A wildly entertaining and surprisingly educational dive into art history as you've never seen it before, from the host of the beloved ArtCurious podcast We're all familiar with the works of Claude Monet, thanks in no small part to the ubiquitous reproductions of his water lilies on umbrellas, handbags, scarves, and dorm-room posters. But did you also know that Monet and his cohort were trailblazing rebels whose works were originally deemed unbelievably ugly and vulgar? And while you probably know the tale of Vincent van Gogh's suicide, you may not be aware that there's pretty compelling evidence that the artist didn't die by his own hand but was accidentally killed--or even murdered. Or how about the fact that one of Andy Warhol's most enduring legacies involves Caroline Kennedy's moldy birthday cake and a collection of toenail clippings? ArtCurious is a colorful look at the world of art history, revealing some of the strangest, funniest, and most fascinating stories behind the world's great artists and masterpieces. Through these and other incredible, weird, and wonderful tales, ArtCurious presents an engaging look at why art history is, and continues to be, a riveting and relevant world to explore.

Raphael was for centuries considered the greatest artist who ever lived. Much of what we know about him comes from this biography, written by Florentine painter Giorgio Vasari. The Life of Raphael is a key text not only for the appreciation of Raphael's art--whose development Vasari portrays in detail--but also for its unprecedented attention to theoretical issues. This stand-alone edition of The Life of Raphael, published to coincide with a major exhibition of the artist's paintings and drawings at England's National Gallery, illuminates the entire span of Raphael's astonishing art.

For sixteenth-century Italian masters, the creation of art was a contest. They knew each other's work and patrons, were collegues and rivals. Survey of this artistic rivalry, the emotional and professional circumstances of their creations.

Embark on a profound journey through the depths of human emotion and spirituality in the updated anniversary edition of Refractions by renowned artist Makoto Fujimura. This timeless collection of reflective essays invites you to explore themes of grief, loss, tragedy, and disruption through the eyes of an artist’s soul. Originally conceived in the shadow of the fallen twin towers of the World Trade Center, near where Fujimura’s New York art studio stood, this anniversary edition includes new essays unpacking the author’s further insights into his concepts of culture care and a theology of making. Refractions carries the weight of history and the urgency of the moment, illuminating beauty, healing, and hope. A gift for any artist or supporter of the arts, Refractions connects faith, art, and life, offering insight into healing with the wisdom and perspective of a leading contemporary artist and follower of Jesus, making beauty from ashes, and the gospel as a message as breathtaking and intricate as the lives it touches. In a world marred by violence and despair, Fujimura guides you toward a deep understanding of life’s intricate tapestry, where beauty emerges from unexpected places, and healing finds its roots in the goodness of God and human resilience.

"From 1501 to 1505, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarroti both lived and worked in Florence. Leonardo was a charming, handsome fifty year-old at the peak of his career. Michelangelo was a temperamental sculptor in his mid-twenties, desperate to make a name for himself. The two despise each other."--Front jacket flap.

Located in the Villa Belvedere in the Vatican and completed 1n 1574 by the great Renaissance architect, Donato Bramante, with extraordinarily ingenious architecture, Bramante's staircase, then referred to as "lumacha," or "snail," still garners the greatest wonder and admiration. It has survived--almost completely, in its original form. The book shows beautiful and detailed photographs and includes extensive pictorial documentation on the Vatican and its environs in the 16th and 17th century.

Another Fabulous Art History Thriller by the Bestselling Author of Oil and Marble, Featuring the Master of Renaissance Perfection: Raphael! Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling is one of the most iconic masterpieces of the Renaissance. Here, in Raphael, Painter in Rome, Storey tells of its creation as never before: through the eyes of Michelangelo’s fiercest rival—the young, beautiful, brilliant painter of perfection, Raphael. Orphaned at age eleven, Raphael is determined to keep the deathbed promise he made to his father: become the greatest artist in history. But to be the best, he must beat the best, the legendary sculptor of the David, Michelangelo Buonarroti. When Pope Julius II calls both artists down to Rome, they are pitted against each other: Michelangelo painting the Sistine Ceiling, while Raphael decorates the pope's private apartments. As Raphael strives toward perfection in paint, he battles internal demons: his desperate ambition, crippling fear of imperfection, and unshakable loneliness. Along the way, he conspires with cardinals, scrambles through the ruins of ancient Rome, and falls in love with a baker’s-daughter-turned-prostitute who becomes his muse. With its gorgeous writing, rich settings, endearing characters, and riveting plot, Raphael, Painter in Rome brings to vivid life these two Renaissance masters going head to head in the deadly halls of the Vatican.

Among the immortals--Leonardo, Rembrandt, Picasso--Michelangelo stands alone as a master of painting, sculpture, and architecture. He was not only the greatest artist in an age of giants, but a man who reinvented the practice of art itself. Throughout his long career he clashed with patrons by insisting that he had no master but his own demanding muse and promoting the novel idea that it was the artist, rather than the lord who paid for it, who was creative force behind the work. This is the life of perhaps the most famous, most revolutionary artist in history, told through the stories of six of his magnificent masterpieces.

Artist, architect and draughtsman, one of the great masters and one of the most influential painters of the High Renaissance, Raphael produced a huge body of work during his short working life. His artistic development took place in Umbria, Rome and Florence, where he met Michelangelo and Leonardo, and was influenced by their dynamic and evocative images. Some of his subsequent work reflected his admiration for them. In Rome, he painted The School of Athens, a major fresco depicting the greatest thinkers and philosophers of the past and present. His beautiful style is reflected in the second part of the book in a gallery of around 300 of Raphael's major paintings and drawings, with an analysis of each in the context of his life, his technique and oeuvre. Raphael was one of the greatest artists of all time; his death in 1520 marked the end of the 16th century.

One of the principal resources for study of Italian Renaissance art and artists, Vasari's Lives offers colorful, detailed portraits of the era's most representative figures. This single-volume edition spotlights 8 prominent artists.