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This book documents and illustrates the most significant antique works of art known to Renaissance artists. It is for all who wish to have an insight into the fundamental basis of the Renaissance, for those concerned with cultural history, art history, and archaeology. Over 500 illustrations show Greek and Roman statues, reliefs and triumphal arches, together with Renaissance drawings, engravings, bronzes and paintings to demonstrate how and where these classical monuments were discovered and recorded, and how they were copied, adapted, combined and transformed. The authors have based their selection on the Census of Antique Works of Art known to Renaissance Artists kept in the Warburg Institute, London University and in part at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York. They have arranged their illustrative material and encyclopaedic catalogue thematically, dividing it into two sections: Greek and Roman Gods and Myths; Roman History and Life. The antique works catalogued are each preceded by a short explanation of the particular theme in Antiquity, with indications of literary sources and other antique representations of the figure-type or motif known in the Renaissance. The myths and legends represented in the sculpture are retold briefly in each case. The introductory essay by Professor Bober considers the cultural impact of classical Antiquity upon the Renaissance masters, and the handbook also includes an annotated Index of Renaissance Artists and Sketchbooks, a descriptive and illustrated Index of Renaissance Collections, and an exhaustive Bibliography and General Index.
