Titian: His Life and Works in 500 Images An illustrated exploration of the artist and his context, with a gallery of his paintings and drawings
Produktdetaljer
Biographical note
Susie Hodge has an MA in the History of Art by Research from the University of London. She has written many books on art history and writes articles and booklets for art magazines and museums including the V&A,Tate and the Royal Academy.Art historian Hodge delivers a comprehensive
survey of the life, art, and cultural milieu of Italian
Renaissance painter Titian. Born Tiziano Vecellio around 1488, the
painter moved to Venice with his family when he was nine and
apprenticed as a mosaic maker. Learning from such well-known
artists as Giorgione, he used the "intense pigments" available in
Venice in paintings notable for their lush color and "freedom of
style and approach" (for example, he often animated religious
iconography with a sense of movement, portraying the Madonna in a
"contrapposto," or twisted, position). After establishing his
subject's biographical information, historical context, and
artistic influences in the book's first half, Hodge examines
Titian's paintings in roughly chronological order, unpacking the
themes, style, and significance of famous works (Flora, The Venus
of Urbino) and lesser-known pieces (Portrait of a Young Woman).
While some of the background-including information on Venice's
system of constitutional monarchy-can feel like filler, Hodge's
stylistic analyses are cogent, and welcome context is provided via
reproductions of paintings by Titian's instructors, Gentile and
Giovanni Bellini; his rival, Sebastiano del Piombo; and his
admirers, including Tintoretti and Manet. Art students will
especially appreciate this primer on a key Renaissance artist. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (US) JULY 2024<br /><br />I’ve enthused before about this really rather excellent series, which gives you more bangs for your buck than you honestly have any right to expect. Here, Susie Hodge provides a concise but thorough account of Titian’s life and the progress of his work before moving on to a gallery of specific works, each accompanied by a short descriptive caption. As ever, the quality of the reproduction is more than enough to see what you’re looking at and for, enhanced by a decently heavy paper stock that doesn’t swallow the colour or simply feel cheap in the hand. I honestly don’t know how they do it – I really thought the cover price might have hit the £20 mark by now, but it’s well off that. Henry Malt, ArtBookReview January 2025