Unknown Renaissance Portraits - Medals of Famous Men and Women of the XV & XVI centuries (Art Ebook).pdf

Pdf / English / 1952 / 92 Pages / 20 MB

The identification of most of the uninscribed portraits of Renaissance personalities, which have been reproduced time after time, is frequently doubtful, and such solutions as have been offered are often unduly optimistic. There is, however, one category of portraits about which no doubt exists—the portrait medals. Their creators were great artists, even though their names may be less familiar than those of mediocre painters, and they worked with deep psychological insight and a realism never attempted in large paintings or sculptures. The disadvantage of such portraits is their small size, which does not allow a close study of the features. Here some of them arc shown in considerable enlargement, and on this scale the faces certainly appear amazing, conceived with a vivid naturalism often bordering on caricature.