Giorgione's Tempest : Interpreting the Hidden Subject

Rating:
Summary: enjoyment pure and simple
Review: An absolutely brilliant book, indeed! It is written with a lot of intellectual vigour, Settis' knowledge of the subject is breathtaking, but what is by far the most impressing feature of this book is the author's ability to connect very different fields of academic research: sociology, history, philology. It is an absolute must for all students and scholars of arts, a true example how a detailed analysis of a single painting reveals to us much about the era it was painted in, as well as about the times when its meaning was attempted to be deciphered. We learn here much about the Italian Rennaisance, Giorgione and his contemporaries, but also about centuries which came after -- what they did with his paintings and how they tried to adjust their meanings to their contemporary tastes and preferences. A real diamond.

Rating:
Summary: enjoyment pure and simple
Review: with all of the analyses offered in the book it is surprising that none of them seem right. this book's redeeming points have nothing to do with the subject. one of these points is learning how to approach a work of art that you know nothing about.

Rating:
Summary: over analyzing and wrong
Review: with all of the analyses offered in the book it is surprising that none of them seem right. this book's redeeming points have nothing to do with the subject. one of these points is learning how to approach a work of art that you know nothing about.