The names of Masaccio (1401-28) and Masolino (1383-1440) are inseparable, and their collaboration is an essential starting point for the study of either artist. Masaccio's Holy Trinity and the recently cleaned collaborative frescos in the Brancacci Chapel in Florence are key works in the development of Western art. Paul Joannides' catalogue raisonné forms a uniquely authoritative and perfectly up-to-date study of the total oeuvre of both artists. Composed with lucidity and richly illustrated, it makes accessible to all lovers of art - from the connoisseur to the casual reader - some of the greatest paintings of the early Renaissance, and most momentous works of Western painting.

Looking at more than two hundred Italian medieval and Renaissance mural cycles, Lavin examines—with the aid of computer technology—the "rearranged" chronologies of familiar religious stories found therein. "Like many masterpieces, Lavin's book builds upon a simple idea . . . it is possible to do a computer analysis of . . . visual narratives. . . . This is the first computer-based study of the visual arts of which I am aware that illustrates how those technologies can utterly transform the study of old master art. An extremely important book, one likely to become the most influential recent study of art of this period, The Place of Narrative is also a beautiful artifact."—David Carrier, Leonardo "Covering over a millennium and dealing with the whole of Italy, Lavin makes pioneering use of new methodology employing a computer database . . . [and] novel terminology to describe the disposition of scenes of church and chapel walls. . . . We should recognize this as a book of high seriousness which reaches out into new areas and which will fruitfully stimulate much thought on a neglected subject of very considerable significance."—Julian Gardner, Burlington Magazine