MASTERPIECES OF THE J. PAUL GETTY MUSEUM DECORATIVE ARTS

These lavish volumes feature highlights of five of the collections in the J. Paul Getty Museum. Each volume contains between seventy-five and one hundred objects, handsomely reproduced in full color and described by members of the curatorial staff.

This wonderful series catalogs selections from the J. Paul Getty Museum at the new Getty Center in Los Angeles, which opened to great fanfare this past December. Each volume focuses on a specific aspect and specialty of the Getty permanent collections, and each is produced by the curatorial staff of the respective divisions. Antiquities encompasses artistic works produced from the Bronze Age and geometric period to the Republican and Imperial Roman periods. Brief articles introduce the wide range of beautifully illustrated artifacts, including sculpture, painted terra cotta pottery, and jewelry. Each item is identified by date, size, and attribution, if known. Decorative Arts reveals the splendor and fine crafting of both functional and decorative items, including furniture and cabinetry, stoneware, glassware, porcelain, silver, and tapestry. Brief descriptions accompany each of the 100 masterfully illustrated items. This volume also includes an index to artists, makers, and manufacturers. Drawings focuses on a fraction of the major holdings in the Getty collection and includes a marvelous sampling of pastels, watercolors, pencil, pen-and-ink, and chalk works. Each of the 100 items represented have brief descriptions and are arranged by European schools of artists, including Blake, Daumier, Gericault, Leonardo da Vinci, Millet, Poussin, and Titian. Illuminated Manuscripts comprises a spectacular array of written artifacts among the masterpieces of medieval and Renaissance art and includes liturgical books, devotional books, and books of the Bible. Among those featured are Jean Froissart's The Chronicle and examples from Georg Bocskay's Mira Calligrapiae Monuments, which was illuminated by Hoefnagel. The manuscripts are arranged chronologically and the text includes brief commentaries on each item. The book concludes with a glossary of key terminology. Paintings focuses primarily on the European schools of Italian, Dutch, Flemish, and French works and gloriously represents some of the finest examples by Breughel, Monet, Rembrandt, Renoir, Van Dyke, and Van Gogh, to name a few. Descriptions accompany each work, and an index to artists concludes the book. Together the books comprise a wonderful panorama of art from one of the world's most notable collections. Two additional titles, on photography and sculpture, will be published later this year. Enthusiastically recommended.?Steven Thomas, Central Michigan Univ. Lib., Mt. Pleasant
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