Catalan Painting Volume 2

Stained glass windows pulsating with life, strong portraits, glowing miniatures, frescoes, biblical scenes and enormous altarpieces combining painting and sculpture are among the treasures in this monumental survey. The second in a three-volume opus, it weds 110 ravishing tipped-in color plates to a dry academic chronicle of painters, schools and influences by Ainaud de Lasarte, former director of the Art Museum of Barcelona. Colors are vibrant, brushwork is meticulous and graceful, and artists often take an idiosyncratic approach, fusing elements of disparate styles in ways not adequately defined by such labels as Gothic, Renaissance, mannerist or neoclassical. There is a deep humanism everywhere evident in these surprising works, from a wall painting of paupers and pilgrims circa 1310 to a Baroque panel depicting angels playing musical instruments. (Oct.)