Italian Frescoes: The Baroque Era, 1600-1800 Hardcover – December 25, 2007

1) Read the review from the gentlemen from the UK, he has valid points that I will try to counterbalance....all points are valid.2) The Abbeville Press series on Italian fresoces is about the only series like this in the publishing world. 85% percent of the fresoes would not be open to the public or if they were, there would be not photography allowed. The quality of this series has been execellent, from a reproduction perspective.3) It is meant to be an overview of Baroque painting for frescoes and I would argue that most of these places you wont get to see, or document.4) Steffi and the Abbeville crew had responded very well to a previous review I did, in that all of the places I requested were included in this book...I am grateful and there are not enough stars in the universe I could use to indicate that appreciation as far as a rating goes.5) Does the book have enough closes ups???.....that would have added another 400 pages....so yes we would all agree there can never be enough close up shots,....but that doesnt mean what there is here is not good.6) The artists are hacks???.....there are many books on the main highest quality painters....Tiepolo, Veronese etc....I like to see what other people did so "hack" is a relative term...but I get the Brits point,but this is coverage of a lot of Italy..from that period..that is the point.7) Agreed--that there are a lot of long shots...that is a personal preference choice you would need to make...I am ok with long shots and close ups...they both have a place....I would not condemn a book for long shots but if you buy it that is something you should be aware of, so his point is well taken if that is of critical value to you...I would still buy the book because there is nothing else that even comes in second.8) The color reproduction and quality is execellent...and very good information...I think it also brings to light Italian cities as a cross section of activity and that is more the point of the book...I would never have thought to make it a point to go to Milan, Genoa, or Turin for fresco hunting and now I will..."hacks or not"...but I still love Tiepolo as well...there is a time when the best prime rib is great and then there is a time when even a simple hamburger is enjoyable...the great and the hacks all contributed something...and on one will ever do this size and scale again so factor that in...THESE ARE HISTORY!!!...never to be redone.9) If you are in the Veronese, Tintoretto, Tiepolo mindset this is not even close to a catalogue of their fresco work, I am ok with that, there are other specific books just about them.10) I am very saddened that this is the last book in the series from Abbeville, I would have bought one of these every four months until I die, there just are not that many fresoe books out there. I am sure there are plenty of fresoces left...so yes Steffi...do an encore..and make it as good as this one was.11) With the execption of maybe Konemann, no other publisher in the Art world packs this much large size high quality color into 400 pages so you should factor that in...there is enormous bang for the buck even without close ups or mainstream artists..Abbeville doesnt skimp on the color ink and doesnt tie up a lot of pages with talking head lectures and then only small pictures like so many other publishers do.12) As an investment these books will triple in value in a short period, and more than that over time....there just are not many people doing this...like there are people doing Michangelo books.I think when you put things in perspective this book delivers, I think that Abbeville should keep going and make this a four part series, like the first four fresco books, if budget and interest prevail, part of the reason some of the Baroque heavies were minimized was because there is a lot here, they thought it was the last volume so they crammed a lot in.I cannot say enough great things about this series and I really dont want it to end..."hacks and all"...perhaps another book on Venetian frescoes would help our friend in England...there are a lot of areas to cover in just the Doges palace alone.I am not as critcal, I liked this series, I am so appreciative that Abbeville took this on, I was in a lot of these places and was frustrated that I could not get in place to take a picture, picture taking was forbidden, or the place simply did not allow public visitation at all....the reason I am repeating myself on this key point is you have to factor that in when you get these books.....some of these places and things you will never see.....and some you will be annoyed that you traveled that far for nothing...go into the Pitti Palace and tell them you are a Pietro DaCortona fan,(Oh Pietro , you hack...yeah right!!) have traveled 8000 miles, invested $2000 dollars in a 12. megapixel camera with special zoom lenses, and then live with the fact that the Italian guard will get angry with you and tell you to buy the cheap little cruddy ink book in the museum store for $35 Euro...with horrible small pictures and you might get the point and valueof these books....or go to see the Caracci cycle in the Farnese palace and then realize you cant because it is now a French embassy.Steffi and Abbeville ...thank you for a great series...if there is anything anyone can do to convince you to keep going I would like to see that happen....I have wanted fresoe books like this all of my life, I appreciate the effort and time and risk it took to publish these.

