Renaissance Art: A Very Short Introduction

Artists like Botticelli, Holbein, Leonardo, Dürer, and Michelangelo and works such as the Last Supper fresco and the monumental marble statue of David, are familiar symbols of the Renaissance. But who were these artists, why did they produce such memorable images, and how would their original beholders have viewed these objects? Was the Renaissance only about great masters and masterpieces, or were women artists and patrons also involved? And what about the minor pieces that Renaissance men and women would have encountered in homes, churches and civic spaces? This Very Short Introduction answers such questions by considering both famous and lesser-known artists, patrons, and works of art within the cultural and historical context of Renaissance Europe. The volume provides a broad cultural and historical context for some of the Renaissance's most famous artists and works of art. It also explores forgotten aspects of Renaissance art, such as objects made for the home and women as artists and patrons. Considering Renaissance art produced in both Northern and Southern Europe, rather than focusing on just one region, the book introduces readers to a variety of approaches to the study of Renaissance art, from social history to formal analysis.


Author: Geraldine A. Johnson
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 07/28/2005
Pages: 158
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.33lbs
Size: 6.90h x 4.32w x 0.43d
ISBN13: 9780192803542
ISBN10: 0192803549
BISAC Categories:
- Art | European
- Art | History | Renaissance

About the Author

Geraldine A. Johnson is Lecturer in the Department of the History of Art at Oxford University. She is the co-editor of Picturing Women in Renaissance and Baroque Italy and the editor of Sculpture and Photography: Envisioning the Third Dimension.