Book Description
London's National Gallery holdings of Italian paintings are both deep and wide-ranging. This new, richly illustrated catalogue of the Italian paintings from 1400-1460 includes entries on masterpieces by the greatest artists of the period, such as Masaccio, Fra Angelico, Pisanello, and Uccello. Since the publication in 1961 of Martin Davies' catalogue of the earlier Italian Schools, much new evidence has become available through both scientific and archival investigations. Discoveries have been made and new theories advanced, not only about the identity of the artists but about the nature of their subject-matter and the original settings of their work. Among the completely new findings published here are the discovery of a concealed signature on an Annunciation by the Florentine painter Zanobi Strozzi and the identification of the missing predella panel from the Trinity altarpiece, begun by Pesellino, and completed by Filippo Lippi. Each picture has been reexamined by conservators and new information gleaned about its technique and condition. All the paintings
From the Publisher
Published by National Gallery Company. Distributed by Yale University Press.
About the Author
Dillian Gordon is curator of Italian paintings before 1500 at the National Gallery, London. Her previous publications include Pisanello: Painter to the Renaissance Court
The Fifteenth Century Italian Paintings Volume 1 National Gallery Catalogues FROM THE PUBLISHER
This new, illustrated catalogue deals with artists the bulk of whose work falls within the first half of the fifteenth century, around 1400-1460, predominantly in Tuscany. Yet within this relatively narrow chronological and geographical confine we find some of the most influential and innovative painters of the Italian Renaissance, including Masaccio, Fra Angelico, Pisanello and Uccello. An essay by Susanna Avery-Quash traces the growth of interest in early Italian painting in Britain.
Every picture has been re-examined with conservators, and new information gleaned about its technique and condition. All the paintings are reproduced full-page, in colour, together with many details, comparative illustrations and reconstructions.
FROM THE CRITICS
Library Journal
The National Gallery in London houses one of the world's premier collections of 15th-century Italian Renaissance art outside of Italy, and the story of how it acquired these treasures is the subject of this impressive catalog. This first of two proposed volumes covers paintings from 1400 to 1460 by such early masters as Masaccio, Filippo Lippi, Fra Angelico, and Paolo Uccello. An introduction and essay by Gordon (curator of Italian paintings before 1500, National Gallery, London) precede the fully illustrated color catalog. The introduction incorporates scientific discoveries, conservation techniques, new documentation, scholarly research, and attributions that expand our understanding of the works. (Much of this has come to light since Martin Davies's catalog of 1961.) The catalog itself is arranged alphabetically by artist and provides a biography of the painter followed by a wealth of data on each painting, identifying, for example, each figure in Angelico's Christ Glorified in the Court of Heaven. Also included are the work's provenance, how it was originally displayed, its patrons, its attributions, when it was painted, the materials used, detailed conservation discoveries, and reconstruction. For each artist a bibliography and notes are included. Short of viewing the paintings in London, this book, with its sumptuous reproductions (150 in color and 150 in black-and-white), is a complete and satisfying experience. While the target audience is the museum goer, scholars and artists will also benefit from this precisely compiled monograph. Highly recommended.-Ellen Bates, New York Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
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