Vincent Van Gogh, Modern Painters & Leonardo Da Vinci

Vincent Van Gogh by Jan Greenberg

Vincent van Gogh - one of the 19th century's most brilliant artists - will forever be remembered as the Dutchman who cut off his ear. But this incident only underscores the passion that consumed him–a passion that, when he took up painting at age 27, infused his work.
Whether painting a portrait, a landscape, or a still life, Van Gogh sought to capture the vibrant spirit of his subject. It didn't matter that others found his work too unconventional. Van Gogh persevered. And as he moved from the cold climate of Holland to balmy southern France, he pioneered a new technique and style.
In a career spanning only a decade, Van Gogh painted many great works, yet fame eluded him. This lack of recognition increased his self-doubts and bitter disappointments. Today, however, Van Gogh stands as a giant among artists.
Vincent Van Gogh by Jan Greenberg
Random House, 2003

Writers on Artists: Modern Painters

Featuring fifty of the century's greatest artists, Writers on Artist brings together the best and brightest of the art and literary worlds. Covering the gamut of modern art the collection includes essays by David Bowie on Tracey Emin, A.S. Byatt on Patrick Heron, David Hockney on Picasso, Sister Wendy Beckett on Salvador Dali, and Julian Barnes on Edgar Degas.
This stimulating anthology features rare interviews and over 350 stunning full-color reproductions of many rarely seen works.
Writers on Artists: Modern Painters
DK Publishing, 2001

Leonardo Da Vinci: The Mind of the Renaissance

Scientist, painter, philosopher, anatomist, astronomer, engineer, inventor, courtier: Leonardo da Vinci is one of the greatest figures of the Renaissance. This book surveys the life and work of a unique genius, from his childhood in Italy to his death in France.
More than a biography, it sets his life in the context of the great courts he visited: Medici Florence, ducal Milan, royal France. Written for both younger and adult audiences, it presents a readable discussion of Leonardo's complex art, life, and thought, explores his ground-breaking research in medicine, hydraulics, metal-casting, mechanics, painting techniques, architecture, and the new science of warfare and weaponry, and examines his place in intellectual and art history.
Leonardo Da Vinci: The Mind of the Renaissance by Alessandro Vezzosi
Harry N. Abrams, 1997

Art: A New History

This narrative account, from the earliest cave paintings up to the present day, has new things to say about almost every period of art. Taking account of changing scholarship and shifting opinions, Paul Johnson draws our attention to a number of neglected artists and styles, especially in Scandinavia, Germany, Russia and the Americas.
Paul Johnson pays particular attention to key periods: the emergence of the artistic personality in the Renaissance, the new realism of the early seventeenth century, the discovery of landscape painting as a separate art form, and the rise of ideological art. He notes the division of 'fashion art' and fine art at the beginning of the twentieth century, and how it has now widened.
Art: A New History by Paul Johnson
HarperCollins, 2003

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