The Old Masters - Byzantine, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque

Fülszöveg

Masterpieces from the sixth to the eighteenth centuries have been selected by a specialist in the history of western art to provide, in a single volume, a magnificent panorama of priceless paintings and drawings. The wealth of illustrations, including 131 in full color and gold, present the varied aspects of life in fascinating detail. This handsome collection provides a faithful record of the life of Europe's people through twelve centuries and reflects society's successive preoccupation with religious, philosophical and secular matters. Religious paintings are balanced by a variety of portraits and landscapes and studies of animals, flowers and still lifes. Byzantine mosaics decorated early basilicas. Later secular figures dressed in the fashion of the day were inserted as pious donors into painted scenes depicting incidents in the life of the Holy Family, various saints or biblical characters. The nameless horrors of the other world were depicted by some artists with savage realism.