Tiepolo : The Complete Paintings

Rating:
Summary: 3 Stars for the Reproductions
Review: The magnificent reproductions are the only reason to buy this tremendously oversized coffee-table book. But keep a pulley-system on hand: it weighs two tons. This book is the great-grandchild of what were once known, somewhat fetishistically, as folios, lavishly produced books of reproductions too large to be accomodated vertically on library shelves and therefore shelved horizontally, often in locked cages, away from rapacious hands. Folios were brought out ceremoniously from their cages by special request, by suspicious white-gloved librarians and set up on wooden or foam stands. The ritual exercise heightened the sensation of being in the presence of something grand -- it reproduced the work of art itself, as well as the power of the sublime as experienced in the presence of the original work of art. Pedrocco's book achieves a similar effect. The text is negligible and unimaginative, but then again, who really goes to an exhibition to read the wall-texts? Lorried, pullied, or displayed on a roving stand, this is a major blockbuster on wheels.