A Luminous Land

Library Journal

As classical influences began to predominate in art, architecture, and the decorative arts--particularly during the 18th century--artists traveled to Greece to study the originals firsthand and transmitted their impressions through various media. This volume examines the discovery of the landscapes and monuments of Greece by these artists. Many of them were English and were passionate about anything Greek, but all the artists seem to have fallen in love with the light and the magnificent ruins that dot the landscape. The paintings, drawings, and other works chosen by the author (A Traveler's History of Turkey, LJ 7/93), including romantic reconstructions of what the ruins might have looked like in their glory, are impressive in their rendering of Greece's haunting beauty. The volume is divided into six sections, each containing images of a different area of Greece. There is a chronological table of Greek history, a useful map, and biographies of the artists. All in all a very useful volume that should be in every art library.--Martin Chasin, Adult Inst. Bridgeport, CT

Booknews

An anthology of depictions of Greece compiled from private and public collections around the world. The color and b&w images are framed by text which explores the changing attitude of travelers to Greece from medieval to modern times as well as the relationship of artists to Greece, with particular emphasis upon the German painters of the 1830s and their pupils. A number of the selections relate to the historic events surrounding the War of Independence. 9.5x11<">). Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.