What Great Paintings Say, Volume 1

Front Cover
Taschen, 2003 - Art - 494 pages
Did the Greek gods play tennis? What is the ambassador from the land of Alchemy telling us? What secrets are being told on the shores of the Island of Venus? And what is the monk doing on the Ship of Fools? These and other questions are asked about famous works of art in this book. Suddenly the pictures come alive and relate previously untold stories. In their own language they recall earlier fashions and opinions, trends and intrigues, and tell of love, sin and lifestyles from the past. Powerful men and their mistresses, painters and models all come together in this illustrated history of culture. They cease to be two-dimensional figures of art and become flesh and blood before our eyes. This is thanks to the forensic sixth sense with which the two authors expose the secrets of the paintings under scrutiny. They spotlight each individual section of the painting, analyse them, and then put them back together again like a huge jigsaw puzzle, revealing the history of art as a lively panorama of forgotten worlds. For once, works of art are not to be enjoyed simply as art for art's sake, but as a living testimony of bygone times.

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Contents

The Portinari Altar c 1475
62
A message from the world of alchemy
104
The utopia of common huntsmanship
146
The Lord sits at the table of lords
153
The Antwerp building boom
159
For Tiber read Seine
171
The barn is fulltime for a wedding
177
A view to infinity
368
The greatest amateur musician of the nation
399
A studio opens its doors to the world
405
The wrong uniform exposes the true culprit
417
A look behind the scenes
423
Laughing struggle for freedom
434
Venue for gentry bourgeoisie and bohème
440
Declaration of love for the capital of the world
447
Jesus Christ the lonely contemporary
465

Dramatic struggle for survival
375
Across the river and into the past
386
The German painting bestloved by Germans
393
The Vitebsk Man of Sorrows
477
Appendix
488
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