The Art of the Renaissance

Beginning in Italy in the early 15th century, the Renaissance, stresses French archivist Jestaz, was a genuine, cohesive movement whose members, while turning to classical antiquity as a model of perfection, sought to redefine the role of the artist as an independent creator, not a mere artisan. In this sophisticated study magnificently amplified with 895 illustrations (164 in color), the author puts this epoch in a new light by retracing the emergence and flowering of an Italianate style from Central Europe through Spain, France, England, the Netherlands, Germany and Russia up to the early 17th century. One of his controversial theses is that Renaissance artists and humanists advanced along parallel paths but maintained only superficial contacts with one another. He also argues that northern European artists such as Albrecht Durer and Jan van Eyck fall outside the Renaissance since they did not look to classical antiquity for prototypes. (Oct.)