NONFICTION

Giotto

2d ed. Abbeville. 2012. 391p. tr. by Raymond Rosenthal. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780789211149. $135. FINE ARTS
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OrangeReviewStarIn this oversize (13.2" x 11.3" x 1.6"), heavy (8 lbs.), lavishly illustrated (more than 300 illustrations, most in full color, including some double gatefold pages) publication, retired Italian scholar of medieval and Renaissance art d'Arcais (Altichiero e Avanzo: La Cappella Di San Giacomo) presents the second edition of her survey of the career and works of the Florentine painter, sculptor, and architect Giotto (c.1267–1337), regarded by many art historians as a founder of the Italian Renaissance and the creator of a new, illusionistic, and dramatic pictorial style. She discusses the artist's famous and lesser-known frescoes, panel paintings, and crucifixes, including but not limited to his work in the upper basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi, the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, and Santa Croce's Bardi and Peruzzi Chapels in Florence as well as the Stefaneschi Polyptych and the Ognissanti Madonna. This second edition adds an updated bibliography and a new preface that surveys the present state of Giotto scholarship as well as the effects of Italy's 1997 earthquake on both the art and the scholarship.
VERDICT Beautifully presented and thoughtfully written, this insightful examination of Giotto's career and works belongs in all libraries. Highly recommended.
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