Renaissance Siena
Art for a City
Published on 28. January 2008
Book
Hardback
372 pages
978-1-85709-392-6 (ISBN)
Description
A beautifully illustrated and unprecedented examination of art from Renaissance Siena
Siena flourished as a major artistic center during the Italian Renaissance, fuelled by the patronage of powerful and wealthy families, and the results were remarkable for their virtuoso beauty and strong sense of civic identity. This is the first major book in English to showcase a breathtaking and diverse range of masterpieces and discuss in depth how art was shaped and sustained to provide a unique artistic language for Siena--prior to the city's possession in 1557 by Cosimo de Medici of Florence, its cultural and political rival. Renaissance Siena presents paintings, drawings, and sculptures by Francesco di Giorgio and Domenico Beccafumi, two of the greatest Sienese artists of the period, along with Matteo di Giovanni, Benvenuto di Giovanni, and visiting artists such as Luca Signorelli and Pintoricchio. These artists combined exquisite color, decoration, sinuous line, and delicate beauty with ambitious compositions and figurative styles to establish one of the most distinctive and elegant schools of Italian art. With a chronology and artists' biographies, this comprehensive book features essays by leading scholars that discuss all aspects of Sienese art--including issues of patronage, the role of politics and foreign artists in influencing style and production, and public versus private spaces.
Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press
Exhibition Schedule:
The National Gallery, London (October 24, 2007 - January 13, 2008)
Siena flourished as a major artistic center during the Italian Renaissance, fuelled by the patronage of powerful and wealthy families, and the results were remarkable for their virtuoso beauty and strong sense of civic identity. This is the first major book in English to showcase a breathtaking and diverse range of masterpieces and discuss in depth how art was shaped and sustained to provide a unique artistic language for Siena--prior to the city's possession in 1557 by Cosimo de Medici of Florence, its cultural and political rival. Renaissance Siena presents paintings, drawings, and sculptures by Francesco di Giorgio and Domenico Beccafumi, two of the greatest Sienese artists of the period, along with Matteo di Giovanni, Benvenuto di Giovanni, and visiting artists such as Luca Signorelli and Pintoricchio. These artists combined exquisite color, decoration, sinuous line, and delicate beauty with ambitious compositions and figurative styles to establish one of the most distinctive and elegant schools of Italian art. With a chronology and artists' biographies, this comprehensive book features essays by leading scholars that discuss all aspects of Sienese art--including issues of patronage, the role of politics and foreign artists in influencing style and production, and public versus private spaces.
Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press
Exhibition Schedule:
The National Gallery, London (October 24, 2007 - January 13, 2008)
Reviews / Votes
"For those less familiar with Sienese art, the essays are extremely valuable, as is the collection of artists' biographies towards the end...[Renaissance Siena] has given us yet another way to look at Sienese art of the fifteenth century and introduced new works into that discussion."-Hayden B.J. Maginnis, Sixteenth Century Journal -- Hayden B.J. Maginnis * Sixteenth Century Journal *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
172 color illus.
Dimensions
Height: 292 mm
Width: 241 mm
Weight
2381 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-85709-392-6 (9781857093926)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Luke Syson is Curator of Italian Paintings 1460-1500 and author of Pisanello (Yale). Alessandro Angelini is Associate Professor of Modern Art at the University of Siena. Philippa Jackson is an independent historian. Fabrizio Nevola teaches at the University of Siena and is author of the forthcoming Siena: Constructing the Renaissance City (see previous page).