Reviews (3)

One nice alternative Rosary
Through The Rosary With Fra Angelico is a beautiful pamphlet which provides one alternative for reciting the rosary. It begins with a short history of the Rosary and instructions on how to say the Rosary. For each mystery it includes art by Fra Angelica; a short description of the mystery; a Biblical passage related to the mystery; prayer intentions; Then for each Hail Mary after "fruit of your womb Jesus" it provides a phrase "who ; for final prayers it provides the Salve Regina and the Litany of the Blessed Virgin.

Every Catholic should know the "plain vanilla" Rosary but everyone must find the form of the Rosary (if any) which is most appropriate to their prayer life. This could be an excellent choice.

23 year old recommends this book
This book is an awesome way to help you meditate on the mysteries while praying the Rosary. I have bought it for several of my friends. The paintings are also beautiful. Try it out. It is only a couple bucks! :O)

Through the Rosary with Fra Angelico
I've used this book for years, and I find it to be a much more meaningful way to say the Rosary than the usual method. It is a good way to do a meditation on each of the mysteries. I bought copies for all the kids at the diocesan summer camp that I run, so obviously, I really do recommend it! Fr. Bob Haux ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Fra Angelico
This is what an art book should be, page after page of splendid reproductions, including several full page details of Fra Angelico's greatest works. I was able to spend one day in San Marco, 2 years ago, I was alone most of the morning, but by noon had to contend with hoards of tourists pushing their way to get their 3 second glimsp of each fresco. Looking at these wonderful reproductions, I am reminded of the originals, I am able to see details I could not see peering through the entrances to the monks' rooms, and to recall many details had just forgotten. The text, devoted to the illuminating the art, included a wonderful explaination of composition and perspective.

incredible book for an incredible work of art !
this book is a piece of art itself. the reproductions and the details close-up photographs gives a new demention of fra angelico's frescos of 'san marco' in florence. it is a unic book. tzvia haitin ... Read more

Reviews (1)

San Marco a Beautiful Place
William Hood's Fra Angelico at San Marco is one of the best books written on this important period of art. It is comprehenisve, well-illustrated and entertaining, it is also a model of clarity and scholarly precision. There are many painting and sculptures that are beautiful to see. The book has captured the beautiful works of Fra Angelico. William Hood writes with authority and eloquence. He illustrates the architecute and painting of San Marco with a burst of creativity. Beautiful illustration, fine writing and authoritative scholarship bring into focus all the elements of this beautiful book. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (1)

!NECESSITY!
At last a book that bridges the gap of ambiguity between Christian art and art history. Didi-Huberman's eloquent investigation of both the painter (a Dominican, Fra Angelico) and the context (a Catholic theology within the Dominican Order) provides an insightful interpretation of images that most art historians tend to treat clinically. Didi-Huberman is well versed in not only iconography, but speaks fluently on the sources that influenced the Dominican painter (Holy Scripture,the works of Plato, and the theological writings of St. Thomas Aquinas). I highly recommend this book for artists, theologians, and art historians. This is a book that can forever alter the interaction between viewer and image, and will hopefully incite an awakening in how we interpret and understand the paintings of Quattrocento Florence. The original French probably offers the best read, but I will continue to hope for more English translations of Didi-Huberman's work. ... Read more

Book Description

These biographies of the great quattrocento artists have long been considered among the most important of contemporary sources on Italian Renaissance art.Vasari, who invented the term "Renaissance," was the first to outline the influential theory of Renaissance art that traces a progression through Giotto,Brunelleschi, and finally the titanic figures of Michaelangelo, Da Vinci, and Raphael.This new translation, specially commisioned for the World's Classics series, contains thirty-six of the most important lives and is fully annotated. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Better than many Modern Art History Books
If you were to read a modern art history book of the high Renaissance, chances are the author of the book drew at least some of his information from this book written by Giorgio Vasari. Giorgio Vasari was an Italian Renaissance artist who also wrote about the various artists of his time. A contemporary of Michangelo, Georgi Vasari's book reads like a Who's Who of Renaissance artists. For a book more than four hundred years old, the style is amazingly modern and interesting.
Vasari has an artist's eye for critiquing another artist's work. His writing style is not boring, whereas many would be reduced to general descriptions like "beautiful" and "amateurish", he dissects the artist's work between strong and weak points, pigments and flesh tones or landscapes vs. portraits or the use of light and perspective. He states the reason why some art or one artist is renowned and others ignored. His judgments have generally stood the test of time. Vasari also weaves in some interesting tidbits and anecdotes of the Artist's life. I found this book more interesting than many modern day Art History books.

