Artists: Their Lives and Works
foreword by Ross King (Dorling Kindersley £25.00)
Michael Collins
We admire the work of artists and are in awe of their magnificent creations. Their deftness with pencil, charcoal and paintbrush capture a moment and turn it into a timeless masterpiece.
In this book the editors have produced an elegant volume which brings the reader behind the easel where we can glimpse the lives and passions of great artists. The book covers some seven centuries, and explores the world in which the artist flourished as well as the techniques which developed during their lifetimes.
It is an ideal introduction for students and the general reader to the great adventure in the human imagination that art represents,
The book starts with the Italian artist Giotto, the first since Ancient Greece to enjoy fame in his own lifetime. A story relates how the artist Cimabue saw the young Giotto drawing sheep on a slab and took him as his pupil. Jan van Eyck, from the Netherlands, worked in the early 15th Century and refined the emerging art of oil painting. His startlingly realistic portraits are almost photographic and were not matched until Rubens in the 17th Century.
But these are only a few names from a great panorama. Artists, Their Lives and Works celebrates over 80 painters and sculptors, examining their techniques and masterpieces. A particular feature is a full-page portrait of artists or one of their works.
A surprising number of artists painted self- portraits. Of particular interest is the extraordinary self-portrait of the young Monet, painted as he was just beginning to achieve success. The youthful portrait contrasts with the photograph of the elderly artist in front of his vast waterlily canvas.