Botticelli

This is the perfect book on Botticelli and is exactly what I was looking for. The cover is not a dust cover (which I dislike). It is printed directly on the hardcover of the book. Can't go wrong with the author, Frank Zoller. The book has incredibly beautiful color plates throughout. This book is a perfect addition to my art library, and as an artist an art historian, it is a great reference as well.

This book is marvelously illustrated. We had a superficial knowledge of Botticelli's paintings and were looking for a volume that would fill that gap. This book did that in spades. The color plates are beautiful! We didn't delve into the text enough to offer a critical evaluation of it. The cover image is a close-up of his famous depiction of Venus which stands as one of the greatest paintings of all time! The image of her face is intriguing as she is expressionless. Yet, I can't stop looking at her. It reminds me of paintings by Sulamith Wulfing whose subjects' faces draw you in with blank expressions. However, I am not suggesting that they are artists of the same order. The central figure of Venus is alluring but not in a lascivious manner, although Savonarola might disagree. Fortunately, it survived the Bonfire of the Vanities. The other paintings, including an astounding portrait of Simonetta Vespucci who is thought to be the model used for Venus, are exquisite.

There are many Botticelli books floating around to remind us how far we have progressed in digital photography and the reproduction of art in books. Nothing I have seen comes close to the exceptional and unbelievably generous quality of these reproductions which have given me unexpected insight into the human hand that produced them. The text, while sometime tedious in its effort to draw sweeping generalization about the artist and patron agenda, and attributing intellectual literary sources to explain the iconography and symbolism behind the details, nonetheless brings to life the artist and his atelier in a way I find endlessly fascinating. What this book lacks, from the point of view of an ignorant artist like myself, is technical details behind how these works were logistically produced from raw materials and the naked eye. It would be nice if once in a while the scholarly critics stepped aside and gave voice to master craftsmen or artisan specializing in producing these kinds of paintings, or even the excellent people we do not hear about who painstakingly restore these painting from 600 years of pollution or neglect.

I was hoping for a stunning, quality coffee table book as a gift and this is neither. The cover you see is the actual cover of the book, not a dustcover, and it has that lumpy, plasticized look that gives the appearance of a bargain table find rather than a fine art book. Nor did I find the quality of the photographs to be impressive when in fact they are somewhat poor in many instances. The binding is also poor, making the textblock look slightly warped. There is a great deal of text but I have not read enough of it to form an opinion as I was looking more for a representation of the artists work and not a discourse on the man and the period in which he worked. However, since I bought this at such a low price, I will keep it for my own bookshelf but will continue to look for another for the gift I was seeking - something more along the lines of Taschen's Van Gogh with its fabulous reproductions.

Very nice book!

I got the book because I loved the Botticelli paintings I saw at the museum. Unfortunately the prints in this book are not really good and don’t do the originals any justice. The descriptions seem to be in depth but the pictures are bad. So if you want the book for the pictures, look elsewhere

Fantastic presentation and beautiful illustrations. I am delighted to have such a wonderful book on Botticelli art.

I must disagree with one of the previous reviewers who said that the quality of the photographs were good. For a book of this size and hence, I assume, quality, they are really terribly poor. If you are not sure what I am talking about, just compare it to the gigantic tome on Leonardo Da Vinci from Taschen, which comes at about the same price, is about three times as thick, and has truly incredible reproductions where every crackle in the paint is visible. On the other hand, the Botticellis seems slightly out of focus so that you do not get a feel of the quality of the paint. Look before you buy.

Very good book excellent pictures and information glad I added this book to my library of books

This is the most beautiful coffee table book. One for the art lovers especially you won’t be disappointed! Such a fantastic price too!

Not too bad for a catalogue of Botticelli works even though quite few nice paintings as the famous 'the outcast' appeared to be left out at some point... And the quality of majority of prints is rather poor and somewhat disappointing. Some pictures look like cheap and upscaled photocopies from another book. I would not recommend it.

If you like beautiful art, beautiful women, culture, history, context, back story, thinking then you will most likely enjoy this book.

This is extremely well written (accessible yet scholarly) about a time in art and history that is inherently fascinating. The plates are good too but the paintings in reality are extraordinary.