Customer Reviews

Behind the Picture: Art and Evidence in the Italian Renaissance

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I'd buy this and use it to teach the intellectual world of Italian Renaissance art or the role of art in Italian Renaissance history. This is a popular work by the noted historian of Leonardo da Vinci and Italian theories of vision and perspective, Martin Kemp. It is the BEST single volume complementary text to more turgid art histories of the Renaissance. In straightforward often entertaining prose, Prof. Kemp lays out how we have come to determine the meaning, value and ideas in Renaissance painting. As opposed to more precious and self conscious works of theory, that are actually about the philosophy -- not history -- of art and narrow stylistic studies, this book strikes a middle ground between the questions posed by the development in the Italian Renaissance of self-conscious or reflexive artistry, like the cult of genius, and the changes in traditional institutions of patronage, workshop, Church and State. It is well illustrated and accessible, yet not in any way simplistic, respecting both thematic and chronological approaches. It does not shy away from controversial topics, like Antisemitism and its influence in the commissioning and meaning of certain Renaissance works, nor does it skimp on more traditional analyses of iconography, biography, and style. The chapter on the "Ideas" or developing theories of art practice in fifteenth-century Italy is invaluable, particularly helpful on Cennini's late medieval humanism and Piero della Francesca's optical geometry and doxology. A bit more discussion of the Counter or Catholic reform theorists and a recognition of some more recent studies of social history and its uses in understanding female audiences for Renaissance images would be helpful. A paperback edition under 30 dollars or an online source from Yale UP would be very welcome for this teacher of smart and art aware undergraduates. Joseph Forte, Sarah Lawrence College