCE IN VENICE AND ON THE MAINLAND 590
Chapter 20 THE LATE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 648
Glossary 692
Bibliography 700
Locating Works of Renaissance Art 715
Index 716
Photo Credits 735
Literary Credits 736