Ciao, Carpaccio!: An Infatuation
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
Jan Morris returns to Venice in this loving tribute to one of the great Renaissance masters.
In the course of writing Venice, her 1961 classic, Jan Morris became fascinated by the historical presence of a sometimes-overlooked Venetian painter. Nowadays the name of Vittore Carpaccio (1460–1520) suggests raw beef, but to Morris it conveyed far more profound meanings. Thus began a lifelong infatuation, reaching across the centuries, between a renowned Welsh writer and a great and delightfully entertaining artist of the early Renaissance. Handsomely designed with more than seventy photographs throughout, Ciao,Carpaccio! is a happy caprice of affection. In illuminating the life of the artist and his paintings, Morris throws in digressions about Venetian animals, courtesans, babies, ships, architecture, and history, and caps it all with thoughtful analyses of Carpaccio’s spiritual convictions. Part biography, part art interpretation, part personal odyssey, and all lots of fun, Ciao, Carpaccio! will no doubt help to rescue the name of a noble artist from its popular interpretation as an item of cuisine.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this ebullient homage to the Venetian artist, Vittore Carpaccio (1460 1520) today better known for the raw meat dish named for him than his early Renaissance narrative paintings historian and travel writer Morris (Venice) compensates for her lack of scholarly knowledge and analysis by relying on her lifelong preoccupation with the artist. Though the book will not necessarily further reader understanding of Carpaccio, it provides a convincing picture of Morris's devotion to her "friend." "Mine is an eccentrically intimate relationship with Carpaccio," Morris writes, "and there is one of his pictures in which I like to think he addresses me almost as an accomplice." However, Morris is resolute in her determination to understand the artist through his paintings and make thematic connections among his oeuvre. Carpaccio has signature symbols that Morris deems the Carpaccio turban, the Carpaccio hat, the Carpaccio horse, among others. Her observations are driven by an aficionado's intuition, and her sources are sparse, but her enthusiasm is unrivaled and the book will surely delight her many fans. 75 color illus.