Of all the riches of the sixteenth-century European nobleman, none spoke more powerfully of his heroism, wealth and taste than his armour, clothing and weapons. Drawing on the V&A's popular arms and armour collection, Angus Patterson looks at the suits designed to kill, protect and impress. From parade suits, lavishly embossed and gilded, decorated with plumes of ostrich feathers and draped with colourful silk sashes to swords, daggers, pistols and gunpowder flasks slung from elaborate belts, detailed new photography alongside paintings and sculpture bring medieval and renaissance fashion to life

Under the rule of Henry VII (r. 1485-1509) England became a powerful nation. The Tudor court sought to express its worldliness and political clout through major artistic commissions, employing Florentine sculptors and painters to create lavish new interiors, suitable for entertaining foreign dignitaries, for its royal palaces. These were exemplified by Henry VIII's palace of Nonsuch, so named because no other palace could match its magnificence. Italian sculpture, painting, and tapestries of the day reflected an interest in portraiture and dynastic monuments, epitomized in England by the royal tomb projects created by Baccio Bandinelli, Benedetto da Rovezzano, and Pietro Torrigiani.

Generously illustrated throughout, The Anglo-Florentine Renaissance traces the artistic links between Medicean Florence and Tudor England through essays by an international team of scholars and explores how the language of Florentine art effectively expressed England's political aspirations and rose to prominence as a new international courtly style.

Known as the "century of anatomy," the 16th century in Italy saw an explosion of studies and treatises on the discipline. Medical science advanced at an unprecedented rate, and physicians published on anatomy as never before. Simultaneously, many of the period's most prominent artists—including Leonardo and Michelangelo in Florence, Raphael in Rome, and Rubens working in Italy—turned to the study of anatomy to inform their own drawings and sculptures, some by working directly with anatomists and helping to illustrate their discoveries. The result was a rich corpus of art objects detailing the workings of the human body with an accuracy never before attained.

Art and Anatomy in Renaissance Italy examines this crossroads between art and science, showing how the attempt to depict bone structure, musculature, and our inner workings—both in drawings and in three dimensions—constituted an important step forward in how the body was represented in art. While already remarkable at the time of their original publication, the anatomical drawings by 16th-century masters have even foreshadowed developments in anatomic studies in modern times.

Italian Renaissance art is closely intertwined with the development of courts and court culture in much of the Italian territory. The patronage of the ruling families of the small Italian city-states greatly favoured the flourishing of the figurative arts and architecture, but also in music, literature, and theatre.

The book starts with an introduction by Marco Folin, the volume's editor, on the critical issues of court art and its historiography, followed by an important essay on the historical and geographical framework of Renaissance Italy, illustrated by 18 especially-made maps, useful to understand the complexity and fragmentation of the country in the 15th century. The role of princely patronage in the development of music and literature is then examined: from the place of the humanists at court to the link between music and propaganda, from the first theatrical representations to the rise of the printing press and the publication of the most famous Renaissance books: Castiglione's Book of the Courtier and Ariosto's Orlando Furioso.

The second, longer part of the volume, is arranged geographically and covers the entire peninsula, giving attention not only to the major courts, such as Milan, Mantua, Ferrara, Urbino, papal Rome, Naples and the crypto-court of the Medicis in Florence, but devoting chapters to the minor courts spread around northern and central Italy, from the Paleologues rulers of Montferrat to the Malatesta court in Rimini, from Carpi under the Pios to the Orsinis' rule in Bracciano.

The main chapters are enriched by texts focused on particular aspects of Renaissance culture and politics: the courts of the cardinals and the southern barons, the patronage of the condottieri, the specificity of Venetian state-commissions, etc.

The essays are written by well-known Italian scholars - such as Franco Piperno on music, Rinaldo Rinaldi on literature, Alessandro Cecchi on Medicean Florence and Alessandro Angelini on the papal court in Rome - and are accompanied by a rich and accurate iconography, showing not only famous masterpieces but also lesser known works of art and architecture.

The book is completed by an annotated bibliography for the various chapters and by an index of names and places.

