Recommended readings

I will use this section to suggest readings related to the course. Because so much has
been written on the history of European art, this is not an easy task. Also, there is a lot
that is now written in English (but, fortunately for this course, in the last few decades
English has become the international language of the field of art history, and more is
written in that language than in any other at this point). One general text that I can
recommend is The Story of Art, by Ernst Gombrich, it is a book full of ideas, but much
stronger on some artists than on others.

Oxford University Press has a good series called Oxford History of Art. It includes
volumes on Art in Renaissance Italy, and also on Northern European Art. And the series
published by Phaidon Press Art and Ideas also has good surveys, among them are
fairly small volumes devoted to the Renaissance in the North of Europe and in Italy, and
also on many individual artists.

The Dictionary of Art (also called The Grove Dictionary of Art), edited by Jane Turner,
and published by Oxford University Press, is an extremely useful tool. It includes 34
volumes, with thousands of entries written by very good art historians, on a very wide
range of topics. It is great for specific information, but is much more than that. Every
entry is also very good on additional bibliography. In spite of its size and also that you
may find it hard to find, I very highly recommend this. Many libraries have access to the
online edition.

A very good way to delve into the field is by using the web pages of the best museums.
They have information that goes well beyond the objects that they own. The best
example of this is probably the web page of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New
York. Many other museums have very good web pages as well. Spend time exploring
these.

My intention in designing this course was that it serve as a general introduction to the
art of the period; just like survey books try to do. I recommend that, rather than reading
general books, you follow this course, and use readings to zoom in; to focus on
something more specific that you may find of interest. I think you will find this more
stimulating. For example, the book Renaissance Portraits, by Lorne Campbell is very
good on that subject. Much writing in the field of art history is devoted to more abstract
and theoretical issues. One very good example is the book by Philip Sohm, Style in the
Art Theory of Early Modern Italy. This is fascinating, but not easy reading.

Every week I will list a few books that I find especially interesting and relevant to the
topics covered on that week. For week one, two general books on the Renaissance that
can be recommended are The Civilization of Europe in the Renaissance, by John Hale,
and Worldly Goods. A New History of the Renaissance, by Lisa Jardine. Both of these
are broad cultural histories of the period, not art historical surveys. Again, it is probably
best to regard this course as your basic introductory text, and then to focus on more
specific readings if you want to.
A lot of the best books on art history come out of museums, and are written in
conjunction with exhibitions on a given artist. One example that relates to the content of
week one is Andrea Mantegna, which was published in 1992 in conjunction to an
exhibition devoted to that artist at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Royal
Academy of Arts in London.

The field of art history is very rich and vital; it produces many, many books each year,
on a very wide range of topics, even within the period that we are studying. Let me
know what you are interested in and I will try to help

Recommended readings
What is probably the most important exhibition ever held on the paintings of Rogier van
der Weyden (in the words of a recent reviewer in The Burlington Magazine, one of the
leading periodical publications in the history of art), just closed a few weeks ago at the
Prado museum in Madrid. See the museum´s web page for information on that
exhibition, and also see the publication that accompanied the exhibition, which was
directed by the curator of the show, Lorne Campbell. The same person, who for many
years was curator of early Netherlandish paintings at the National Gallery in London, is
the author of the catalogues of fifteenth and sixteenth century Netherlandish paintings in
the National Gallery. These two books are much more than catalogues of a collection.
They are among the best studies that have been published on the fields that they cover.

Bosch is a difficult subject. Many art historians focus on his works, but their
interpretations differ widely. As a way of introduction I can recommend Hans
Belting, Hieronymus Bosch. Garden of Earthly Delights. Also good is Hieronymus
Bosch. The Complete Paintings and Drawings, by Jos Koldeweij, Paul Vandenbroeck
and Bernard Vermet. That largest and best collection in the world of paintings by Bosch
is in the Prado, and that Museusm will host an important exhibition devoted to his art in
the spring and summer of 2016.

