Truth & beauty

Melissa E. Buron, Susanna Avery-Quash, Joanna Banham, Elise Effmann Clifford, Jeremy Melius, Elizabeth Prettejohn, Julian Cox, Donato Esposito, Margaretta S. Frederick, Nenagh Hathaway, Bryan C. Keene, Jonathan K. Nelson, Cassandra Sciortino, Rachel Sloan, Abbie N. Sprague

"This dazzling book examines the inspiration behind the work of the Pre-Raphaelites and offers comparisons between the radical 19th-century artists and the masterworks they revered. Started in the early 19th century by a group of British painters who rejected the sovereignty of the Royal Academy, the Pre-Raphaelites embraced the natural world and bright colors--as opposed to the dark palettes and amorphous lines that emerged in the wake of the Renaissance. Their mission was to be fundamentally modern by emulating the past. Now readers can appreciate their achievements in this volume that offers side-by-side comparisons of 19th-century masterpieces with the 15th- and 16th-century Early Italian and Early Netherlandish paintings that inspired them. Exquisite reproductions of works by Giotto, Fra Angelico, van Eyck, Botticelli, Titian, Veronese, and Raphael are presented alongside...