Customer Reviews

Artists of the Renaissance (History Makers (Lucent))

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Gr 7 Up-A book about the contributions of the artistic giants of the Italian Renaissance without color photography is a little like peanut butter without jelly: mightily nutritious but a little dry going down. Nevertheless, this title is a worthy addition to the art shelves. Barter presents the lives and accomplishments of six painters, sculptors, and architects who represent the early and High Renaissance: Giotto, Donatello, Brunelleschi, da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael. An introduction, opening chapter, and epilogue establish the historical context for the period and persuasively describe it as a golden age of intellectual achievement, encompassing numerous fields of creative endeavor beyond the obvious artistic ones. The biographies that form the centerpiece of the work are accurate, comprehensive, and compellingly written; the artists become real flesh-and-blood characters with personal idiosyncrasies as well as genius. Key artistic works by each man are described and illustrated. Though marred by the inclusion of some small, murky black-and-white reproductions, this is a useful supplement to traditional art-history resources.-Mary Ann Carcich, Brooklyn Public Library, NY Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

James Barter does a fine job of establishing historical context and provides interesting short biographies of six important Italian renaissance artists. It is especially good of him to include the sometimes-forgotten, but very influential, Giotto di Bondone.

Unfortunately, the book seems never to have gotten any quality attention from a copy-editor, as the book is loaded with a surprising number of grammatical mistakes, word omissions, and sentences with confused subjects. It occurs frequently enough to degrade the overall quality of the book.

Barter also makes appreciative and detailed reference to several paintings, which are represented here only in black and white illustrations - and poor-quality reproductions, at that: small, very dark, and low on contrast. Some, like photos of Da Vinci's "Adoration of the Magi" and "Last Supper," are virtually invisible and almost a waste of space.

With all respect to the author, who did fine work presenting this period and its art to a middle-school aged audience, one can do better for the same amount of money.