Customer Reviews

Italian Renaissance Sculpture (World of Art)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It is true that the book is somewhat superficial. Still I found it helpfull as a first introduction. Now that I read some more it strikes me that the book seems to be quite accurate. The book may suppose some pre-knowledge.

I suppose the first thing to say about this book is that it is through-and-through and introductory book, and that anyone seeking something beyond a rote chronological account should steer well wide from this starved volume, or for that matter anything from Thames & Hudson, especially those by Peter and/or Linda Murray. (As a side note I would just like to mention that Bernard Berenson's celebrated and scholarly essays are not only less informative but incredibly pompous.) But really what I found most irking was this book's lack of personality - sometimes she will give hasty inventory of the surrounding political climate, sometimes she will begin to analyze the details of the work, but in neither of these things does she ever penetrate sufficiently to give the reader an understanding of the MEANING of these things. For example, she will say that certain works reflect the recent interest in Neo-Platonism, but it is not explained what aspects reflect this - we are simply told it is so. For example again, she will often state that certain works reflect a blend of Roman, Tuscan, and International Gothic styles. How? In what ways? She does not say - again we are left with the meaningless fact. And all of these flaws are ten times worse in the chapters that take a broader look at all regions of Italy instead of focusing exclusively on Florence or on Donatello - it is simply a torrential, breathless recitation of unknown men and at most two of their works. Whoever has a slight knowledge of the development of Renaissance style will not benefit in any way from this tedious reading.