Customer Reviews

Landmarks of Western Art: The Renaissance - A Journey of Art History Across the Ages

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I had great expectations about this DVD based on the excellent "The Medici fathers of the Renaissance" and ordered it. The text is acceptable if you are very tolerant to poor diction and grammar. Many illustrations are by far mediocre and look like reproductions of a second grade publication. This DVD was promptly discarded. Will NOT recommended it.

I study history of art and I bought the Landmarks of Western Art DVDs to get a brief repetition of what I (should have) learned in the first 4 semesters.
If you think about buying any of these DVDs, you have to be aware that they won't make you an expert. You're not gonna be able to walk into a Museum and have a professional talk with the guide. But you can't expect that from a DVD.
What it can do is provide you with a handful of important names (and really just a hand full!) and give a simplified explanation of the cultural context and charakteristics of the era. So you'll be able to small talk, sound literate and probably even match peices of art in the right epoch, that aren't shown on the DVD.
These DVDs are great for people who want to try out if they have an interrest in art, or those who are novices to the subject and want to get a very quick, not too detailed overview. For those already involved with art, one way or another: Those DVDs will certainly not tell you anything you don't already know.
They're a nice overview and as accurate as you can get in 50min. And if you're a student and as lazy as I am, they're a good way to start into the learning phase before the exams. Even if it's just for the motivation; because they're so easy to understand, they make you feel like it's a piece of cake.