Officina Libraria – serie

The masi are the equivalent of farms in the Alpine area of the Dolomites (Sudtirol/Alto Adige in northern Italy). Val Gardena, one of the valleys of Sudtirol, houses a great number of masi, some dating back to the thirteenth century. The historical importance of these farms resides in the richness and variety of their building techniques and the sheer beauty of their vernacular architecture perfectly integrated in the stunning landscape of the Dolomites. Recent socio-economic development and the difficulty to adapt the older masi to modern needs has endangered them. A movement to map and preserve these precious witnesses of the material culture of Val Gardena is taking place. Photographing and exhibiting the images of these buildings - shedding light on their cultural role, forms and the architectural elements - in the mountain villages and later in the Architecture Departments of universities in Italy and surrounding countries (Austria, Germany) is a way to increase awareness on the importance of preserving this distinctive vernacular architecture. Text in Ladin, German, Italian with short abstracts in English.

Giovanni Battista Franco (before 1510 - 1561) was an Italian mannerist painter, draughtsman and engraver. Native of Venice, he spent the first part of his career in Rome, but by 1536 had settled in Florence. Back in Rome by 1542, he painted a fresco of the Capture of Saint John the Baptist for the Oratorio di San Giovanni Decollato. In 1545 he was summoned by Duke Guidobaldo II to Urbino, where he painted frescoes in the Duomo (destroyed). The last ten years of his career were spent in Venice, where among his significant works are a Baptism of Christ for San Francesco della Vigna and the ceiling decoration of the Fondaco dei Tedeschi and the Biblioteca Marciana. Franco is better known as a draughtsman and recent scholars such as A. E. Popham found much to praise in 'Franco's extraordinary skill, with his rather scratchy but effective line, and his combination of Michelangelesque and Raphaelesque forms.' Among his drawings there are numerous studies of antique subjects taken from Roman sarcophagi.Text in French.

Baccio Bandinelli (Florence, 1493-1560) was one of the sculptors that worked for the house of Medici during the first half of the XVI century. A pupil of Giovan Francesco Rustici, he was strongly influenced by Michelangelo. One of his main works, 'Hercules and Cacus', is visible in the Piazza della Signoria and seen by millions of tourists each year. He also worked in Rome where he had been called by pope Clement VII. But, while his talent for sculpture was put in doubt by critics and rivals (Benvenuto Cellini, for instance), Bandinelli's extraordinary drawing skills were universally appreciated - Vasari declared him "unrivalled" in this domain. Over two hundred drawings held in the Louvre are analysed in this scholarly publication: they include autograph drawings, those by his workshop and those rejected.

Painter and draftsman of animals for Louis XIV, Pieter Boel (1626-1674) is now widely recognised as one of the best animal painters of the past.This large-size book presents 40 paintings and drawings of this extraordinary observer of nature. His pieces were particularly lively because he was inspired by the living birds and mammals he was able to observe in the Versailles Menagerie, established by Louis XIV in 1664 and soon a model for all the European courts.The studies were used as models for animals reproduced in the foreground of the famous Gobelins tapestries, which decorated several royal mansions. They are replete with details of the animals, seen from different viewpoints, and are admired for the quasi-tactile rendering of fur or feathers. The drawings included show Boel's keen eye for rendering movement.

Since 1972, the Drawings and Prints Department of the Louvre has published the reportoire of the Italian drawings held in its collections. This volume, the tenth in the series, is dedicated to the Bolognese and Emilian artists of the 17th century. Seicento is considered by all as the golden age of Bolognese painting, which not only enriched the city with many masterpieces but saw many of its main artists going to Rome, the capital of Baroque, to decorate its churches and palaces (from the Galleria Farnese by Annibale Carracci to the many domes frescoed by Lanfranco).The volume includes close to 1000 drawings by artists such as Ludovico and Annibale Carracci, Bartolomeo Cesi, Bartolomeo Schedoni, Guido Reni, Giovanni Lanfranco, Elisabetta Sirani, Giuseppe Maria Crespi e Donato Creti and it traces the evolution of draughtmanship in Bologna and Emilia, from the Accademia degli Incamminati to the spreading of classicism and baroque.Text in French.Contents: Preface by Henri Loyrette (President of the Louvre); Introduction; The Teaching of the Carraccis; Contemporary Artists of the Carraccis; The Influcence of Bologna; Baroque and Classiscism in Bologna and Emilia; Bibliography; Tables of Concordance; List of the Artists; Index of the CollectorsAlso available:Battista Franco ISBN 9788889854457Baccio Bandinelli ISBN 9788889854631

Essential to art libraries and art historians who study Leonardo and the Renaissance. The first book to have the photos of the restored masterpiece, complete with many new details As the recent blockbuster Leonardo exhibit - the fastest-selling exhibit ever held at the National Gallery in London - proved, the interest in Leonardo is huge. The Virgin and Child with St. Anne is, with the Battle of Anghiari, Leonardo's most ambitious project of his later years. This masterpiece has been under restoration and it will be exhibited in its newly found splendor at the Louvre. There, for the first time, it will be flanked by cartoons with the same subject (but with St. John the Baptist) held at the National Gallery, London, and by preparatory sketches and drawings, thus allowing the public to gain new insights in Leonardo's method of work. The exhibition and the catalogue present 131 works by Leonardo and other contemporary artists, such as Raphael and Luini, placing the St. Anne in its proper art historical context. This great work has had an enduring influence on the development of art in the High Renaissance (Michelangelo, Solario, Andrea del Sarto, etc.), but its effects are seen on paintings much more recent, such as those of Odilon Redon and Max Ernst.

Alphacats are an elite breed: they are cats with a pedigree (well, most of them ) and painted almost hair by hair by scientific illustrator Gabriella Gallerani and here honoured in alphabetical order. Beautifully rendered in full colour, to each, their own letter - around which to climb, hide, stretch, play, yawn or simply show off. Thus, A for Angora, B for Bengal, C for Ceylon, D for Devon Rex - but Alphacats are also the cats that have made history - literature, movies, cartoons, music and the happiness of writers, scientists, kings and politicians. The names of over 300 "alpha" cats, with just as many witty stories and feline anecdotes, creates a repertoire of the unique and memorable characters that make each cat worthy of a name. From Boise, Hemingway's favourite, to Pulcinella, who inspired Scarlatti's Cat's fugue sonata, from Brillant, Louis XV's beautiful Angora to Socks, the Clintons' pet during their White House tenure, each letter of the alphabet has many inspiring names.