Paintings in the Uffizi and Pitti Galleries
Few collections can rival the Uffizi and Pitti galleries in the quality and pedigree of their holdings. The more than 800 fine color plates contained in this massive volume allow a dramatic visual introduction to these two Italian museums. Complementing the excellent reproductions are more than serviceable introductory essays, which underline the role of the Medici in originally shaping the collections and providing perceptive insights into the stylistic epochs and artistic personalities encompassed by these stellar repositories. The individual paintings are adequately identified and tersely discussed in terms of dating and acquisition. Although not as lavish in the quantity or the scale of their illustration, Caterina Caneva and others' The Uffizi: Guide to the Collections and Catalogue of All Paintings and Pitti Palace: Guide to the Collections and Complete Catalogue of the Palatine Gallery (both LJ 5/15/93) permit the less affluent general collection an attractive, if less spectacular, admission to these universes of pictorial genius.Robert Cahn, Fashion Inst. of Technology, New YorkCopyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.