The art of Renaissance Venice : architecture, sculpture, and painting, 1460-1590 /

This is the first book on Venetian Renaissance art that treats developments in architecture, sculpture, and painting as part of a single phenomenon--the forma urbis of the island republic of Venice. Huse and Wolters are both acknowledged authorities on Venetian art, and their study--a very readable translation of a work originally published in German (Venedig, die Kunst der Renaissance, 1986)--brings together a wealth of information previously available only in specialized publications. Their treatment releases Venetian art from the Florentine aesthetic and allows it to be seen in its own terms, responding to the specific needs of a prosperous and sophisticated urban clientele. In a departure from previous discussions of Venetian art, architecture and sculpture are highlighted and discussed as fundamental articulations of Venetian Renaissance culture, categories of production that supported the city's growth to world prominence in the course of the 15th century. Intelligently illustrated with excellent black-and-white photography, numerous collateral illustrations, and an enticing collection of color plates. Certain to become the standard one-volume treatment of Venetian Renaissance art. -D. Pincus, University of British Columbia

While no single volume can encompass the art of Renaissance Venice, Huse and Wolters's in-depth survey does nevertheless provide an informative and frequently insightful introduction to the city's artistic achievement. Particularly useful is Huse's consideration of painting. Instead of a traditional sequential approach to great masters, the paintings are arranged for formal and iconographic analysis within the context of chronological periods and functional categories. Similarly the efforts of the architects are described in terms of distinctive building types. The justifiably shorter chapter on sculpture, however, employs a more traditional, personality-centered approach. Although the numerous illustrations are never more than adequate and the unusual organization detracts from a sense of the artists' development, no serious collection should be without this excellent synthesis.-- Robert Cahn, Fashion Inst. of Technology, New York (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.