Looking at Painting in Florence 13th-16th Centuries: A Learner’s Handbook

Richly illustrated in color, this handbook aims to impart the skills that allow the reader to answer the question, Why does this painting matter? Organized chronologically, with passages of historical background, we follow Richard Peterson’s probing descriptions of painting in Santa Croce, the Brancacci Chapel at the Carmine, the Uffizi and Accademia, Santa Maria Novella and San Marco, and other remarkable repositories of the city’s masterpieces. Here is what two greatly admired scholars say about Looking at Painting in Florence.

You want a stunning pair of eyes to see the paintings in Florence with? Fresh, deeply informed, alive to detail. Without pedantry? This gift of a book is it. Robert Hass, Professor of English, University of California, Berkeley, and former poet laureate of the United States.

To read this book is akin to being taken by the hand by a close friend who quietly and undidactically observes, describes, and interprets. Susan Madocks Lister, Head of Art History, The British Institute of Florence.