Painting and Experience in Fifteenth Century Italy: A Primer in the Social History of Pictorial StyleServing as both an introduction to fifteenth-century Italian painting and as a text on how to interpret social history from the style of pictures in a given historical period, this new edition to Baxandall's pre-eminent scholarly volume examines early Renaissance painting, and explains how the style of painting in any society reflects the visual skills and habits that evolve out of daily life. Renaissance painting, for example, mirrors the experience of such activities as preaching, dancing, and gauging barrels. The volume includes discussions of a wide variety of painters, including Filippo Lippi, Fra Angelico, Stefano di Giovanni, Sandro Botticelli, Masaccio, Luca Signorelli, Boccaccio, and countless others. Baxandall also defines and illustrates sixteen concepts used by a contemporary critic of painting, thereby assembling the basic equipment needed to explore fifteenth-century art. This new second edition includes an appendix that lists the original Latin and Italian texts referred to throughout the book, providing the reader with all the relevant, authentic sources. It also contains an updated bibliography and a new reproduction of a recently restored painting which replaces the original. |
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User Review - pranogajec - LibraryThingShort and sweet. His concept of the "period eye" is the stand-out feature of his argument, suggesting the links between everyday social and visual practices and high art. One only wishes the book was ... Read full review
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Based in a false premise — that "A fifteenth-century painting is the deposit of a social relationship" — this book has helped to destroy delight in the study of art and its history.
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Bibliographic information
| Title | Painting and Experience in Fifteenth Century Italy: A Primer in the Social History of Pictorial Style Open University set book Oxford paperbacks |
| Authors | Michael Baxandall, Michael (Professor of the History of the Classical Tradition Baxandall, Professor of the History of the Classical Tradition Warburg Institute University of London), Reader in Renaissance Studies at Warburg Institute Michael Baxandall |
| Edition | illustrated, reprint |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press, 1988 |
| ISBN | 019282144X, 9780192821447 |
| Length | 183 pages |
| Subjects | › › Art / Techniques / Painting |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |