The Lies of the Artists

Description

The Lies of the Artists
by Ingrid D. Rowland

ISBN: 9780262549097
Softcover, new

Brief Description:
Luminous essays on artists of the Italian Renaissance by one of our most
inspired writers on the history and making of art. In the three centuries
from 1450 to 1750 painters, sculptors, and architects emerged from the
medieval craft guilds of Italy to claim a new social status as creators,
whose gorgeous handiwork, now called “art,” expressed lofty inspiration as
much as manual skill. In The Lies of the Artists, Ingrid Rowland takes us
into the world of these artists, and into their seemingly miraculous ways
of transforming transcendent ideas into tangible works of art that
challenged and redefined reality, “lies” with the power to reveal a deeper
truth. As the great art patron Daniele Barbaro wrote: “bisogna aprire gli
occhi,” or “you have to open your eyes.” And this is precisely what Rowland
does in these essays, bringing her knowledge, keen perception, and singular
wit to bear on the art and lives of Renaissance masters, including
Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Bernini, Raphael, Titian, and El Greco, as well
as some overlooked artists of phenomenal talent, such as Antonello da
Messina, Andrea del Sarto, and Bertoldo di Giovanni. In dazzling prose, as
luminous and versatile as the painterly effects she describes, she shows us
the work of these artists in eye-opening, thought-provoking ways,
recreating the delight and insight that the discovery of great art evokes.