Books on Painting
Pieter Brueghel
Several well respected art publishers have come out with studies of Brueghel recently. All of them include very fine reproductions of his major paintings. Any of them would be useful to students of painting at any level.
Thames and Hudson Press publishes an inexpensive large-format paperback volume, edited by Walter Gobson, entitled Bruegel (World of Art). This title is also available in hardcover.
Taschen Press puts out an inexpensive with commentary by Rose-Marie and Rainer Hagen, entitled Pieter Bruegel : The Elder : C. 1525-1569 : Peasants, Fools and Demons.
Harry N. Abrams Press puts out a very fine hardcover edition with commentary by Wolfgang Stechow entitled Pieter Bruegel : The Elder (Masters of Art Series).
Koenemann Press is coming out with an inexpensive hardcover volume on Brueghel in the Masters of... series entitled Pieter Brueghel: Masters of Dutch Art. It will be available soon and can be pre-ordered through Amazon.com.
Simone Martini
There is currently available only one inexpensive paperback book with good reproductions of Simone's work. It can be ordered through Amazon but usually with a wait of a few weeks. It is part of the Scala Books "Library of the Great masters" series, entitled simply Simone Martini.
There is also a larger, much more expensive hardcover edition with extensive commentary and high quality reproductions, entitled Simone Martini, also available through Amazon.
Duccio
There are a couple of good inexpensive paperback editions of the works of Duccio including one from Riverside's Library of Great Masters series entitled Duccio Di Buoninsegna. This one includes a commentary by Cecilia Janella. There is also an inexpensive hardcover edition from Konemann Press entitled Duccio. Finally, Art books International publishes a very fine large scale hardcover edition with commentary by Sandra Bellisi entitled Duccio Da Boninsegna. All are available through Amazon.
Fra Angelico
There are several excellent editions of the works of Fra Angelico, including one very inexpensive edition with good quality reproductions and a brief commentary by Christopher Lloyd from Phaidon Press's Colour Library Series entitled Fra Angelico. Konemann Press puts out another good, inexpensive hardcover edition entitled Fra Angelico. There are two excellent and substantial hardcover editions with excellent reproductions, both at medium price with an excellent commentary by John T. Spike from Abbeville Press entitled Fra Angelico; the other from Yale University Press has a fine commentary from William Hood entitled Fra Angelico at San Marco. Finally, there are two expensive editions, one from Thames & Hudson with a commentary by Paolo Morachiello entitled Fra Angelico : The San Marco Frescoes; the other edition comes from George Braziller Press is part of theirGreat Fresco Cycles of the Renaissance Series and is entitled Fra Angelico : San Marco, Florence. It contains excellent reproductions and a commentary by Hood. Unfortunately, it is not currently available and may take more than a couple of weeks to go through backorders.
Filippo Lippi
As part of their Library of the Great Masters, Scala Books puts out a good inexpensive edition of the works of Filippo Lippi with commentary by Gloria Fossi entitled Filippo Lippi. There is also anexcellent, encyclopedic, though quite expensive hardcover edition from Phaidon Press entitled Fra Filippo Lippi; Life and Work, with a Complete Catalogue. It includes excellent reproductions of the artist's entire output, a lengthy and detailed biography, and an insightful commentary by Jeffrey Ruda.
Leonardo Da Vinci
Because of the incredible breadth of Leonardo's interests--painting represents only a tiny fraction of his output--it is hard to find books devoted solely to his paintings. Typically his paintings are treated as a chapter of a more inclusive study of his work and so don't often receive a detailed commentary. One good, inexpensive study that highlights the paintings comes from Harry N. Abrams Press with a commentary by Jack Wasserman and is entitled Leonardo Da Vinci. Another good medium-priced edition comes from Yale University Press with a commentary by David Alan Brown and is entitled Leonardo Da Vinci : Origins of a Genius. There are of course many more books devoted to his drawings and notebooks. I have here only touched the tip of the iceberg of books on Leonardo, but these may as good a place as any to start, especially if one is approaching him from an interest in painting.
Emile. Translated with an introduction by Allan Bloom. New York: Basic Books, 1979.
I am working on a review of this standard translation and commentary, and will post a more detailed evaluation of it as soon as possible. For now, I can report that the translation is very faithful to the original French text and quite readable. This edition is also noteworthy for the in-depth discussion of Emile as a work of political philosophy. Bloom's translation is available through Amazon.com.
Emile. Translated by Barbara Foxley. Introduction by P. D. Jimack. New York: Everyman/Dent, 1992.
This alternative translation of Emile by Barbara Foxley, is also available through Amazon.com. This edition, published by the Everyman Library, contains a fine introduction by P. D. Jimack, although the translation is perhaps not quite as precise as Bloom's. It is, however, considerably less expensive than the Basic Books edition.
There are several very fine translations of the Republic currently available, by Robin Waterfield (Oxford), by Allan Bloom (Basic Books), by Desmond Lee (Penguin), and by G. M. A. Grube (Hackett), to name just a few. I will offer detailed evaluations of these four translations in the next few days.
In order to facilitate the discussion, I will provide links for all the books discussed here through Amazon.com. You may, of course, browse their catalog yourself through the search engine provided below.
This project is partially supported through its association with Amazon.com and CDNow.
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