Customer Reviews

Giotto: The Scrovegni Chapel, Padua (Great Fresco Cycles of the Renaissance)

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Be aware that the completion in early 2002 of the very extensive restorations of the frescoes makes this book at least partially obsolete. If you want to see what the frecoes look like now, you'll want a book published after April 2002.

I first stumbled upon this book shortly after having lived in Italy for five years and drinking richly of art, history and culture. I was so pleased to have discovered this rich treasury which beautifully repoduces each and every fresco of the magnificent little Scrovegni chapel in Padua -- a renaissance Italian city near Venice and made famous by Saint Anthony.

This little book of only 118 pages is in fact powerful enough to be a coffeetable treasure due to its stunning and colorful reproductions of the frescos and then coupled with its brilliant and succint text.

In many ways, I found this book more satisfying than the actual visit I made to the chapel a few years earlier. Why? The chapel is small and every wall and ceiling is covered with the work of that paramount, Renaissance master, Giotto. Even still, however, it can be difficult to enjoy the detail and nuisance of many of the frescoes that are located up high or in the shadow of dim lighting. This book removes the obstacles and allows you to enter into the artistic and theological mystery of each and every fresco.

Both novice, art historian and theological guru alike would enjoy adding this little gem to one's own library. The text provides insightful commentary into all perspectives of this chapel -- religious, artistic, and historical. A select bibliography adds even more opportunity to carry on the research.

I was saddened to see that the price had actually gone up from the time I first purchased a copy in 1993, when the book was first published. However, I'm not surprised. Whereas one would expect most books to decrease in value until they become those "bargain books," I believe that this one will be around for a long time -- a real classic for the library.

I highly recommend it for your collection.

Please fix the author's name!!! It's BRUCE Cole, not BROCK Cole. You may note a difference in their subject matter if you review Brock Cole's titles.