Customer Reviews

Painting in Spain, 1500-1700 (The Yale University Press Pelican History of Art)

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

 

 

I am delighted with this book. It is ideal for teaching university students. It not only provides fresh insights into the social milieu as well as the the paintings themselves, it also has an excellent updated bibliography of the literature on the subject. For the past two decades I have lamented the fact that the Kubler-Soria Pelican book on Art and Architecture in Spain had become first increasingly outdated and then out of print. This book fills that gap splendidly - although I do wish it had been possible to include sculpture in the book as well: the interactions between these two art forms is very important. One other minor criticism: the book emphasizes the importance of the regional schools of painting in the 16th century, yet nowhere in the book is there a map of Spain showing those regions! Next edition of the book, I hope one is included.

This is more a history of art patronage and politics than an analysis of Spanish painting during this period. It reduces art criticism to tracing a uni-dimensional causality: why who commissioned whom. There is very little analysis of the paintings themselves, the painters' distinct artistic personalities or the intellectual milieu which shaped these works, most notably trends within Counter-Reformation piety. The book does cover the major painters (and many minor and best forgotten ones) in the major centers of artistic production in the peninsula. The pictures many in black and white are ample and well-reproduced.

I am very happy with my copy of Painting in Spain, 1500-1700, by Jonathan Brown. My order arrived promptly, and the book was in perfect condition! The cover was not bent and there were no markings inside. I could not be happier with my purchase.