ADRIAN W.B. RANDOLPH

ART HISTORY

FAVORITE BOOK TO TEACH:

Painting and Experience in FifteenthCentury Italy: A Primer in the Social History of Pictorial Style, by Michael Baxandall

MUST-READ BOOK IN YOUR FIELD:

The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (Die Cultur der Renaissance in Italien), by Jacob Burckhardt

FAVORITE PLEASURE READ:

Fingersmith, by Sarah Waters

CURRENTLY READING:

2666, by Roberto Bolano

Written in the early 1970s, Baxandall's creative interpretations of Italian Renaissance painting have never been surpassed. Baxandall's limpid prose reveals complex analyses of how individuals may have understood their visual culture. Students are always fascinated by his emphasis on the ma- terials of paint and gold, the cultural foundations of linear perspective and his easy command of a variety of sources.

One can still learn much from Burckhardt's study and see how the Renaissance was framed by modern concerns.