Monday 8 December 2014

The Vatican: All the Paintings

"The Vatican: All the Paintings" by Anja Grebe

It's the complete collection of the Old Masters plus more than 300 sculptures, maps, tapestries, and other artefacts, and this thick volume is being sold for SGD$120 at the Da Vinci exhibition which I have reviewed before (click me).

Intro From the Book
  The Vatican is one of the wonders of the world. With more then 5 million visitors each year, it houses many museums and palaces containing some of the world's most renowned works of art. Never before have so many of treasures of the Vatican been out together in one book.

  The Vatican: All the Paintings is an unprecedented celebration of this great collection. It includes every painting currently on display by Old Master's including the masterpieces of Michelangelo, Leonardo, Carravaggio, Raphael, Fra Angelico, Giotto, Poussin, Titian, and Pinturicchio, as well as more than 300 sculptures, maps, tapestries, manuscripts, and more.
  The book is organised into 22 sections representing the museums and areas of the Vatican, including the Pinacotera (painting gallery), the Sistine Chapel, the Raphael Rooms, the Borgia Apartments, the Vatican Palaces, and St. Peter's Basilica.

  Each one of the 976 works of art represented in the book- including 661 classic paintings on display in the permanent painting collection and 315 other masterpieces- is annotated with the name of the painting and artist, the date of the work, the birth and death dates of the artist, and tge medium that was used, the size of the work, and the catalogue number (if applicable). In addition, 180 paintings and other pieces of art are highlighted with 300-word essays by art historian Anja Grebe on such topics as the key attributes of the work, the artist's inspirations and techniques, biographical information on the artist, and the artist's impact on art history.

  The enclosed DVD-ROM contains every image from the book and allows readers to view them at a slightly larger size and to search and sort the paintings by type, artist, era, and date, or by location in the Vatican museums.
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 Some people have found certain written errors within the book, like having two paintings having the same name, or a wrong record of which artist painted a certain painting... I haven't read the book. I just like the fact that it's an extensive collection of all of the Vatican's art works. I am a little annoyed that some of the paintings are pictured really small in the book, but I think for the number of pages the book has, it's completely worth the price. (I've paid more for a book of much lower quality, so I'm not complaining.)

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