The main body of the book is a fully illustrated examination of eight important works of the period between 1270 and 1370, including large altarpieces consisting of many painted panels.

Italian Painting Before 1400: Art in the Making (National Gallery London Publications)

Arts & Photography

Kirby, Jo

Roy, Ashok

Bomford, David

Dunkerton, Professor Jill

Gordon, Ms. Dillian

History & Criticism

National Gallery London

100 Great Paintings: Duccio to Picasso by Dillian Gordon

100 Great Paintings: Duccio to Picasso (National Gallery London Publications)

The Wilton Diptych is one of the most beautiful yet most enigmatic paintings ever made. The intricacy of detail, the refinement and subtlety of its varied techniques and decorative effects, the lushness of its colours and the exquisite tooling of the gold, all in a remarkable state of preservation, are unmatched in any of the few English panel paintings which survive from the late Middle Ages. Nor is there any comparable contemporary European panel painting. Superficially the imagery is straightforward. Richard II, who was crowned King of England at the age of ten in 1377, and deposed and probably murdered by his cousin, Henry IV, in 1399, is shown being presented to the Virgin and Child by his patron saint, John the Baptist, and two English royal saints, Edward the Confessor and Edmund. On the basis of the heraldry the diptych can probably be dated between 1395 and 1399. Yet no one knows precisely what its meaning is, or why or by whom it was painted. What is the significance of the recently discovered symbol of England painted in the tiny orb above the banner? Why does the Child's halo contain the crown of thorns and three nails of his Passion? Why does the broomcod motif, the livery of the King of France, Richard's father-in-law, feature so prominently together with Richard's own personal emblem of the white hart? The author explores evidence from a wide range of iconographical sources - paintings, sculpture, stained-glass windows, manuscripts and other artefacts - which helps to clarify the diptych's meaning. As a result of recent investigations by the Gallery's Scientific and Conservation Departments, valuable technical information is presented about the materials used in the painting, which both has a bearing on its origin and serves to emphasise the extraordinary craftsmanship of the diptych.

The Wilton Diptych: Making and Meaning (National Gallery London Publications)

Individual Artists

Pisanello (c.1394-1455) was the most celebrated artist of the early Italian Renaissance. A painter in fresco and on panel, a prolific and innovative draughtsman prized especially for minutely observed studies of animals and birds, he also became the first modern specialist of the portrait medal. Inspired equally by Arthurian romance, Gothic manuscript illuminations, classical antiquity and contemporary court fashions, his work provides a vivid record of the interests and ideals of his patrons, notably the Gonzaga, Este and Visconti rulers of northern Italian city states. To a modern viewer, Pisanello reveals an enchanted world, at once elegant, imaginative and intensely naturalistic. Yet with the loss of most of his paintings, and the dispersion in specialised museum collections of his drawings and medals, the artist's fame has been eclipsed. This is the first comprehensive book in English for almost a century to present a full survey of his life and work. Taking as their starting point an analysis in depth of his two exquisite panel pictures in the National Gallery, London - The Vision of Saint Eustace and The Virgin and Child with Saint Anthony Abbot and Saint George - the authors give a detailed account of Pisanello's imagery, his techniques and working methods, of his probable teachers and influences, his collaborators and followers. But the book is not confined to artistic matters alone. By firmly situating Pisanello within the fascinating political and intellectual life of the fifteenth-century Italian courts, it also illuminates a defining moment in European culture: when chivalric values were reconciled with humanist learning, Christian piety with Ciceronian eloquence, the arts of war with the art of living worthily - and a contemporary visual artist, Pisanello himself, first received the plaudits of poets and scholars.

Pisanello: Painter to the Renaissance Court

Gordon, Dillian

Syson, Luke

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Gordon, Ms. Dillian. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Gordon, Ms. Dillian