Words for Pictures: Seven Papers on Renaissance Art and Criticism [Hardcover]

Professor Michael Baxandall (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0300097492 | ISBN-13: 978-0300097498 | Publication Date: August 1, 2003

The Italian Renaissance was a creative period for art criticism as well as for art itself. The early efforts to give verbal accounts of visual representations and their quality throw light not only on the art of the period but also on art criticism at any time. This collection of papers by art historian and critic Michael Baxandall represents his thinking over a 40-year period on the relation between language and art. He offers seven thought-provoking pieces, three of which are new and written specifically for this book. Focusing on works of the 15th century, Baxandall shows how words match the experience of looking at paintings and sculptures. The author introduces the basic Renaissance framework for art criticism and proceeds to explore various humanist critical writings of the 15th and early-16th centuries. He concludes with an essay on Piero della Francesca's "Resurrection of Christ" in which he probes the visual experience of a painting that criticism seeks to verbalise.

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About the Author

Michael Baxandall is Emeritus Professor of the History of Art, University of California, Berkely and Emeritus Professor of the History of the Classical Tradition, Warburg Institute, University of London. He is the author of numerous publications for Yale University Press, including Patterns of Intention: On the Historical Explanation of Pictures, Shadows and Enlightenment, The Limewood Sculptors of Renaissance Germany, and Tiepolo and the Pictorial Intelligence.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (August 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300097492
• ISBN-13: 978-0300097498
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,904,426 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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