Description
The Brancacci Chapel Frescoes- Occasionally an art book will appear that’s been produced with such painstaking scholarship and attention to beauty that, in a sense, it becomes a work of art itself. This is such a book. In one volume, the authors thoroughly and conscientiously document the 15th-century frescoes by Masaccio, Masolino, and Filippino Lippi in Florence’s Brancacci Chapel. The results amply demonstrate why so many artists since the late Renaissance have been so influenced by these walls. Each panel is reproduced in its entirety, with dozens of full-page details following; many of these details are actual-size reproductions, providing the reader with the ability to study line, color, and brushwork in a way not possible even at the chapel. The reader witnesses the reemergence of the revered paintings following a protracted restoration effort. The praiseworthy analytical essays describing each fresco panel are enhanced by wonderfully detailed appendixes explaining the chapel’s history and the technical aspects of its restoration. Seldom does a book of this price seem such a bargain. Highly recommended.
