Artists and Warfare in the Renaissance

Rating:
Summary: Recommended reading for students of the Renaissance era.
Review: I have been over the illustrations in this book with a magnifying glass and the level of detail for the large battle scenes is very high and works very well to compare the German and Italian attitudes to both art and war, and to the art of war itself. But this book has a deeper meaning as it explores an explosive confluence in both the technology of war and the artist's ability to represent it, which makes this a very important interdisciplinary work with both a narrow and broad focus.

This makes Hales work which was supported by a number of very respected foundations as interesting to the military historian to the student of intellectual historian. For the matter the historical recreationist or interpreter would find this book a treasure as an idea book that could get him to the nuts and bolts of the period in a very literal sense.

Starting with a contextualizing introduction sections follow dealing with: The German Military Genre; The German Image of The Soldier; Italy Soldiers and Soldiers and Soldiering; North and South Contrasts I; North and South Contrasts II; The Reproduction of the Battle Italy; The Reproduction of the Battle Germany and Switzerland; War and Values The Vocabulary; Soldiers and Religious Art; The Epilogue (Beyond The German and Italian Worlds)

Artists And Warfare In The Renaissance by J.R. Hale Yale University Press is an essential work for any one who seeks to gain a new perspective in their approach to the Renaissance. Hales is as interesting and valid in the first months of the New Millennium as it was when the work was created more than a decade ago.

278 pages with index, bibliography, notes and attribution for each of the 345 of works represented and cited. Many of these works are in color, representing a wide range of media, including but not limited to paintings woodcuts etchings calligraphy, and of course book illustrations.

Philip Kaveny, Reviewer