Scion of an artistic dynasty, Giovanni Bellini is arguably the greatest Venetian painter of the early Renaissance. His astonishing naturalism revolutionised altarpiece painting and is still a source of wonder, as any visit to Frari in Venice will confirm. Most of what we know about this great artist comes from the earliest biographies by Vasari and Ridolfi printed here - the Ridolfi never before translated into English. A different and very personal insight is given by extensive correspondence with Bellini's great but neglected patron Isabella d'Este.

'Never was a painter more nobly joyous, never did an artist take a greater delight in life, seeing it all as a kind of breezy festival and feeling it through the medium of perpetual success...He was the happiest of painters.' Henry James on Veronese, 1909 Collected here for the first time, these fascinating early biographies (one of which has never been translated before) describe and celebrate the astonishingly fertile art of Paolo Veronese. Most of what we know about Veronese comes from these three essays. 'I have known this Paolino and I have seen his beautiful works. He deserves to have a great volume written in praise of him, for his pictures prove that he is second to no other painter', wrote Veronese's contemporary Annibale Carracci in the margins to his copy of Vasari's writings, continuing 'and this fool passes over him in four lines. And just because he was not Florentine.' It was indeed a measure of his fame that Vasari, whose 'Life of Veronese' is reprinted here, should have overcome his pro-Tuscan prejudices to write about his great Venetian contemporary; and he was followed in this by another Florentine, the theorist Raffaele Borghini. But the most striking record of the impact of Veronese's art on his countrymen is the extensive biography by his fellow Venetian, Carlo Ridolfi. Entirely original in the seriousness and passion with which he approached his subject, Ridolfi permanently changed the course of writing about art. This is the first translation of his work into English. Translated and introduced by Xavier F. Salomon, curator of 'Veronese: Renaissance Magnificence' at the National Gallery, London. 50 pages of colour illustrations cover the span of Veronese's breathtaking career.

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to ensure edition identification: ++++ Le Maraviglie Dell'arte: Ovvero Le Vite Degli Illustri Pittori Veneti E Dello Stato, Volume 1; Le Maraviglie Dell'arte: Ovvero Le Vite Degli Illustri Pittori Veneti E Dello Stato; Carlo Ridolfi Carlo Ridolfi, Giuseppe Vedova Cartallier, 1835 Art; European; Art / European; Art / Individual Artist; Painters

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to ensure edition identification: ++++ Vita Di Giovanni Bellino. Ripr. Con Emende Carlo Ridolfi, Giovanni Bellini

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to ensure edition identification: ++++ Le Maraviglie Dell'arte: Ovvero Le Vite Degli Illustri Pittori Veneti E Dello Stato, Volume 1; Le Maraviglie Dell'arte: Ovvero Le Vite Degli Illustri Pittori Veneti E Dello Stato; Carlo Ridolfi Carlo Ridolfi, Giuseppe Vedova Cartallier, 1835 Art; European; Art / European; Art / Individual Artist; Painters

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to ensure edition identification: ++++ Le Maraviglie Dell'arte: Ovvero Le Vite Degli Illustri Pittori Veneti E Dello Stato, Volume 2; Le Maraviglie Dell'arte: Ovvero Le Vite Degli Illustri Pittori Veneti E Dello Stato; Carlo Ridolfi Carlo Ridolfi, Giuseppe Vedova Cartallier, 1837 Art; European; Art / European; Art / Individual Artist; Painters

After Vasari's Lives of the Most Famous Artists, The Life of Titian by the seventeenth-century Venetian artist and writer Carlo Ridolfi is the most important contemporary documentary source for our understanding of the great Renaissance artist. This new critical edition, the first translation into English of Ridolfi's biography, illuminates his life, his artistic production, and his early critical reputation. The editors address art-historical questions of attribution, provenance, and documentation that Ridolfi's biography raises. Two introductory essays present the nature, scope, and importance of the biography for the study of Titian and Venetian Renaissance art and place Ridolfi in the tradition of Renaissance biography and artistic literature. The annotations provide a useful and current bibliography drawn from both art history and literature.

The Life of Titian will be of interest to a wide audience of scholars and students of the history of Renaissance art, literature, language, and culture.

Born into the most influential artistic family in Venice, he received his training in the studio of his father, Jacopo, along with his brother, Gentile, and through a long and fruitful career played a leading role in advancing the stylistic transformations of the Italian Renaissance. His workshop, one of the most important of the period, counted Giorgione and Titian among its pupils. Contemporary descriptions of his life, however, are few. The first account, by Vasari, which also portrays the family artistic enterprise, was written decades after his death and offers but qualified praise. A century later Carlo Ridolfi, who sought to rectify Vasari's emphasis on Florentine painters, provides a fuller portrayal of Bellini in his 1648 work The Marvels of Art, or the Lives of the Famous Painters of Venice and Its State. These two narratives are complemented by the correspondence of Isabella d'Este, one of the leading art patrons of the Renaissance, and the prominent man of letters Pietro Bembo, which appear here in English for the first time. An introduction by the scholar Davide Gasparotto provides an illuminating discussion of these texts and Bellini's vast oeuvre. The historical texts are enhanced by a generous selection of colour illustrations.