Necessary for art historians and college students
Vasari's prose is effusive but easy to follow because it says the same things over and over about each artist. If you have any interest in the Italian artists this book is a crucial and reliable source of information. Artists lives with an emphasis on their contemporaries and their development are lavishly detailed in this book. It's a crucial source for a college-level art history report. Art historians respect Vasari's analyses of the artists' lives.

Vasari LOVES the High Renaissance artists, especially Michelangelo and Raphael, so you'll find that those chapters are especially long and informative. At times the praise of these artists, and others of the Renaissance, seems exaggerated and excessive. But you get the general gist of things, and find yourself itching to see the paintings that he tells stories about after you read about each artist.

Some hard work, ultimately worth it.
Slogging a little bit, because it's difficult to read even interesting prose descriptions of paintings and also painfully aware that I lacked a lot of the technical understanding of what he was discussing-- my history of art knowledge has huge holes in it. I turned frequently to the Internet to find the paintings Vasari was discussing and that helped a great deal.

I read the George Bull translation and it felt really clunky, although it's a plus that the footnotes are at the bottom of the pages rather than at the rear of the book. If I'm going to go on to read Volume 2 then I have to say that I'd choose another translator.

I knew in an intellectual way that a lot of the Renaissance was about reclaiming lost arts and sciences, but reading Vasari gave me a much better gut level feel about that really meant about the development of the arts. Connects real people to the history lesson, albeit in a gossipy and occasionally too-flowery way.

In the Land of the Blind . . .
This is badly-written, badly-structured, gossipy, confused, misleading, and in too many places downright dishonest. Nevertheless it remians our main source of biographical information on the great artists of the Renaissance and Mannerist periods.

Most of these geniuses were considered so unimportant in their own lifetimes that the details of their lives weren't thought worthy to be recorded. It is telling therefore that it was Vasari, himself a rather vainglorious and self-important artist, who first conceived the notion of setting down the minutae of his own class. Unfortunately he was more a man of the brush than the pen and used his biographical duties to settle a few old scores and to pass on rumor and gossip.

Of course, the very ineptitude with which this work is written gives it an extra appeal in our own dumbed down age, but compared to great biographers of the past, like Plutarch, this is clearly inferior goods. Unfortunately, it's all we have to go on for most of the artists here. If it's a great work, it's a great work solely by default.

'In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king.'

Absolutely fascinating
I read this book in preparation for an upcoming trip to Florence. I am a big Michelangelo fan to begin with, and the idea of reading something written by a contemporary and aficionado of his was intriguing. I was well rewarded for my interests.

Vasari clearly idolized Michelangeo and Raphael. That is apparent, but as he did for every other artist's Life he covered, the level of personal detail and anecdotes is invaluable for someone like me looking for the story behind the artists. Artists from each phase of the Renaissance are covered with detail of both their personal and artistic lives. I can say I learned so much from each chapter that I will surely be taking this book with me for reference when I am in Florence.

One caveat, I think it would be helpful to have a book with photographs of the works Vasari discusses. Unless you are already up to speed on the major Renaissance works, it is more helpful to visualize them with the assistance of Vasari's descriptions. I found myself running to the internet often to see what he had been talking about.

Kick back and relax with this very easy to read and thoroughly enjoyable guide to some of the Renaissance's finest artists. ... Read more

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL), published by Paddock Publications on January 9, 2000. The length of the article is 11588 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Antique sale raises funds for Fra Angelico Art Foundation.(Neighbor)
Author: Nancy Luebke
Publication: Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL) (Newspaper)
Date: January 9, 2000
Publisher: Paddock Publications
Page: 1

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Book Description

New Mexico's first Franciscan priest, Fray Angelico Chavez (1910-1996) is known as a prolific historian, a literary and artistic figure, and an intellectual who played a vital role in Santa Fe's community of writers. The original essays collected here explore his wide-ranging cultural production: fiction, poetry, architectural restoration, journalism, genealogy, translation, and painting and drawing. Several essays discuss his approach to history, his archival research, and the way in which he re-centers ethnic identity in the prevalent Anglo-American master historical narrative. Others examine how he used fiction to bring history alive and combined visual and verbal elements to enhance his narratives. Two essays explore Chavez's profession as a friar. The collection ends with recollections by Thomas E. Chavez, historian and Fray Angelico's nephew.

Readers familar with Chavez's work as well as those learning about it for the first time will find much that surprises and informs in these essays. ... Read more