Drawing and Painting in the Italian Renaissance Workshop: Theory and Practice, 1300–1600 - Tapa dura

'It is a truly ground-breaking and dauntingly omniscient consideration of a subject of obviously seminal importance which everyone else has shied away from ... bound to be essential reading for anyone interested in the Italian renaissance, and it is impossible to imagine it being superseded.' Apollo

'... based on years of scrupulous, exhaustive research ... the author's findings are invariably grounded in her knowledge of the already ample literature on the subject. Bambach's book goes a long way to shed much-needed light on the laborious and complex working processes of Renaissance painting.' Apollo

Since Vasari, the artists of the Italian Renaissance have been characterized in superhuman terms, suggesting that they were responsible both for the conceptualization, as well as demanding execution of the creative output. In Drawing and Painting in the Italian Renaissance Workshop, Carmen Bambach reassesses the role of artists and their assistants in the creation of monumental painting. Analyzing representative wall paintings and the many drawings related to the various stages of their production, Bambach convincingly reconstructs the development of workshop practice and design theory in the early modern period. She establishes that between 1430 and 1600, cartoons - drawings ostensibly of a utilitarian nature - became common practice, and, moreover, moved to the forefront of artistic expression. Her exhaustive analysis of archaeological evidence as well as textual evidence provides a timely and much-needed re-assessment of the working methods of artists in one of the most vital periods in the history of art.