Patterns of Intention: On the Historical Explanation of Pictures

Front Cover
Yale University Press, 1985 M01 1 - 147 pages
Distinguished art historian Michael Baxandall here discusses the historical understanding of works of art - how we can discover the intentions of an artist living in a different time and culture and to what extent we can test and evaluate a historical interpretation of a picture. Analyzing in detail paintings by Picasso, Chardin, and Piero della Francesca, Baxandall shows how this inferential criticism sharpens our legitimate satisfaction in the art works themselves.
 

Common terms and phrases

About the author (1985)

Art historian Michael Baxandall was born in Cardiff, England. He studied at Downing College at Cambridge; the University of Pavia in Italy; and the Institute of Art History at Munich. He taught at numerous universities throughout his lifetime including Oxford University, the University of London, Cornell University, and the University of California at Berkeley. His books include Giotto and the Orators; Painting and Experience in 15th-Century Italy; The Limewood Sculptors of Renaissance Germany; and Shadows and Enlightenment. He died of pneumonia associated with Parkinson's disease on August 12, 2008 at the age of 74.

Bibliographic information