This is a week that focuses attention on what are among the Prado´s greatest strengths.
In the case of Patinir, the Prado also holds the largest collection of his works (with four
paintings); if you want to get to know this artist you will need to visit us in Madrid (but
important works by him also exist in the Louvre in Paris, the Metropolitan museum of art
in New York, the Philadelphia Museum of art, among other places). In 2007 we
organized the largest exhibition ever held on his on his work (of which I was curator).
The publication that accompanied that exhibition is the most complete study of his work.
Unfortunately it is out of print. We also made a 55 minute documentary on Patinir´s art
on the occasion of the exhibition, that I highly recommend as a manner of introduction.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder is well explained in a beautifully illustrated in fairly new book by
Manfred Sellink, Bruegel: The Complete Paintings, Drawings and Prints, published in
2012.
Leonardo and Michelangelo are among the most written about artists ever; it is not easy
to point to introductory texts. On the former, look for books by Martin Kemp, a leading
expert on the artist. On Michelangelo, I still use a fine book by Howard
Hibbard, Michelangelo. Painter, Sculptor, Architect. A good, and very long read, is Rona
Goffen, Renaissance Rivals : Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael, Titian, published in
2002.

Recommended readings
For Raphael, a very good general survey is Roger Jones and Nicholas Penny, Raphael¸
published in 1983.

For Dürer, Campbell Hutchison, Jane. Albrecht Dürer: A Biography. Princeton University
Press, 1990.

For Titian try the publication Titian, edited by David Jaffe, from the National Gallery,
London, of 2003 (this was published to accompany an exhibition devoted to the artist).
For a broader look at painting in 16th century Venice, I recommend Peter
Humfrey, Painting in Renaissance Venice, of 1995.

For El Greco, look for the section devoted to him in Painting in the book by Jonathan
Brown, Spain, 1500–1700 (a book that I recommend for other Spanish artists in this
course as well). Look also for the recent El Greco of Toledo, by Fernando Marías,
which is the exhibition catalogue of a large show devoted to this artist in 2014 (look also
for other material in the web related to that exhibition).

A very good survey of painting in the 17th century is 17th and 18th Century Art;
Baroque Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, by Julius S. Held, Donald Posner. This is an
old book, of 1976. I used it as a text book in the 1980´s, and was very fond of it.

For Caravaggio, a somewhat dated, but still very good book is the one from Howard
Hibbard, Caravaggio, published in 1983. The web page of The Metropolitan Museum of
Art on this artist is very good.

(Remember that all these artists are giant figures within the history of art. There are
thousands of articles and books on each one of them, written in several languages. If
you want something very specific, ask us).

RECOMMENDED READINGS

For Caravaggio’s followers, see the catalogue of the exhibition Painting in Naples. From
Caravaggio to Guiordano, which was held at the National Gallery of Art in Washington
in 1983, and J. T. Spike: Painting in Naples from 1653–1747, A Taste for Angels:
Neapolitan Painting in North American Collections, 1650–1750 (this is also an exhibition
catalogue, of a show held at the Yale Art Gallery in 1987.

For Ribera specifically, see the relevant section in Jonathan Brown, The Golden Age of
Painting in Spain, 1991.

For the great, and too often forgotten Guido Reni, see the book by R. E. Spear: The
‘Divine’ Guido: Religion, Sex, Money and Art in the World of Guido Reni, of 1997.

For Poussin and Claude, Anthony Blunt: Art and Architecture in France, 1500–1700,
remains a great introduction (even though the first edition is from 1953). For Poussin,
see also E. Cropper and C. Dempsey: Nicolas Poussin: Friendship and Love of
Painting (1996), and Poussin and Nature: Arcadian Visions (catalogue of an exhibition
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2008). For the landscapes of Claude Lorrain, see H.
Wine, Claude: The Poetic Landscape (this is a catalogue of an exhibition held at the
National Gallery in London in 1994).

For Rubens two very good introductions in English are C White: Peter Paul Rubens:
Man and Artist (1987), and P. Sutton, The Age of Rubens(catalogue of an exhibition
held at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in 1993),

For Van Dyck, you can read the catalogue of the exhibition Van Dyck, 1599-1641, held
at the royal Academy of Arts in London in 1999.

For Velázquez, see Jonathan Brown, Velázquez. Painter and Courtier, of 1986.

RECOMMENDED READINGS

For Francisco de Zurbarán see the relevant section of Jonathan Brown, The Golden
Age of Painting in Spain.

The literature of still life painting tends to focus on specific countries (Still life painting in
the Netherlands, or Italy, or Spain, etc). An exhibition in 2010 at the Museu Calouste
Gulbenkian, In the Presence of Things. Four Centuries of European Still-Life
Painting tried to correct this. The authors of the catalog are Peter Cherry, John
Loughman, Lesley Stevenson.