Treasures of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Eight centuries of European applied arts

When Kunstwerke und Geräthschaften des Mittelalters und der Renaissance (1852–1863) was published, what purchasers in fact bought was a small printed museum of unusual treasures. With 216 hand-coloured copperplate engravings, the publication gives a comprehensive overview of applied arts in Europe from the 9th to the 16th centuries. The objects presented comprise furniture, metalwork, jewellery, tapestries, and works of bookbinding. Carefully selected masterpieces such as the gilt Corvinus goblet, an enamelled saltcellar, and medieval ivory combs are depicted, along with a decorative sword, now lost.

The editor Jakob Heinrich von Hefner-Alteneck (1811-1903) was head of the Royal Cabinet of Prints and Drawings in Munich and later director of the Bavarian National Museum. His work helped influence the creation of new museums of art and design – the South Kensington Museum in London (today the Victoria and Albert Museum), founded in 1852, being the very first – in which artists could study the hand-crafted masterpieces of earlier epochs.
Although the co-editor Carl Becker (1794-1859) commissioned various artists to make drawings of the historical originals for Kunstwerke und Geräthschaften, the signatures on the plates show that most of the illustrations stem from the hand of artist Jakob Heinrich von Hefner-Alteneck and he can, therefore, be considered as the work’s main draughtsman; considering that Becker died before the completion of the work, the most influential figure behind it was undoubtedly Hefner-Alteneck. Before his collaboration with Becker, Hefner-Alteneck had previously published Trachten des christlichen Mittelalters (Costumes of the Christian Middle Ages).

With their publication, Jakob Heinrich von Hefner-Alteneck and Carl Becker gave expression to the 19th century’s revived interest in the art of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. By selecting masterpieces from public and private collections, and reproducing them faithfully in pictures, they created a document of artistic quality in itself, which also provides evidence of works which have since been lost.

With this new edition, which includes a commentary, TASCHEN is making an important publication accessible once more, giving a glimpse of the treasure chambers of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. This complete reprint was created on the basis of an original copy in the Württembergische Landesbibliothek in Stuttgart.

The author:

Carsten-Peter Warncke studied art history, classical archaeology, and literature in Vienna, Heidelberg, and Hamburg, and received his doctorate from the latter in 1975. He is a professor of art history at the University of Göttingen.

The Northern Renaissance in Europe was a period of rapid social and religious change. This is reflected in much of the art of the period, which is further characterised by a fascinating range of subject-matter, superb technical skill and an interest in capturing likeness with almost psychological precision. The same period also saw a great rise in the importance of works on paper, especially prints. This book discusses works by Albrecht Dürer and Hans Holbein two of the greatest masters of the Northern Renaissance together with a selection of paintings by Lucas Cranach. Encompassing portraiture, religion, mythology and allegory, these works are examined alongside others by such masters as Francois Clouet, Jan Gossaert and Joos van Cleve. Holbeins superlative drawings of members of the court of King Henry VIII can be seen side-by-side with finished paintings and miniatures of the same sitters; and this rich survey also includes illuminated manuscripts and early printed books.

В этой книге широко представлена одна из самых ярких страниц истории мирового искусства - Итальянский Ренессанс. Итальянский Ренессанс - это эпоха безмерного взлета творческой фантазии, невиданной прежде свободы человеческого гения, равно гармонично покорявшего все области доступной ему деятельности - архитектуру, скульптуру, живопись.

В период раннего Возрождения сосредоточившиеся и вскормленные во Флоренции и Италии искусство и культура претерпели радикальное обновление, которое постепенно распространилось по всей Европе различными средствами и стилистическими проявлениями. Возрождение основывалось на обновленном интересе к Древнему миру - от философии до литературы, от мифологии до изобразительного искусства, - неоплатонической философии и гуманизму. Научные интересы включали познание природы и человека, в том числе, его анатомии, и поиск новых технологий. Гармоничное сочетание основных искусств вырастало над уровнем механического воспроизведения, чтобы превратиться в свободное выражение теперь уже консолидированных интеллектуальных прерогатив мастера. Перечень великих имен, которые сделали этот художественный период таким плодотворным включает Мазаччо, Брунеллески, Леонардо, Микеланджело и Рафаэля.

