Hunt in the Forest By Paolo Uccello, the [Paperback]

Catherine Whistler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2001

A masterpiece of the early Renaissance, Paolo Uccello's (1397-1475) 'Hunt in the Forest' is a magical and enigmatic picture. The painting clearly belongs to the last decade of Uccello's career, and stylistic comparisons with the narrative scenes that he painted in the late 1460s in Urbino suggest that 'The Hunt' must date from soon after that. Uccello's lifelong interest in geometry and perspective, together with his skill in depicting animals and landscape, combine in this swansong, a jewel-like painting designed to please a sophisticated audience. The Hunt in the Forest is a rare and tantalising survivor of a particular type of secular painting. A spalliera painting (from spalla, meaning shoulder), it would have been set into the panelling of a room at shoulder height. Scenes from ancient history and mythology, or from medieval romance, were common in spalliera paintings, and many have come down to us. However, the fact that a hunting scene with figures in contemporary dress is elaborately and playfully depicted by a major artist makes this panel virtually unique in Florentine domestic painting of the fifteenth century. Clearly the patron who ordered this picture was a discerning one, familiar with Uccello's distinctive artistic talents. The painting has been in thc collection of the Ashrnolean Museum since 1850.

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About the Author

Catherine Whistler

Product Details

• Paperback: 24 pages
• Publisher: Ashmolean Museum (September 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1854441523
• ISBN-13: 978-1854441522
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 7.6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,076,744 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Bird Lives", June 29, 2010

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Giordano Bruno (Wherever I am, I am.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hunt in the Forest By Paolo Uccello, the (Paperback)

Not Charlie Parker this time! I'm thinking of the great Florentine frescoist Paulo Uccello (Paul Byrd). If you've spent time in Florence or Urbino, you will no doubt have a visual memory of Uccello's distinctive, almost eccentric painting. His best known works are equestrian battle scenes featuring a veritable forest of lances jabbing askew and akimbo. The subject of this extraordinary book is a single painting, "The Hunt in the Forest", which was Uccello's last major work, finished around 1470. Author Catherine Whistler analyzes the context of Uccello's work, his techniques of painting, and especially the "semiotics" of such a mysterious image. This edition is frightfully expensive, but 'amazon' is promising a new edition at a fine price, which one can pre-order.

Uccello (1397-1475) was something of an anomaly. He studied with Ghiberti and became a close friend of Donatello, yet in most ways he remained extremely conservative in manner, not at all interested in the humanist "realism" of his contemporaries. His treatment of human figures is consistently more medieval than "Renaissance", a Late Gothic painter to the end, devoted to brightness, to color and pageantry. However, he was also a mathematician of some genius, and obsessed with "perspective", with the representation of depth on a flat surface. In that way, he was extremely influential on later artists. His 'vision' was obviously dominant on the younger Piero della Francesca, but his handling of perspective and perhaps even his Gothic hermeticism strongly attracted both Leonardo da Vinci and Albrecht Dürer.

5.0 out of 5 stars Paolo Uccello book is amazing book detailing how the artists use different material to paint! And the pictures are magnificent!, January 31, 2012

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bmw4448 - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Paolo Uccello's The Hunt in the Forest (Paperback)

Paolo Uccello book is amazing book detailing how the artists use different material to paint! And the pictures are magnificent!

5.0 out of 5 stars Paolo Uccello ~Such a Gifted Artist.Captured My Breath., September 18, 2011

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cafeaulait "pariscroissant" (Hayes, Va. United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Paolo Uccello's The Hunt in the Forest (Paperback)

One Sunday night while watching pbs'"Masterpiece Theatre",this came out in the story's lines.A Mystery Murder to unfurl of course!Hunny and I try to solve prior to Kevin Whatley's character and Laurence Fox' character.In a Museum,alledgedly "true" is a Thoughtfull Paolo Uccello Painting~"The Hunt In The Forest".So intrigued,had to look and find out can I procure a copy in Any form? Of course,Amazon! Always delivers to me.This is a deeply haunting Painting with Levels of Metaphors cannot begin to peel back in length of this Missive.An "East~West" Painting so completely Beautifull I weep.At least half a dozen views before Anyone can speak a coherent sentence.If Adore Art in ANY Genre,Buy this Book.Keep out to Proudly Show.More Lovelies to Discover by Senore Paolo Uccello.