For Frans Hals, see the book by Seymour Slive, Frans Hals, 2014.

For Rembrandt, see The Rembrandt Book, by Gary Schwartz, of 2006.

For Vermeer, see Walter Liedtke, Vermeer. The Complete Paintings, 2012.
For Gerard ter Borch, Pieter de Hooch and paintings of Dutch domestic interiors, try to
find the catalogue of an exhibition that I curated at the Prado in 2003, "Vermeer and the
Dutch Interior". These painters are also covered in a very good, and very
comprehensive (and large) survey of Dutch painting from the 17th century: "The Golden
Age: Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century", by Bob Haak, of 1996.

Recommended readings
(As always, remember that the bibliography on all the artists that we have covered in
this course is immense. What we suggest here is only a very basic guide to leading
general studies that exist in English on each artist)

A good introduction to the art of painting in the 18th century is provided by a book that
we recommended for the seventeenth century: 17th and 18th Century Art; Baroque
Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, by Julius S. Held, Donald Posner.

For Tiepolo, I recommend that you read Giambattista Tiepolo, 1696-1770, by Keith
Christiansen. This is the catalog of an exhibition held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
in 1996. Try find this in the Metropolitan web page. Many of the museum´s publications
can be downloaded on-line.

For Watteau, see the book Antoine Watteau, by Donald PoAntoine Watteasner, of 1984.
For Boucher, see the publication that accompanied the exhibition devoted to the artist in
1986-87 at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Grand Palais in Paris, and the
Detroit Institute of Art: Alastair Lang, François Boucher (1703-1770).

The most complete study of Hogarth´s art is Ronald Paulson, Hogarth, 3 vols, published
in 1991-93.

For Jacques-Louis David, see D. Johnson, Jacques-Louis David: Art in Metamorphosis,

1993. For the artistic context from which this painter emerged, see also T.
Crow, Painters and Public Life in in Eighteenth-Century Paris, of 1985.

For Goya, see the catalogue of the recent exhibition (2015) held at the Museum fo Fine
arts in Boston, “Goya. Order and Disaster”. You can also use the monographic
study Francisco Goya y Lucientes 1746-1828, by Janis Tomlinson (1994). For the
fascinating late work by this artist, see also Goya´s Last Works, by Jonathan Brown and
Susan Grace Galassi.

A very good survey for the relatively new subject of women artists is Whitney
Chadwick, Women, Art and Society, first published in 1990. There you will find
references to what in recent decades has become a very large bibliography.

For art patronage, I recommend that you read the lively Kings and Connoisseurs, by
Jonathan Brown.
For the subject of the artist in his workshop I have recently read a study devoted to
seventeenth century Italy that I found very informative: Patrizia Cavazzini, Painting as
Business in Early Seventeenth-century Rome, published in 2008.

For the art market… stick to this course. This is a very broad theme that is not limited to
the history of art. For the issue of the art expert and connoisseurship, read the
inspiring On Art and Connoisseurship, by Max Friedländer.

For the history of art history, two useful introductions are Michael Podro, The Critical
Historians of Art, of 1982, and Richard Stone and John-Paul Stonard eds., The Books
that Shaped Art History, of 2013. And best of all, read the originals of the sources cited
throughout the course, from Vasari to Winckelmann.

On a personal note, I am currently much taken by trying to understand the effect that art
has on me as an individual, to understand art as an aesthetic experience. One way into
this approach that I highly recommend are three books by: John Armstrong, The Secret
Power of Beauty; Alexander Nehemas, Only a Promise of Hapiness. The Place of
Beauty in a World of Art, and George Steiner, The Poetry of Thought.

Also, I recently read a book only tangentially connected to art and art history, but I want
to recompensed it: Plato at the Googleplex. Why Philosophy won't go away, by
Rebecca Goldstein. It includes many pages on Plato´s thoughts on the notion of beauty
(which for the most part is not related to art, but rather to mathematics). The book is a
great (and long) door into the world of Plato. His ideas are crucial to understand ideas of
beauty current throughout the entire classical tradition, including many artists in our
course, among them Leonardo, Rubens, Guido Reni and David.