Содержание:

Архитектура во Флоренции и Тоскане ........................4
Архитектура в Северной Италии................................50
Архитектура в Центральной и Южной Италии.........108
Скульптура во Флоренции и Тоскане .......................144
Скульптура в Северной Италии.................................224
Скульптура в Центральной и Южной Италии...........260
Живопись во Флоренции и Тоскане...........................292
Живопись в Северной Италии...................................388
Живопись в Центральной и Южной Италии..............502

Широкое культурное и идеологическое движение, Возрождение, или Ренессанс, было периодом интенсивного литературного, художественного и научного творчества, охватившего Европу в период между XIV и XVI веками и знаменовавшим собой переход от средневековой к современной концепции интеллектуальной жизни.

В период раннего Возрождения сосредоточившиеся и вскормленные во Флоренции и Италии искусство и культура претерпели радикальное обновление, которое постепенно распространилось по всей Европе различными средствами и стилистическими проявлениями. Возрождение основывалось на обновленном интересе к Древнему миру – от философии до литературы, от мифологии до изобразительного искусства, – неоплатонической философии и гуманизму. Научные интересы включали познание природы и человека, в том числе, его анатомии, и поиск новых технологий. Гармоничное сочетание основных искусств вырастало над уровнем механического воспроизведения, чтобы превратиться в свободное выражение теперь уже консолидированных интеллектуальных прерогатив мастера.

Фундаментальный вклад королевских дворов, правителей, покровителей и деятелей церкви, которые использовали новые стилистические языки для украшения своих дворцов и поместий, был естественным следствием великолепия искусств.

The stained glass collection of the V&A is the largest in the world, making it possible through it to chart the development of the art from the middle of the twelfth century to about 1550. One hundred colour plates, and selected details, show major masterpieces to full advantage. Commentaries on each will reconstruct the original context of the panels, explain the imagery and give details of further reading, thus also providing an indispensable introduction to the subject. The text will touch on the techniques of stained glass, the major centres and monuments and the themes depicted in the pieces illustrated. Taken together, images and text illuminate a golden age of stained glass production, resulting in a beautiful book which will complement the major exhibition of Gothic art opening at the V&A in Autumn 2003.

This colorful compendium of 512 religious, architectural, and ornamental images encompasses the abundant variety of the ancient world. Painstakingly reproduced from a very rare early-twentieth-century source, it features artwork from:
Egypt
Rome
Greece
China
Japan
Persia
... plus ornaments from Byzantine, Arabic, Gothic, and other exotic cultures and remote eras. Designers and graphic artists will find this inexpensive volume a valuable resource of distinctive decorations.

The Italian Renaissance is among the most glamorous epochs of European art. Art historians as well as a wide public are fascinated by three centuries of exceptionally prolific artistic creation that produced works of international fame such as Michelangelo's "Frescos" in the Sistine Chapel. The cityscapes of the great centres of that time would be vastly different without their Renaissance architecture - cities like Florence, Rome, and Venice are veritable museums of an epoch whose art remains vital and influential even today. Impressive illustrations of works from every branch of the fine arts feature prominently in this book, which not only competently explains various aspects of Renaissance art, but also invites readers to observe them closely with its fabulous pictures.

Once in every generation comes a scholar who is a master of both the documentary evidence and the buildings themselves. Such a man is Christoph Luitpold Frommel who, after winning a world-wide reputation, here distils his learning into a new synthesis that is both up-to-date and securely based on primary sources.

The book is not only illustrated throughout with photographs, drawings, plans and reconstructions, but social context, technical innovation and aesthetic judgement are all given due weight, with particular emphasis on the way in which each architect balanced individual inspiration with the accepted canon.

Christoph Luitpold Frommel was born in 1933 and has held academic posts in Germany (Bonn University), the USA (Institute of Advanced Study, Princeton, and the University of California, Berkeley) and Italy (La Sapienza, Rome). He was Director of the Bibliotheca Herziana, Rome, from 1980 to 2001.

