The Age of Titian /anglais: Venetian Renaissance Art from Scottish Collections - Tapa dura

Painting in Renaissance Venice represents one of the most vital chapters in the entire history of European art. Its enormous influence was due above all to the achievement of its dominant personality, Titian. But, Titian was merely the greatest in a constellation of pictorial geniuses and extraordinary craftsmen. These included the artists, Giovanni Bellini, Giorgione, Lorenzo Lotto, Jacopo Bassano, Jacopo Tintoretto and Paolo Veronese. All of these artists are represented in the book with works of superlative quality, many of which have never been published. The paintings are complemented by magnificent examples of drawings, prints, sculpture and decorative arts from this period. Most of the works included are from Scottish public and private collections. The book examines not only this Golden Age of Venetian art but also the Scottish collectors who were responsible for bringing such extraordinary works to Scotland.

Peter Humfrey, guest curator of the exhibition, is Professor of Art History at the University of St Andrews and a widely recognised authority on Venetian Renaissance art. His books include Cima da Conegliano (1983), The Altarpiece in Renaisssance Venice (1993), and Painting in Renaissance Venice (1995). He was also co-author of the catalogues of two major international loan exhibitions: Lorenzo Lotto (Washington, Bergamo and Paris, 1997-8); and Dosso Dossi (Ferrara, New York and Los Angeles, 1998-9). Aidan Weston-Lewis has worked at the National Gallery of Scotland since 1992, where he is senior curator of Italian and Spanish Art. Before that he was Assistant Librarian at the Witt Photographic Library at the Courtauld Institute in London, with responsibility for the Italian section. He has published widely in his area of specialism, particularly on north Italian painting and drawing of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Sir Timothy Clifford has held the post of director-general of the National Galleries of Scotland since 1984 and previously he worked at Manchester City Art Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the British Museum in London. He is a leading expert on the fine arts of the Italian Renaissance and had written widely on the subject. In 2002 he was awarded the honour of Knight Bachelor and in August 2003 he became a Trustee of the Wallace Collection.