Baroque (Basic Art) Hardcover – July 29, 2016

All Taschen Basic Art books are excellent introductions to their subjects. They are small, inexpensive and informative. The print quality is excellent. Some reproductions are a good size but most are small due to the book size, however I don't mind as these books are best used as easy to handle references. I have several Taschen Basic Art books and highly recommend them.

Gives a fairly good idea of baroque painters with a sample of their work.

From the sixteenth century until the early eighteenth Baroque developed its many forms and regional characteristics. The baroque has many definitions, all of them with some point of truth but quite reductive. It was the art of the Counter Reformation, but it was also the art of absolutism; it was the art of Chiaroescuro, of still lifes, precise light sources and the importance of lighting; the discussion between drawing / painting and the brush/colors; contrast between the young and the old; of new mecenas besides the Church and Nobility; of the great masters such as Rubens Catholic or Protestant Rembrandt.This book is a very good introduction to the specific themes (like the storied scenes for example) and the Baroque masters of various European countries. Includes short biographies, major works and a full-page reproduction of the following artists: Francesco Albani - Sacra Famiglia, Caravaggio – Burial of Christ, Valentin de Boulogne - The Concert, Jan Breughel the Elder - Holy Family, Annibale Carracci - Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne, Anthonis van Dyck - Susanna and the Elders, Adam Elsheimer - the glorification of the Cross, Georg Flegel - Still Life, Luca Giordano - the Fall of the Rebel Angels, Guercino - the Return of the Prodigal Son, Frans Hals - Portrait of Willem van Heythuysen, Pieter de Hooch - the Card Players, Jacob Jordaens - the Satyr and the Farmer Family, Willem Kalf - Still Life, Giovanni Lanfranco - Hagar in the Desert, Charles Le Brun - the Martyrdom of Saint John the Evangelist at Porta Latina, Johann Liss, Claude Lorrain - Harbour Sea at Sunrise, Bartolome Esteban Murillo - the Little Fruit Seller, Nicolas Poussin - St. Cecilia, Mattia Preti - the Tribute Money, Rembrandt - the Night Watch, Guido Reni - the Massacre of the Innocents, Jusepe de Ribera - St Kitts, Hyacinthe Rigaud - Portrait of Louis XIV, Peter Paul Rubens - Rubens with his first wife Isabella Brant, Jan Steen - a woman in Love, Terbrugghen Hendrick - the Duo, Georges de la Tour - San Sebastian attended by Saint Irene, Diego Velazquez - Girls, Willem van de Velde the Younger - the Cannon shot, Jan Vermeer - Allegory of Painting, Simon Vouet - Saturn, Conquered by love , Venus and hope, Francisco Zubaran - Santa Margarida .Unfortunately there are some weaknesses in this worthy work including the exclusive concentration on painting - nothing appears on the magnificent architecture, sculpture, gilded wood carvings, etc of this artistic expression. It also does not mention a single artist of the Baroque from outside Europe (like the impressive Sebastián López de Arteaga). Small mistakes are also visible in the text such as in the painting from Hals - Portrait of Willem van Heythuysen - where the author states that the passage covered with the curtain represents the temple of Mars, and it was kept closed during wartime. This information is incorrect; the temple of Janus had somewhat similar characteristics: its doors were closed when Rome was at peace; not the temple of Mars.

Prompted by a trip to the Villa Borghese and indeed a couple of TV programmes, notably with Andrew Graham-Dixon and Waldmar Januszczak, where do you start to gain insight to an era that gave us Vermeer, Rubens, Bernini and the like? Well Start here. This series has long been a starting point for me before going on visits and before looking at more in depth studies on Art. I regularly don my anorak to tick off another Caravaggio.

Product in good conditions