Botticelli: Life and Work (Hardcover)

by Ronald Lightbown (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
"There is no more radiant picture in European art than this," writes Lightbown of Botticelli's Birth of Venus . That painting, as well as the Primavera and other Botticelli masterpieces, have been newly cleaned in the past decade, so the radiance of their reproductions dazzle in this expanded revision of Lightbown's 1978 monograph. An absorbing text, fresh photographs of every autograph work and marvelous enlarged details of the cleaned ones situate the Florentine innovator in the hothouse of 15th-century politics and Renaissance culture. How did Botticelli break away from the Gothic style of his mentors to achieve his powerful, plastic idiom? By painful trial and error, Lightbown demonstrates. This British expert on Renaissance painting discusses Botticelli's remarkable portraits (only eight or so survive), his religious visions and the agitated energy of his almost hallucinatory drawings for Dante's Divine Comedy. All students of Botticelli should own this resplendent volume.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
Lightbown's monograph . . . has long been considered the definitive text on Botticelli. A newly revised version just released updates the author's critical consideration of the artist's work, and presents new, fresh illustrations of works that have been cleaned in the past decade. . . . Even in reproduction these works have never looked so good. -- San Diego Tribune, 12/8/89

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Abbeville Press (November 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0896599310
• ISBN-13: 978-0896599314
• Product Dimensions: 13.3 x 11.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #315,176 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful book!, August 13, 2005

By	singer-songwriter (North Hollywood, California) - See all my reviews

This is fascinating book about the life of Botticelli and techniques he used. The reproductions are wonderful, including some close-ups of characters from selected paintings. I recently returned from Italy, and having viewed many of these paintings at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence makes the reading and the beautiful color plates throughout the book all the more enjoyable. I would highly recommend this book to fans of Renaissance art.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, February 26, 2006

By	Agnolo van Rijn "Crazy For Painting" (Canada) - See all my reviews

This book is worth the money if only for the reproductions. Lots of large plates with a lot of close ups as well. If you only want one book on Botticelli this would be a good one.

6 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another life for Botticelli, November 2, 2003

By	Benny Antonini (Italy) - See all my reviews

In the life of Sandro Botticelli, Lightbown does not remark the big season of secret science that linked several artists in and around Florence.
This science that today we can call "esoterism" come from the recent middle age and increased in Florence his importance.
The Great Lorenzo dei Medici was one of the most important men of this matter.