Masterworks

by Zaczek, Iain; Bean, Rachel

• ISBN13: 9781571459473
• ISBN10: 1571459472
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-09-01
• Publisher: Thunder Bay Pr

Summary

Throughout history, certain paintings have captured the popular imagination. These masterworks are among the most timeless and enduring images in Western art. Some have achieved their iconic status because they are supreme displays of technical skill or the perfect expression of their theme, others because they encapsulate an exciting new interpretation of subject matter and style. Some, such as Michelangelo's monumental frescoes decorating the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, were hailed as masterpieces when they were unveiled. Others, such as the paintings of the impressionists, received hostile criticism from contemporaries, their true role as landmark images being appreciated by only a few avant-garde supporters and later generations. Masterworks features sixty of the most famous images in Western art, from the fourteenth to the twentieth centuries, depicting subjects from Bible stories, mythology, and history to landscape and modern life. Key works represent the different artistic styles from the classical revival of the Renaissance to the avant-garde movements of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, such as impressionism, cubism, and pop art. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Iain Zaczek was born in Dundee, Scotland, and was educated at Wadham College, Oxford, and the Courtauld Institute of Art. He specializes in books about art and design.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 7
The Lamentation	p. 10
The rebirth of painting	p. 13
The Annunciation	p. 14
The Annunciation in art	p. 17
The Arnolfini Wedding	p. 18
The development of oil painting	p. 21
The Birth of Venus	p. 22
Venus in art	p. 25
Hell	p. 26
Images of hell	p. 29
Mona Lisa	p. 30
The world's most famous painting	p. 33
Christ among the Doctors	p. 34
A Renaissance master	p. 37
The School of Athens	p. 38
The Vatican stanze	p. 41
The Creation of Adam	p. 42
The Michelangelo legend	p. 45
Bacchus and Ariadne	p. 46
Classical legends	p. 49
The Ambassadors	p. 50
Portraits and propaganda	p. 53
Hunters in the Snow	p. 54
The seasons in art	p. 57
The Burial of Count Orgaz	p. 58
Art and the Counter-Reformation	p. 61
The Crucifixion of Saint Peter	p. 62
Shocking realism	p. 65
The Descent from the Cross	p. 66
Baroque splendor	p. 69
The Laughing Cavalier	p. 70
A new spontaneity	p. 73
Equestrian Portrait of Charles I	p. 74
Equestrian portraits	p. 77
Et in Arcadia Ego	p. 78
French classicism	p. 81
The Night Watch	p. 82
Dutch group portraits	p. 85
The Maids of Honor	p. 86
Jesters and dwarfs	p. 89
Maid Pouring Milk	p. 90
Everyday symbols	p. 93
A Regatta on the Grand Canal	p. 94
Topographical art	p. 97
The Marriage Contract	p. 98
Moralizing art	p. 101
Mr. and Mrs. Andrews	p. 102
The conversation piece	p. 105
The Swing	p. 106
The rococo style	p. 109
The Death of Wolfe	p. 110
Modernizing history painting	p. 113
The Death of Marat	p. 114
Neoclassicism and revolution	p. 117
The Valpincon Bather	p. 118
Orientalism	p. 121
The Third of May, 1808	p. 122
Images of war	p. 125
The Wanderer above a Sea of Mist	p. 126
Landscape and romanticism	p. 129
The Raft of the Medusa	p. 130
Marine disasters	p. 133
The Hay Wain	p. 134
A fresh approach to landscape	p. 137
Liberty Leading the People	p. 138
Romanticism and rebellion	p. 141
The Oxbow	p. 142
The Hudson River school	p. 145
Snowstorm	p. 146
The sublime	p. 149
The Bathers	p. 150
An affront to taste	p. 153
The Gleaners	p. 154
Peasant life	p. 157
Luncheon on the Grass	p. 158
Tradition and modernity	p. 161
Beata Beatrix	p. 162
The Pre-Raphaelite sisterhood	p. 165
Max Schmitt in a Single Scull	p. 166
Art and medicine	p. 169
The Rehearsal	p. 170
Snapshots of life	p. 173
Nocturne in Black and Gold	p. 174
Pushing the boundaries	p. 177
Dance at the Moulin de la Galette	p. 178
Scenes of contemporary life	p. 181
Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte	p. 182
Science and color	p. 185
Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose	p. 186
The American abroad	p. 189
Mont Sainte-Victoire	p. 190
Postimpressionist landscapes	p. 193
Sunflowers	p. 194
Insanity and creativity	p. 197
The Scream	p. 198
Expressionism	p. 201
Where Do We Come From?	p. 202
Primitivism	p. 205
The Water Lily Pond	p. 206
Monet's Garden at Giverny	p. 209
Les Demoiselles d'Avignon	p. 210
The birth of cubism	p. 213
The Kiss	p. 214
Sezession: art and decoration	p. 217
Dance	p. 218
Images of dance	p. 221
Composition in Red, Yellow, and Blue	p. 222
The birth of abstraction	p. 225
The Treachery of Images	p. 226
Image and reality	p. 229
The Persistence of Memory	p. 230
Mind games	p. 233
Ram's Head with Hollyhock	p. 234
The regionalists	p. 237
Nighthawks	p. 238
Chronicles of urban life	p. 241
Autumn Rhythm	p. 242
Abstract expressionism	p. 245
Two Hundred Campbell's Soup Cans	p. 246
Pop art	p. 249
Further Reading and Websites	p. 250
Index	p. 252
Picture credits	p. 256
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