Giotto

One of the giants of Italian Renaissance painting (1266^-1337), Giotto receives his due in what will be the standard book on his work for years to come. In large-format display, the wealth of sensitive reproductions are equal to the text, written by an authority noteworthy for demonstrating obvious erudition without pretension. Giotto was a bridge between medieval and modern principles and techniques, and the significance of that linkage is fully explored within the greatest aspects of his genius: his use of space, light, and color, and the viability of his human figures. The prose is less biographical than analytical; we learn less about the private man than the artist, which, however, is exactly the intended purview of this gorgeous book no active art history collection can do without. --Brad Hooper

This ravishing album combines a scholarly text with 200 superb color reproductions and 150 black-and-white illustrations representing all phases of Giotto's career. D'Arcais, a University of Verona art history professor, believes that the tensions in the Florentine painter's works reflect the medieval theological battle between those who emphasized Christ's humanity and those who centered on his divinity. Tracking Giotto's sojourns in Assisi, Rome, Naples, Rimini and Padua, and systematically commenting on his fresco cycles, individual masterpieces and architectural commissions, she deems him a revolutionary innovator not only because of his illusionistic space and his ``avant-garde'' use of color but also for his emotional candor and his attention to the minute particulars of everyday life. A magnificent gift book. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved