[MR] Two book reviews (!)

[Garth G. Groff]

Noble friends,

This morning's new books had two very lovely French art books that might 
be of great interest to Scadians. Forgive me for leaving out the 
diacritic marks in the capitalized titles, but my email program won't 
handle them except as paste-ins.

FRANCE 1500, ENTRE MOYEN AGE ET RENAISSANCE by Geneviève Bresc-Bautie, 
Thierry Crépin-Leblond and Elisabeth Taburet-Delahaye (ISBN 
9782711856992; our call # N6845 .F72 2010) is an exhibition catalog from 
Les Galeries nationales in Paris. As the title suggest, this work covers 
art from the end of the 15th century, and includes paintings, sculpture, 
architecture, stained glass, medallions, tomb effigies, playing cards, 
furniture, and much more. The lavish illustrations are in brilliant 
color, and there are 399 pages of eye candy here. Much of the art is 
religious in nature, but there are plenty of secular works to ogle as well.

Equally fascinating is l'IMAGE MEDIEVALE: LE LIVRE ENLUMINE by Roland 
Recht (ISBN 9782711855773; call # not yet determined). Some of the best 
surviving illuminations are shown here, often as full page 
illustrations, with detailed blow-ups. Most of the illuminations come 
from French or Belgian prayer books, though these pictures often have 
secular illustrations. The Duc de Berry's famous HOURS are well 
represented, but many lesser-known works are sampled as well.

Both of these books are, at least at the moment, only available in 
French, which makes the text less accessible to some folks, but you 
don't need to read the language to appreciate the beautiful 
illustrations, or to gather ideas on costuming from the exquisitely 
detailed clothing. Either of these works are well worth examination by 
serious students of the middle ages.

Kind regards,


Lord Mungo Napier, That Crazy Scott
(mka Garth Groff, Cataloger, UVA libraries.