Anachronic Renaissance (Zone Books)

"Anachronic Renaissance" opens up subtle aspects of Renaissance art having to do with the perception of time. The modern tendency to anchor a work to one point on our "universally" understood linear timeline is revealed as a construct that can inhibit our understanding of how images from the Renaissance were conceived and perceived, and by whom. This is a scholarly work that requires even a devoted David Foster Wallace reader to keep a dictionary nearby, but your efforts at understanding will be well rewarded. I am a scholar in the field, and my eyes were continuously opened. If you are a non-specialist, just read each chapter more than once. A sort of immersion occurs. Also, Wood anchors has arguments in documents, lesser known imagery and objects of everyday life that through a multiplicity of details that solidify the basis for his conclusions. It is all too easy for any of us to fall into cliched thinking and seeing. This book will help the reader avoid that barrier to comprehending our past.

This reminded me a bit of "The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe" -- a priori it is very difficult (if not impossible) to understand how different things were back in that era: time was not linear and strictly measured. The lack of travel and minimal availability of (reasonably) accurate images meant that a "reproduction" was more like rhyming than copying.This book is a detailed examination of how the transition to something closer to our current view played out, and how it changed the stature of the artists, their work and its reception.This isn't beach reading by any means, but very engaging and a useful tool for thinking through "what does constitute a reference?"

The book has some interesting elements in particular the parelelism established between human portraits and buildings graphic representation as the basis for associating a date or at least an epoch to architecture (before that, buildings were considered a kind of living being under continuous evolution).Other than that, many obvoius things are presented as great findings and somehow this is a typical example of too long and pretended to be bright and original dissertation provided by selfconfident art historians.

A must to read for art historians todayA new perspective to look at the Renaissance and to review your already established ideas

Brilliant!

everything fine!

Excellent and intriguing inquiry into the nature of art itself. Makes clear the intellectual failings of Renaissance studies. A little dense at times but well worth it!