Gregori

1994 · ref. 751 — Boston: Bulfinch Press 1994. First English-language edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. This first English edition copy of "Paintings in the Uffizi & Pitti Galleries" in fine condition is so much more than the typical museum catalogue. For one thing it is massive when typical catalogues tend toward the slender: Taking such things as forewords indices and credits into account this book is 648 pages long. It is also highly comprehensive and not limited to a single exhibition or subcategory of a collection. The editors only say the book collects a "large selection" of the most famous works in the Uffizi and Pitti galleries but with 818 full-color images expertly reproduced on these pages this is far more than a mere sampling. Mina Gregori author of most of the text accompanying the images and the editor who selected and arranged them was at the time of publication the chair of Medieval and Modern Art at the University of Florence and across her career published hundreds of articles and monographs and curated hundreds of exhibits. And further at the time of writing this book description was 102 years old! She says in her forward to "Paintings in the Uffizi & Pitti Galleries" that she tried to respect the vision of the original Medici collectors in their organization of their works which anticipated the later idea of "schools" of art which became the dominating organizing principle of the galleries in the 18th century. Besides that she followed a chronological progression to order the images of the paintings in this book. That means that the first chapter is titled "Tuscan Painting in the Thirteenth Century" beginning with painted two-dimensional crucifixes proceeding to subsequent chapters on "Italian Painting in the Fifteenth Century" with subheadings by more specific locations and by page 504 "Painting in Europe in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries" with subheadings by country. Such flow make sense out of the wealth of riches presented here. The last two chapters break with the trend. One is only a brief mention of the collection of miniatures and small portraits at the Uffizi but the other is a full chapter drawing from the Uffizi's collection of artist self-portraits the largest in the world. Though the images in the rest of the book concentrate on the Uffizi and Pitti's strengths and come from the Middle Ages through the 18thCentury these self-portraits are not so limited. Curator Silvia Meloni says in her introduction that the true self-portrait came into its own in the Renaissance which is where this series begins with Raphael but it finishes in last half of the 20th Century with a painting Marc Chagall made of himself when he was over 90 years old. "Paintings in the Uffizi & Pitti Galleries" was originally published in Italy in 1994 by Magnus Edizioni Udine but was translated the same year by Caroline Hufton Murphy and Henry Dietrich Fernandez and immediately published by Bulfinch Press a division of Little Brown and Company. This copy is from that first edition and is apparently from the first printing-there is no indication otherwise on the copyright page as there is no numberline or other mention of printing numbers. It is bound in royal blue cloth with the title stamped in gold on the front cover and on the spine with the authors' and publisher's names added at the top and bottom of the spine. The only signs of previous use are patches of very light soiling-as in dust-on the covers. There is no wear on the edges no bumping etc. The dustjacket is in similar fine condition with only some slight rubbing on the back panel. A detail from Botticelli's painting "Primavera" is reproduced on the front panel of the dust jacket and Rubens' painting "The Four Philosophers" is reproduced on the back. The textblock is tight and square and there are no flaws to any of the pages. This is an excellent reference book not only to the collections of the given museums but to the paintings of the periods they specialize in in general. Photographs are forthcoming or available on request. . Bulfinch Press hardcover