Customer Reviews

Victorian Painting

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

 

 

What a gorgeous book! I have a rather extensive collection of books on Victorian painting and painters, and this one is the best! Christopher Wood covers everything from the Pre-Raphaelites on through Waterhouse and the Romantics and on to the start of impressionism. It is full of beautiful color and B&W illustrations - many of which are not seen in other books of the same subject. The text is easy to read and understand. Very highly recommended!

I feel the other reviewers are being a bit too generous. There are a few nice, large, illustrations in this book but most aren't big enough. The ratio of text to illustrations is a lot greater than I expected or desired. That may or may not be an issue for you, depending on your wants or needs. I'm more interesting in seeing and studying the works than I am about the history, background, or motivations of the artists and movements.

If your desire is a variety of large, detailed, quality color illustrations to study then you should search elsewhere. If you can live with a mix of B&W and color images of varying size and detail, and you like to read, then this book may very well be to your liking.

Breathtaking paintings and the author covers practically 99% of the era, my favorite sections are dealing with the painter Waterhouse and Lord Leighton, beautiful! I am definitely adding this to my collection of art books!

Christopher Wood has done it again. No serious lover of art should be without this book, which contains many clear large images and well-written text.

It is a great companion of Lionel Lambourne's "Victorian Painting". They do NOT overlap each other but seems to work together filling in the gaps where one left off. If you love beautiful art, get them both, you wouldn't be disappointed. I wish there could be a lot more of books like these around.

Christopher Wood is undoubtedly an expert in Victorian Art!
This book is truly a journey through the Victorian Period, connecting with schools that were part or directly "woven in" to Victorian painting.
Its chapters are not necessarily bound by time-frame but by topic, which makes it easier to keep the over-all view on the complexity of Victorian art and times. It is written very well, lots of info and in a flowing style, keeping the text short and straight to the point, but enough to answer all important questions and give some time to some of the most influential and individual artists, with a brief over all life-story and many great examples of their works, as well as some important historical notes - so (as I saw here on the reviews) This is not JUST a picture book but more an encyclopedia on Victorian Art. Who only wants to look at pictures will find many great ones in there but will truly miss the essence if not reading the text that belongs in there to give one the depth of what these paintings and their creators were all about! If there is one draw back it's those images that are only black and white - although many of those, one can find online nower days! This is a MUST have for anyone who loves not only Victorian art, but simply great art in general - 5 stars all the way!