It is always a joy to observe a successful publishing initiative, and the high quality, handy‐sized and reasonably‐priced titles coming from Getty Publications are just such a joy. Having already reviewed Artists' Techniques and Materials (Fuga, 2006) (RR 2007/238) in Getty's Guide to Imagery series, I was pleased to receive Sandra Baragli's European Art of the Fourteenth Century, the third title in their Art through the Centuries series. Any library with a collection of these attractive and informative volumes – sensibly sized for standard library shelves and not the unwieldy shelf‐benders that normally beset the art section – is a rich library indeed! Good for the home collection too. To emphasize: European Art of the Fourteenth Century is A5‐sized and has 380 pages containing four hundred illustrations of very high quality.
Short sections averaging five pages cover specific topics, for example, Paris, Wood Sculpture, Tapestry, and Funerary Monuments, giving background and using photographs to indicate significant features. Thus to the photograph of the striking Cathedral of Santa Maria in Palma (in the “chapter”, The Kingdom of Majorca), notes point us (literally), by lines connecting text to the relevant part of the photograph, to:
the division of the frontage of the building into a system of massive supports and flying buttresses;
the distinctive features of the interior;
the influence of French art on the elegant and grandiose building as a whole;
the underlying conception as a divine pantheon; and
the fortress‐style situation.
The notes relating to the photo of Exeter Cathedral (c.1318‐50) draw attention to a new layout of ribbing in the vaulting above the rood screen, its deeply‐cut nature, the compound piers and arches of the nave walls, the rich sculptured decoration, and the skill of Thomas of Witney who designed the pulpit.
The book is divided into three main sections: Key Words (e.g. Gothic, Building Site, Ivory); Places (subdivided into England, France, The Holy Roman Empire, The Iberian Kingdoms, and Italy – all further sub‐divided); and Leading Artists (of which there are forty, from Altichiero to Vital da Bologna). There are two appendixes: a Chronology and an Index of Artists.
Surprisingly, there is no introduction, and I needed the flimsy publisher's flyer to tell me that “While the great boom of cathedral building that had marked the previous century waned, cathedrals continued to serve as the centre of religious life and artistic creation. Wealthy patrons sponsored the production of elaborate altarpieces, as well as smaller panel paintings and religious statues for private devotional use. A growing literate elite created a demand for richly decorated prayer books and volumes on secular topics”. And it continues with some details about the artists and their work. This information is needed in the book itself. Another quibble I have is that the contents page lacks information. It contains just the three main divisions and we have to go to the supplementary listings at the head of each division to find specific topics. Even here no page numbers are given and we have to scrabble through to find the item we want; alphabetical order is not used. If we wish to revisit the entry on Clothing, say, or Bologna, we need to find the relevant “contents” pages to see if the topic is covered and then flick through. And worse, if I want to re‐find Exeter Cathedral, I need to guess that it is in the section The West Country in the section covering Places. Again, there are no page numbers. Only artists are indexed, neither building nor places. Such navigational difficulties hinder the book's use as a quick reference source. They could be corrected easily enough.
However, the information is there. Under Building Sites there are details from a 1370 illustration of hoists lifting stone used in the Tower of Babel; the different on‐site roles of workers emphasised by their clothing from a 1383 illustration of building another Tower of Babel; and detail of masons standing on wooden scaffolding using trowels and a woman carrying a tray of lime from a 1337‐9 illustration. There are cross‐references to related entries.
If the best way to learn is to have a lucid and knowledgeable expert at your elbow, then having this book in your hand comes a very close second. It is excellent value for art and general collections.
