Leonardo's Nephew: Essays in the History of Art and Artists
Condition: SECONDHAND
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Displaying an enviable depth of interest and knowledge, Fenton's pieces range from a controversial essay on Egyptian funerary portraits - he questions whether in fact they were death portraits at all - and an intriguing piece on Leonardo's virtually unknown but extremely talented nephew Pierino da Vinci, to essays on Degas, Picasso, and the American painter Thomas Jones, among others. An unexpected reference or forgotten bit of history is often Fenton's entree into his subject: he approaches Jasper Johns via the patriotic sculptures of the turn of the century; Joseph Cornell through the history of the European "Wunderkammer," or cabinet of curiosities; and the nature of the state through an examination of Freud's attachment to his startingly large collection of antique statuettes. Endlessly illuminating and packed with suggestive detail, "Leonardo's Nephew" opens doors on the back rooms and shadowy passageways of art history.
Author: Professor James Fenton
Format: Hardback, 283 pages, 163mm x 241mm, 644 g
Published: 1999, Farrar Straus Giroux, United States
Genre: Fine Arts / Art History
Displaying an enviable depth of interest and knowledge, Fenton's pieces range from a controversial essay on Egyptian funerary portraits - he questions whether in fact they were death portraits at all - and an intriguing piece on Leonardo's virtually unknown but extremely talented nephew Pierino da Vinci, to essays on Degas, Picasso, and the American painter Thomas Jones, among others. An unexpected reference or forgotten bit of history is often Fenton's entree into his subject: he approaches Jasper Johns via the patriotic sculptures of the turn of the century; Joseph Cornell through the history of the European "Wunderkammer," or cabinet of curiosities; and the nature of the state through an examination of Freud's attachment to his startingly large collection of antique statuettes. Endlessly illuminating and packed with suggestive detail, "Leonardo's Nephew" opens doors on the back rooms and shadowy passageways of art history.