France: A History In Art
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Very good
Jacket: Very good
Pages: Good
From the golden halls of Versailles to the revolutionary ferment of the barricades, France: A History in Art presents a sweeping visual chronicle of one of the world's most culturally rich nations, tracing its story through the masterworks of painters, sculptors, and illuminators across the centuries. With an authoritative introduction by Pierre Rosenberg of The Louvre, this volume marshals an extraordinary range of artistic treasures — from medieval tapestries and Renaissance portraiture to Impressionist landscapes and modernist breakthroughs — to illuminate the forces that shaped French civilisation, its monarchies, its revolutions, and its enduring genius. Bradley Smith, renowned for his ability to wed art historical scholarship with accessible, vivid prose, argues that no nation has so consistently expressed its identity through artistic production as France, and the evidence assembled here is overwhelming. Each image is carefully contextualised within its historical moment, so that a royal portrait becomes a window into dynastic ambition, and a pastoral canvas reveals the anxieties of an industrialising age. This is a volume that rewards both the casual admirer and the serious student of European culture — one that leaves the reader wondering which came first: France's history, or the art that made it immortal.
Author: Bradley Smith
Format: Hardback
Published: 1984, Doubleday
Genre: History of arts
Condition remarks:
Book: Very good
Jacket: Very good
Pages: Good
From the golden halls of Versailles to the revolutionary ferment of the barricades, France: A History in Art presents a sweeping visual chronicle of one of the world's most culturally rich nations, tracing its story through the masterworks of painters, sculptors, and illuminators across the centuries. With an authoritative introduction by Pierre Rosenberg of The Louvre, this volume marshals an extraordinary range of artistic treasures — from medieval tapestries and Renaissance portraiture to Impressionist landscapes and modernist breakthroughs — to illuminate the forces that shaped French civilisation, its monarchies, its revolutions, and its enduring genius. Bradley Smith, renowned for his ability to wed art historical scholarship with accessible, vivid prose, argues that no nation has so consistently expressed its identity through artistic production as France, and the evidence assembled here is overwhelming. Each image is carefully contextualised within its historical moment, so that a royal portrait becomes a window into dynastic ambition, and a pastoral canvas reveals the anxieties of an industrialising age. This is a volume that rewards both the casual admirer and the serious student of European culture — one that leaves the reader wondering which came first: France's history, or the art that made it immortal.