The fifth and, please don't let it be true, last, volume in the Abbeville series on Italian Frescoes is, much like the previous four, a stunningly beautiful book.. A book of this quality, both in content and production, is extremely rare today. The photography is brilliant as usual and the writing once again wonderfully informative without lapsing into jargon like so many current books dealing with art.As pointed out by a previous reviewer, many of these incredible works of art are not available to the general public. However, some are and those only help to point out how well the writer and photographers of this book have captured them. Only standing yourself in San Ignacio on the marble slab at which all the perspective on the great ceiling is directed can top the presentation of Pozzo's masterpiece as it appears here. If you have always wanted to visit Italy to marvel at some of these great works, but have been unable to, this is as close as you get to being there without buying a plane ticket.Perhaps I view the book in a bit less analytical manner than some previous reviewers, but I find it as rich, beautiful and interesting as the volumes on the early and high renaissance, mannerism, and the world of Giotto that preceeded it. Steffi Roettgen, the photographers, and the publisher have done a magnificent job again here. And Abbeville, as said before, please don't let this be the final volume on the great frescoe cycles. Today, and probably even moreso in the future, these books will be the only way that many art lovers will be able to see these examples of some of our most brilliant artistic heritage. These books should be in every library in the country.Italian Frescoes: The Baroque Era, as well as the other four Abbeville books in this series, are worth every penny of the price and more.

I've been into Italian frescoes for many years and trying to look for related information and image details, this is a book who's into frescoes MUST have, the printing and paper quality is great. I'm so happy to have this book on my coffee table.

great book, lot of images

I had been looking forward to this book with great anticipation as I love baroque painting, and added to this was the fantastic cover, and Abbeville Press's wonderful volume of a similar size on European monasteries which is one of my favourite art books. Unfortunately, there are only a handful of photographs like the one on the cover - otherwise, what you get are distance views of vast murals so that the individual figures are almost invisible - one does not even get the thrill of the setting in many of the photos as these pictures often focus on walls and ceilings with no surroundings. Enlarged details are few and far between, and the painters chosen appear rather mediocre, with some really dreadful hacks - paintings crowded with figures without any redeeming traits of composition; it was such a relief when one got to a cycle of Tiepolo's and saw some good paintings again. And where is Piazetta? All this book seemed to do was to inform me that Italy had some perfectly awful Baroque painters. On further study, I realised that there were adequate enlargements where the paintings were of any quality, for example the cycles of the Tiepolos, father and son, whereas the others are generally left (mercifully) to distant glimpses, so the editors were obviously aware of the problem - which still doesn't explain the selection. I would definately not advise anyone to buy this book until they have seen it in a bookshop and know exactly what they are getting.

I am absolutely thrilled. I can't imagine anyone who likes Baroque art being dissatisfied. The Da Cortona plates 47 and 48 are pure Baroque magic and would alone justify my buying this book, to say nothing of the wonderful Tiepolos, Domenichinos, and many others. It is a bargain to get this much great art in one book, and I will probably pony up for the others in the series.

This may be the conclusion to Abbeville's series of books about italian Frescoes but it is just as wonderful as the previous volumes. The production values are excellent. The text by Steffi Roettgen is informative and well written. As usual with this series the photographs are marvellous. These volumes supersede all previous books by giving the reader a feel for the works studied.I recommend Roberto Calasso's Tiepolo Pink for those who want to read more about that artist.Tiepolo Pink and Frescoes of the Veneto: Venetian Palaces and Villas by Filippo Pedrocco.Frescoes of the Veneto: Venetian Palaces and Villas