Art in Venice (Photography) [Hardcover]

Stefano Zuffi (Author)

Book Description

Series: Photography | Publication Date: May 1, 2002

Art in Venice is a lavishly illustrated and comprehensive collection of the painting, architecture, sculpture, mosaic, glass, and gold work of one of the world's most romantic, beautiful, and historically rich cities. The book is organized in a straightforward chronological fashion: divided into major periods of Venetian history, each section including historical and cultural information, as well as the exact location of each artwork and biographies of each of the artists discussed. Including over 500 masterpieces from the eight to the twentieth century, the book features the art of such important Venetian masters as Bellini, Mantegna, Giorgione, Titian, Veronese, and Tintoretto.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In more than a millennium of history, Venice has been graced with an array of art and architecture unsurpassed in the Western world. Now it exists as virtually a monument in itself. The achievement of this lavish coffee-table tribute is to proffer an intelligent sampling from the entire art history of the city through a selection of some 500 chronologically arranged color reproductions. Here, we are given not only a sumptuous conspectus of the paintings, sculpture, and minor arts made for or found in the city's palaces, churches, and museums but also a superb selection of the famous and less well known buildings that create the unique urban fabric of the Serene Republic. Although the illustrations are barely complemented by a sketchy text and plate captions, their quantity and quality plus the volume's modest price are sufficient to overcome any criticism and more than justify its acquisition. Recommended especially for public libraries in need of visual resources or serving potential travelers.
-Robert Cahn, Fashion Inst. of Technology, New York
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

With more colorplates than the proverbial stick can be shaken at, this is something of a gazetteer of art, including architecture, in Italy's most visually distinctive city. Order of presentation is, however, not by locale but chronological. First comes work from the long transitional period from Byzantine to Romanesque styles; the great basilica San Marco, other pre-fourteenth-century buildings, and many exquisite mosaic, sculptural, and enamel details are on display here. The Gothic structures of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries are next, and from the Renaissance onward, painting looms ever larger. If it weren't so huge and heavy, the book would be a wonderful guide during an actual Venetian visit. Of course, an ordinary tourist couldn't see these artworks from the highly desirable perspectives made available to the book's photographers. Ray Olson --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 398 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams (May 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810981734
• ISBN-13: 978-0810981737
• Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 9.6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,432,020 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Art in Venice, July 5, 2000

By 

Gerald Charm (Jacksonville, FL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Art in Venice (Hardcover)

I found this book in my local library where I was looking for images that I might use in some way in a collage I'd started working on. I immediately knew that I must own it. Not the usual cofee table book of travel type photographs of Venice - but concentrating on the history, art and architecture of that fascinating city. Tho I've been there on two separate occasions, 30 years apart, this book has given me an irresistable longing to see the beauty that I somehow missed both times.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE best bargain art book on Venice, January 6, 2003

By 

Iggy Todd (Santa Monica, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Art in Venice (Hardcover)

I am totally madly, deeply in love with Venice and its 15th and 16th century artists. After having spent a fortune on art books about Venice, I stumbled onto this book at London's National Gallery. I have probably seen everything in this book in the original Venetian locales, but they are photographed so superbly that some actually are better than live-and-in-person. For example, some of my favorite paintings by Bellini in the Accademia are deliberately kept in dimly lit rooms by the conservationists, and Tintoretto's famous ceiling at Scuola de San Marco are neck-cringing and dark. So, to study these and any of the other scores of paintings you need this book. Every single photo is in large format, sumptous color. This is easily the best book bargain I bought last year. And I paid twice what Amazon is offering for it now!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The single best coffee table book on Venice, September 1, 2009

By 

jswell "James" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

I bought this book while in Venice in 2006. It is a LARGE coffee table book that has over 500 beautiful color photos showing not only paintings, but architecture, and the principal Scholas and Churches; San Marco Basilica and the Doge's Palace. Architectural styles are in chronological order, and it also has extensive coverage of the works in the Academica all the way to the Peggy Guggenheim home (now a beautiful museum). If you are interested in what ALL of Venice contains; if you havve planned to visit, or if you are planning to visit, you will see that this book underlines that you cannot see Venice in even 7 days! You may be able to order it from Abrams Publishing; the ISBN code is 0-8109-4204-6; The Bar Code is 9 780810 942042.