The glory of Venice : art in the eighteenth century /

This superb book is the catalog of the exhibition shown at the Royal Academy, London, from September through December 1994 and being shown at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, from January through April 1995. It includes 292 paintings, drawings, prints, books, and sculpture, most of which are illustrated in color. The plates are distributed throughout the volume, appearing as illustrations for the essays, which are written by English, American, and Italian authorities and are devoted to such subjects as the international taste for Venetian art and cultural politics, and to such major artists as the Tiepolos, Canaletto, Piazzetta, the Riccis, the Guardis, Bellotto, Piranesi, and Canova. There are also essays on such subjects as Rococo artists and religious, genre, townscape, and landscape painting. The individual catalog entries of the works are listed by the artist and preceded by excellent brief biographies and bibliography. These are all by specialists. The book has a thorough bibliography and an excellent index. Naturally limited to works that could be borrowed (although it includes illustrations of others such as wall paintings and architecture), the catalog is a major contribution to the subject and invites comparison with Painting in 18th Century Venice (3rd ed., 1994; 2nd ed., CH,Feb'81), by Sir Michael Levey, who incidentally, is one of the contributors to the present volume. Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduate; graduate; faculty; general. T. J. McCormick; emeritus, Wheaton College (MA)

This beautiful book has served as the catalog of a survey exhibition held in London and Washington in 1994-95. The 16 authoritative essays by an international cast of museum and academic scholars highlight individual artists and general themes during the glorious artistic flowering that coincided with the decline and fall of the Venetian state. Although many major works could not be exhibited because of their size or architectural nature, the show and this resultant catalog are still wonderfully wide in reach, including paintings, pastels, drawings, illustrated books, and prints, as well as some furniture. A remarkably good survey of the period within the limits of a specific exhibition and the catalog format, the main essays succeed for the most part in reaching the educated general reader, while the apparatus is there for scholars. Not really groundbreaking, but excellent in what it does; highly recommended for both general and special collections.-Jack Perry Brown, Art Inst. of Chicago Lib. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.