Masaccio's "Trinity" examines one of the most influential paintings of the Italian Renaissance. Renowned for the grandeur of its characterizations and for the perspectival illusion of its architectural setting, the fresco was famous from the time it was painted in the 1420s, and remembered despite its having been hidden from view for nearly two centuries. This volume considers the "Trinity" in its historical and spiritual contexts, and describes the significance of Masaccio's innovative depictions of time and space.

Long recognized as one of the most significant paintings of the twentieth century, contributors to this volume consider Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon from a variety of methodological and topical perspectives, including psychoanalytical, feminist, historical, and postcolonial. Through these various analyzes, the contributors explore the power and significance of Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, situating the work within twentieth century art history and debates over Primitivism, sexuality, and stylistic change.

Long recognized as one of the most significant paintings of the twentieth century, contributors to this volume consider Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon from a variety of methodological and topical perspectives, including psychoanalytical, feminist, historical, and postcolonial. Through these various analyzes, the contributors explore the power and significance of Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, situating the work within twentieth century art history and debates over Primitivism, sexuality, and stylistic change.

This book is about the creation of an acknowledged masterpiece and its wildly mixed reception by contemporaries. The Last Judgment was created at a moment of crisis when the spirit of Renaissance humanism was recoiling from the sense of a new threat within the church, as defections of the faithful to the new Protestant sects multiplied across Europe. Seen in this context, the examination of the fresco will be of interest to historians, historians of religion and of art.

This book is about the creation of an acknowledged masterpiece and its wildly mixed reception by contemporaries. The Last Judgment was created at a moment of crisis when the spirit of Renaissance humanism was recoiling from the sense of a new threat within the church, as defections of the faithful to the new Protestant sects multiplied across Europe. Seen in this context, the examination of the fresco will be of interest to historians, historians of religion and of art.

Velazquez's 1656 masterpiece Las Meninas has inspired an avalanche of published attention since it was first placed on public view in the Museo del Prado in 1819. The essays in this volume survey the responses to the painting in the nineteenth century, when Velazquez's fame outside Spain peaked. They include introductions to interpretations of Las Meninas by twentieth-century art historians, critics, philosophers, and art theorists, as well as the modern appropriation of the work by Picasso.

Edouard Manet's controversial painting "Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe" is one of the best known images in French art. The subject of critical analysis for more than a century, it still defies singular interpretations. These essays, written specially for this volume by the leading scholars of French modern art, therefore offer six different readings of the painting, incorporating close examinations of its radical style and novel subject, relevant historical developments and archival material, as well as biographical evidence that prompts psychological inquiries.