The Renaissance Print: 1470-1550 [Paperback]

Dr. David Landau (Author), Peter Parshall (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 25, 1996

Through an examination of material and institutional circumstances, through the study of work shop practices and of technical and aesthetic experimentation, this book seeks to give an account of the ways in which Renaissance prints were realized, distributed, acquired, and handled by their public.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This account of Renaissance print-making and -selling includes 335 b&w illustrations and 50 color plates.

Copyright 1996 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Never before has the Renaissance fine print received the type of multifaceted scrutiny elaborated in this superb synthesis. While focusing on the great prints and printmakers of Italy and Germany, the authors have articulated a consideration that rigorously evokes the various graphic techniques, their stylistic qualities and visual ramifications, and the aesthetic and theoretical context in which the prints were produced. Not only is the proximate setting of the prints' production convincingly educed, but the societal milieu of their dissemination, acquisition, and appreciation are also cogently reconstructed. All this is set within an overview that encompasses the rise, efflorescence, and decline of this new artistic medium. This is a work so rich in information, observation, and insight that no collection seriously concerned with the history of the graphic arts of Renaissance culture may dispense with it.
Robert Cahn, Fashion Inst. of Technology, New York
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (September 25, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300068832
• ISBN-13: 978-0300068832
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 9.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,617,980 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Winner of the 1995 Mitchell Prize for Art History., October 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Renaissance Print: 1470-1550 (Paperback)

We take for granted the proliferation of portable, mass produced images in our culture, but it has been decades since the early history of the mass production of pictures has been dealt with, and Landau and Parshall's book is the most important recent work adding to our understanding of early prints. The volume's scope takes into consideration aesthetics, the art market, techniques and styles, and the historical contexts and themes of prints. These include religious themes, secular and/or antique contents, botanicals, portraits and so on. It is also wonderfully illustrated, making it, frankly, one of the most visually compelling art history books of recent years. It is very scholarly, yet is as attractive as the best exhibition catalogue (in this it reminds one of Michael Baxandall's Limewood Sculptors book, also a Mitchell Prize winner). And at it's probably the best art history bargain out there. I teach a course in Print Culture at the University of California at Santa Cruz, and this is one of my textbooks. -Allan Langdale, UCSC Art History Department