Seventeenth Century Art and Architecture (2nd Edition) [Paperback]

Ann Sutherland Harris (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 6, 2008 | ISBN-10: 0136033725 | ISBN-13: 978-0136033721 | Edition: 2

Written by a leading scholar, Seventeenth Century Art: Architecture, 2/e is the only text on the market that introduces students to the three major art forms-painting, sculpture and architecture, across six countries.  The text engagingly and effectively combines analytical discussions with an expansive collection of vivid, illuminating illustrations that teach students the major developments of art, painting, and architecture that emerged from seventeenth-century Western Europe, as well as the socio-political and cultural background of the period.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

This important new introduction to the major developments in art and architecture that emerged from seventeenth-century Western Europe bridges the gap between the specialized study and a more general survey. Seventeenth-Century Art and Architecture encompasses the socio-political and cultural background of the period. In the process it examines the careers of the most significant painters, sculptors, and architects, and those of less well-known artists.

Italy is the logical place to begin this geographical tour of Europe, not least because it was a magnet for Flemish and French artists, and because Italian artists were highly prized by the Spanish, French, and English courts. In Bologna and Rome, Annibale Carracci and Caravaggio embarked upon a stylistic revolution that deposed the international Mannerist style. The Counter-Reformation Church in Rome offered so many opportunities for artists that the city secured its position as the most vital European artistic center.

Subsequent chapters focus on Flanders, Spain, France, the Dutch Republic, and England. The increasing influence of secular patronage is reflected in the popularity of mythological and biblical themes with obvious erotic content. Commissions that had hitherto been the exclusive privilege of the Church, monarchy, aristocrats, and major guilds now originated from upper middle-class patrons seeking portraits of themselves and their families, landscapes of their own terrain, genre scenes for their entertainment, and still-lifes reflecting their sophisticated tastes.

Major artists covered include Bernini, Borromini, Caravaggio, Carracci, Claude, Girardon, Guercino, Hals, Jones, Le Brun, Le Van, Murillo, Poussin, Rembrandt, Reni, Ribera, Rubens, Ruisdael, Steen, Van Dyck, Velazquez, Vermeer, Wren, and Zurbaran. The seventeenth century also witnessed the emergence of successful women painters such as Artemisia Gentileschi and Clara Peeters, who receive due attention here.

Covering artistic developments across six countries and examining in detail many of the artworks on display, this book demonstrates considerable breadth and depth. Reflecting the latest developments in research, it is more substantial and up-to-date than any comparable survey. Written with great clarity, knowledge, and affection, it is a true tribute to its subject.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Ann Sutherland Harris is Professor of the History of Art and Architecture at the University of Pittsburgh. A specialist in both Italian and French seventeenth-century art, her publications include Andrea Sacchi, Selected Drawings by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, and (with Linda Nochlin) Women Artists, 1550-1950, as well as numerous articles and reviews.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 456 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 2 edition (January 6, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0136033725
• ISBN-13: 978-0136033721
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 8.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #281,375 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars great text, lousy pictures, January 18, 2007

By 

Marsha Witherson (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Seventeenth-Century Art & Architecture (Paperback)

I am currently enrolled in a Baroque and Rococo art history class at my university. I was told to get this book, and I excitedly did. After reading it for a bit, I noticed a few aspects that bothered me. The text is informative and explores the artworks wonderfully. Unfortunately, in the description, the authors describe the colors of the piece and how critical they are in the piece, which would be wonderful, except for the fact that half of the images in the text are in black and white! I would have to wait until class or find the images online in order to see what they were talking about.

So, if you are looking to buy this book, just be aware that the writing and historical knowledge are wonderful, but the images are dull and mainly colorless.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Seventeenth Century Art and More..., January 6, 2006

By 

Gabriel - See all my reviews

This review is from: Art and Architecture of the Seventeenth Century Art (Hardcover)

Where can the interested reader find so much in one book about the great seventeenth century masters of art such as Caravaggio, The Carracci, Bernini, Rubens, Rembrandt, van Dyck, Velazquez, Hals, Vermeer, Poussin and Claude? The answer is in the recently published text "Seventeenth Century Art and Architecture" by Professor Ann Sutherland Harris.

In this wonderfully written and very well illustrated book - there are 411 illustrations of which 176 are in excellent color - Professor Harris glides through the seventeenth century with the grace and ease of a ballerina, covering the Baroque period from its inception in Catholic Italy to its final days in the Golden Age of the Dutch Republic. Major artists and a number of less well know artists are covered succinctly, lucidly, and without pedantry or reference to obscure scholarly works. The author is so well-versed in the subject matter that she is able to convey it clearly to the general reader with almost every painting described and discussed in detail.

Orginally conceived as a college text, this book is a must read for anyone interested in the art, lives of the artists, politics, and history of the most important century in European art and culture. Although the title gives equal weight to art and architecture, much more of the art of the period is discussed than architecture, yet the reader is given a full taste of the architecture of the period as well.

This is a book that one will want to read and re-read time and time again.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow! What a book!, November 16, 2005

By 

Dina Fulmer (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Art and Architecture of the Seventeenth Century Art (Hardcover)

This wonderful book contains just about everything anyone could possibly want to know about the art and artists of the period, what they painted and why they painted the way they did, including background material on the political and economic environment in which the artists worked. Included are 410 illustrations with approximately half in color. This book will be treasured by students of art as well as those of us who are "merely" art appreciators. The writing is scholarly, but not stuffy and very accessible to any art lover. It is a book to be picked up over and over again. A real treasure that every museum-goer should own.