Customer Reviews

Piero della Francesca

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I've seen the Piero frescos in the Church of St Francis in Arezzo in all of their stages over the past 40 years, from terrible neglect and dismal lighting to the present state of glorious restoration. All I can say is, hurray for the restorers and for the civic pride that provided the funds.

This is an excellent book of photos of the frescos, about as good as such a reduction of scale could ever be. I call attention to it in connection to my recent review of the biographical study of Piero as a mathematician as well as a painter.

Arezzo, by the way, is a neglected destination among North American visitors to Italy. It's not as charming a city as Perugia to the south or Siena to the north, but it has a major museum of Umbrian Renaissance art as well as the Piero frescos.

having seen the frescoes at arezzo less than 12 months ago, i was intrigued to find out whether the images in this book matched my recent memories: they did, and more, because the close-ups were a further revelation, since i could not get so close to the frescoes when on the spot. i am grateful to skira for giving me this wonderful bonus. the book has been a continuous presence on the lectern in my living room ever since amazon delivered it a few weeks ago.

You have to be really into Italian art and Early Renaissance to get the feeling of this wonderful book. The way it's lavishly printed makes you happy almost as much as you would see the originals. I would recommend this to an art lovers as a second choice after the site tours.