Renaissance Art Book [Paperback]

Wenda O'Reilly (Author)

Book Description

This 76-page full-color book details the lives of 5 great Renaissance artists including da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Fra Angelico, and Botticelli.

Product Details

• Paperback: 76 pages
• Publisher: Birdcage Press; First edition (June 25, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1889613037
• ISBN-13: 978-1889613031
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.1 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,225,678 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Read this with your child, July 4, 2003

By 

Algernon D'Ammassa (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Renaissance Art Book (Paperback)

Only one thing to add to the previous review: this book is written for younger readers - and yet the information is so interesting that this makes wonderful "together reading" for an adult and a child. Together, you can discover five important Italian artists in a simple history that conveys their personalities and the circumstances under which they lived and made their art. You can pore over the paintings tgoether, and the book thoughtfully includes insets with details of the paintings for a closer look. This a great choice for family reading.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An art appreciation course on five Renaissance masters, June 11, 2003

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Renaissance Art Book (Paperback)

"The Renaissance Art Book" examines thirty masterpieces of the period by five Italian masters: Fra Angelico (e.g., "The Kiss of Judas"), Sandro Botticelli (e.g., "Birth of Venus"), Leonardo da Vinci (e.g., "Virgin of the Rocks"), Michelangelo Buonarroti (e.g., "The Last Judgment"), and Raphael Sanzio (e.g., "St. George and the Dragon"). Each artist is given equal treatment, allotted six works apiece, although, of course, in the case of Michelangelo this means an equal number of statues and paintings. Wenda O'Reilly begins the book with a background on the politics and art of the Middle Ages against which the Renaissance broke out in Italy. After short biographies of the five artists and a timeline of the Renaissance, all of which are profusely illustrated, O'Reilly devotes each 2-page spread to a specific work of art. What follows is not so much thirty lessons in art appreciation, in which we learn about artistic techniques specific to each artist, but rather an explication of the meaning of the various images and symbols in each painting. Consequently, we learn the story told by the panels in Fra Angelico's Annalena Altarpiece and the symbolism of the pomegranate in the hand of the infant Jesus in Botticelli's "Madonna of the Magnificat." But O'Reilly does provide some artistic insights to go along with the information, such as the ways in which Leonardo makes the lady and the ermine look alike in "Lady with an Ermine" and Raphael's use of forshortening in "St. George and the Dragon." The information outweighs the insights (Raphael painted Leonardo as Plato in "The School of Athens") but the important thing is that at the end of this colorful book you have a better understanding of over two dozen works of Renaissance art. By focusing on multiple works by just five artists O'Reilly is also able to engender a better understand of each artist's approach. Apparently this book is also sold as part of "The Renaissance Art Game," which allows you to engage in art appreciation by playing a pair of classical games of strategy and memory, Go Fish and Concentration (using cards of the 30 paintings). Sounds like fun to me.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gorgeous Art--Great game!, December 25, 2006

By 

Sheri Richards "Art Game Lover" (Lake Oswego, OR) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Renaissance Art Book (Paperback)

e have had this game for a several years and still love it and play it all the time. My kids (7 yrs, 10 yrs, and 12 yrs) absolutely love to play it as much as I do. You play it just as you would play Go Fish. They are learning about great art and artists while having fun. What's better than that? A definite 5. One suggestion, though: the only thing that this game gives you over the Go Fish deck only is the book which tells about the art, which we rarely if ever look at. So you could certainly save money by just buying the Go Fish version which is just the deck but the exact same game.