From Giotto to Cezanne: A Concise History of Painting

Description

This book presents a fresh, balanced and complete picture of the whole of Western painting from Giotto to Cezanne. Michael Levey has triumphantly succeeded in organizing the mass of material, in giving it proportion and in conveying by carefully selected examples the essential quality of each artist. It is not a mere "potted" version of familiar facts - every judgment is genuinely felt and personally expressed, while the style sparkles with elegance and wit. Even those readers who know the subject thoroughly will find it rewarding for the concise comments which often sum up in a single sentence a whole complicated response to a picture. It is a volume to kindle enthusiasm, and at the same time provides an immensely informative "first book" of art history for both teachers and students.

Sir Michael Levey who died in December 2008, became deputy keeper of the National Gallery in 1966, keeper in 1968, and finally director in 1973. He was knighted in 1981.

'Outstanding ... accurate, free from prejudice, always neat, often stimulating. No better introduction to Western painting has ever been produced ' - Sunday Times 'Combining serious scholarship with presentation simple enough to interest the general reader and a standard of reproduction good enough to make the result both an intellectual and an aesthetic pleasure ' - The Burlington Magazine 'His clarity of thought, elegance of style and utter rightness in the way he presents his material show how this sort of book ought be written' - Times Literary Supplement 'A triumph in terms of lucid condensation ' - Arts Review