Customer Reviews

Giotto: The Arena Chapel Frescoes

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(This review is supposed to be for "Giotto : The Arena Chapel Frescoes" by Giuseppe Basile, not a book about the Vikings. I don't know why it got put under this book and not under the Giotto book- sorry!)

I'm so sad to see this book out of print, and feel so lucky to have a copy.

After majoring in Art History in college, I have a *lot* of "coffee table" art books. They are all beautiful- my favorites being the ones with more plates and less text because I knew after I read them I would be able to treasure them always. This book is my most glorious treasure for that period of my life- just gorgeous. It is comprised of almost completely all full page plates, with a very very small introduction.

The plates are all printed on very high quality, thick paper. Many fold out. The detail is amazing- you can see the texture of the paint in every print. The blues seem to come alive, and the gold in the plates literally sparkles.

I can't possibly do this book justice by my review. I am actually sitting here, trying to find ways to describe it and it's proving impossible.

I'm not a big fan of Italian art (post-impressionism is my thing), and was not required to purchase this book for school, but I found myself lusting after it. When I went to the now defunct Oxford Books in Atlanta, I used to run to the art section and sit for hours, just thumbing through it.

If you even have a small amount of respect for Giotto, you must purchase this book. The price is definitely steep, and I sort of struggled with the idea of paying for a non-necessary book for months before my family bought it for me as a surprise, but I can't tell you how very worth it this book is.