Luis Melendez: Master of the Spanish Still Life [Hardcover]

Gretchen A. Hirschauer (Author), Catherine A. Metzger (Author), Peter Cherry (Author), Natacha Sesena (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 21, 2009

Offers a look at the life and work of Luis Melendez, one of eighteenth-century Europe's greatest still-life painters.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Gretchen Hirschauer is associate curator of Italian and Spanish paintings at the National Gallery of Art, Washington. Catherine Metzger is senior conservator at the National Gallery of Art, Washington. Peter Cherry is professor and head of the department of the history of art and architecture at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. Natacha Sesena is an independent historian in Madrid, Spain.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press; 1st Ed. edition (July 21, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300158807
• ISBN-13: 978-0300158809
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 9.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #688,537 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars gorgeous, June 18, 2009

By 

M. Hyman "Artist at large" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Luis Melendez: Master of the Spanish Still Life (Hardcover)

This book is filled with gorgeous paintings of this master's works. It is coffee table sized. The illustrations are all high quality, and it features x-ray photographs and other such photographs covering the painter's technique. It also discusses the various items he uses in his still lifes. Altogether, if you are interested in the artist, it will be a lovely addition to your book collection.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not so good illustrations, March 21, 2010

By 

Vicente D. (spain) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Luis Melendez: Master of the Spanish Still Life (Hardcover)

After reading the enthusiastic reviews and the emphasis on the quality of the illustrations of the book I finally laid hands on it at an art bookshop last week in Florence and....I must say I was strongly deceived by the quality of the pictures. They appear blurred and by no means convey the sharpness that is so characteristic to the paintings by Melendez. I love this artist and I know his work well because I have often seen it at the Prado museum in Madrid. If you really like him and do want a book with close to real illustration on the great Spanish painter look for "Luis Melendez Bodegones" edited by the Prado museum in 2004. It may be hard to get now but those that get it will be fully rewarded by the excellent images.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars New insights on Luis Melendez's life and art, November 4, 2009

By 

Frank I. Heckes (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Luis Melendez: Master of the Spanish Still Life (Hardcover)

This catalogue of the recent exhibition of thirty of Luis Melendez's wonderful still-life paintings is beautifully presented with new insights about Melendez's life, the everyday objects in his paintings, and the materials and methods he used in creating these works. Peter Cherry's major essay presents a fascinating discussion of Melendez's life and work. However, there should have been more emphasis on Melendez's relationship to earlier Spanish still-life painters, such as Sanchez Cotan and Zurbaran, and Cherry refers too much to his earlier publications on Melendez without giving enough emphasis to studies by other scholars, such as Eleanor Tufts and Juan Luna. The catalogue discussions of the thirty-one paintings (one self-portrait and thirty still lifes) is somewhat too technical for the general public and so many details about x-radiographs and changes that Melendez made to each work become very repetitive. It would have been interesting to compare and contrast some of the paintings to other Spanish still-life paintings by Sanchez Cotan, Zurbaran, and Goya. The reproductions and the details are very good and in general the book is recommended for anyone wishing to learn about the life and work of one of the greatest Spanish still-life painters.