• A definitive account of the most innovative and most influential 150 years in the history of architecture
• A work that brings scholarship in English into line with the most advanced continental research
• Over 300 photographs, architects’ drawings and plans
• Authoritative, readable, deeply considered
• The fruit of a lifetime’s study

Данная книга приглашает вас перенестись в переломный период нашего культурного наследия. Эта эпоха сформировала наше коллективное сознание, и ее влияние мы ощущаем и по сей день - ее называют эпохой Возрождения - Ренессанса.

Именно в этот период на свет появился "современный человек", "современный" в новом эмпирическом и научном осознании себя как личности, "современный" в постепенном отходе от средневековых понятий о реальности.

Эта коллекция декоративных орнаментов характерна для духа Ренессанса, в эпоху которого проявилось превосходство орнаментального дизайна. Многие из этих орнаментов были внесены в краткие руководства, которые использовали художники в своей работе. В этих сборниках присутствовали лиственные орнаменты, плетеные орнаменты, перемежающиеся геометрическими линиями, и стилизованные растительные формы; арабески, которые пошли от арабских орнаментов, распространившихся в 15-м веке из Венеции по всей Европе; другие рисунки, используемые для создания скульптур, ювелирных украшений и мебели, украшались необычными существами, напоминающими людей и животных одновременно.

Аналогичные узоры использовались в таких разнообразных областях, как архитектура, живопись, кружевоплетение и текстиль.

Все иллюстрации в этой книге представлены на компакт-диске, которые могут использоваться как на PC, так и на Мас компьютерах. Изображения сохранены в файлах формата TIFF высокого разрешения.

From the renovation of ancient aqueducts in Rome to the computer-controlled jets that celebrated the dawn of the twenty-first century, Fountains, Splash and Spectacle traces the history of fountain design over the centuries and across nations, exploring the collaborations of architects, sculptors, garden and landscape designers, hydraulics experts and engineers.

Thematic examination of the aesthetics, social implications and purposes of fountains reveals a surprising diversity of functions these structures provide, from flamboyant public gesture to private oasis.

Over 300 illustrations – photographs, paintings, etchings and drawings – accompany the many fountains discussed and also include designs for fascinating unrealized projects. A comprehensive bibliography and chronology make this a valuable work of reference as well as a joy to the eye.

Art as we know it today could not exist had not the revolutionary work of the Renaissance artists paved the way. Widely considered the most important and influential movement in the history of fine arts, literature, architecture, and science, the Renaissance marked the emergence of Western civilization from the Middle Ages into the modern era. Beginning in the 14th century in Italy, the movement spread throughout Europe by the late 15th century, the main centers of fine art activity being in Florence, the Low Countries, and Germany. For the first time, art became intellectual; influenced by humanism, artists experimented with secular subjects and revived classical antiquity. Advances in anatomy and geometry produced more realistic depictions in terms of space and perspective for the Italians, while new oil painting techniques made their mark in Flemish painting and woodcuts and engravings were the specialties of the Germans.

Artists featured: Albrecht Altdorfer, Fra Angelico, Giovanni Bellini, Hieronymus Bosch, Sandro Botticelli, Pieter Breughel, Agnolo Bronzino, Vittore Carpaccio, François Clouet, Correggio, Lucas Cranach the Elder, Albrecht Dürer, El Greco, School of Fontainebleau, Piero della Francesca, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Giorgione, Matthias Grünewald, Maerten van Heemskerck, Hans Holbein the Younger, Fra Filippo Lippi, Lorenzo Lotto, Andrea Mantegna, Masaccio, Antonello da Messina, Michelangelo, Parmigianino, Pontormo, Raphael, Luca Signorelli, Tintoretto, Titian, Paolo Uccello, Veronese, Leonardo da Vinci

About the Series:
Each book in TASCHEN's Basic Genre Series features:

* a detailed introduction with approximately 35 photographs, plus a timeline of the most important events (political, cultural, scientific, etc.) that took place during the time period
* a selection of the most important works of the epoch; each is presented on a 2-page spread with a full-page image and, on the facing page, a description/interpretation of the work and brief biography of the artist as well as additional information such as a reference work, portrait of the artist, and/or citations