Techniques of the Great Masters of Art

I’ve owned this book for decades. I teach art at a liberal arts college, and I bought a second copy to keep in my classroom as a reference for the painting courses.

"The History of Art" by Janson Used by Rice U. (cheap used). "Art History" by Gardner used by S.F.Art inst. either one is 100 times better. Bought this looking for something new/inspiration. It is okay, not any full page color plates. It was not inspirational.

Great book. I would give this book 5 stars, but since their was a problem with the book I can't do that. I didn't notice that my copy of the book was bound incorrectly from the publisher (its missing one of it's signatures 193-224, and has partial signature duplicates of pages 177-184). This isn't the kind of book you read through from cover to cover, so I never noticed it until a year later. It's unfortunate because the missing signature has Monet's "Saint Lazare Station", Caillebotte's "A Rainy Day", Manet's "Road Menders in the rue de Berne", Dega's "Portrait of Duranty" and the whole 1880's introduction. If you get this book, check your page numbers.

My art teacher had the hardback version, but I do believe I like the paperback even better. The book arrived on time and was in excellent condition. Would use the vendor again

This is a masterpiece of art history from Giotto and da Vinci to the Impressionists to modern masters (77 painters total). In addition to their biographies, it also breaks down individual paintings to show how they achieved their results, from composition to palettes to paint application, and blow-up details of the paintings. It is a big, thick volume that originally retailed for $50.

The print quality of the paintings was not quite as amazing as I had hoped. Otherwise, quite satisfactory, especially for the price.

Initially this substantial looking book (540+ pages) seemed promising. Alas,only a small section of the book is allotted for the Old Masters. That's a period of 300 years (1300s to 1600s) when some of the most important works in art history (from Giotto to Vermeer) are all but squeezed into a mere 56 pages. To emphasize this point, the greatest artist of the Renaissance, Michelangelo, is mentioned only in passing and not one of his works is even discussed here. Meanwhile, more than two-thirds (400-some pages) of the book is devoted to discussing works by the Impressionists and 20th century artists. Very lopsided indeed.

Large, Heavy book! This covers many Masters over the years. IT breaks down one painting and shows details of the works and how they may have been changed to become what they are today. Each painter has a couple pages detailing their work. Good reference book for art history study.

Insights into painting techniques that you will not find anywhere else. Great full page same size illustrations of canvases that show you the brushwork of major works. Very useful as a reference and basic guide when you are starting out.

Good content but very hard to read

This is absolutely superb. Intelligently put together it speaks for the integral relation between artistic vision and the crafting and making that supports it in different periods of art. The book arrived well before the latest arrival date scheduled; an impressive service for which I'm most grateful. for those of who need to travel a lot, and need this book in different places, a Kindle version, and/or version for iPad would be ideal.

The various authors do a fine job in analysing the techniques of key paintings. their comments are supported by clear illustrations

Great!