Italian Renaissance Altarpiece

David Ekserdjian is professor of history of art and film at the University of Leicester

“Ekserdijan has an impressive encyclopaedic knowledge of the byways of altarpiece development during the period. . . . He writes engagingly and wears his learning lightly, and, with its 250 illustrations, this handsome book is designed in the best Yale tradition.”—Peter Humfrey, Art Newspaper“The first in-depth study of the genre. . . . Mr. Ekserdjian nimbly addresses styles, patrons, artists, and history, as well as the three key categories of the Renaissance altarpiece: icons, narratives and mysteries. And he teaches how to read altarpieces, including their predellas, or related supporting panels. The book is beautifully illustrated with 250 plates; you’ll savor both image and text.”—Lance Esplund, Wall Street Journal (Holiday Gift Book selection)“Ekserdjian brilliantly outlines the broad picture, but the devil is in his details: how variously artists, famous and obscure, enlivened and energised this iconic structure, balancing narrative and invention, clarity and mystery.”—Jackie Wullschläger, Financial Times, “Best Books of 2021: Visual Arts”“David Ekserdjian’s book is a sumptuous and scholarly study of a form he sifts into categories — icons, narratives and mysteries — to reveal its development and subtleties.”—Michael Prodger, Sunday Times, “Books of the Year: Art”“Professor Ekserdijan has brought together a career’s worth of knowledge of Italian art to focus on a subject that, while widely commented on, has not received detailed analysis.”—Nicholas Cranfield, Church Times“The very superior product of a lifetime of thinking and writing about the subject...Peppered with new and surprising insights, this meticulous study will become an indispensable work.”—James Hall, Literary Review  “Citing a wealth of examples that is unlikely to be surpassed, Ekserdijan’s text is certainly alive to the exceptions that emerge whenever one attempts to apply the rule of thumb...The broad genre of the Renaissance altarpiece is triumphantly reasserted here as an arena for artistic creativity and experimentation.”—Donal Cooper, Apollo Magazine“This beautiful volume's real claim to magisterial status rests on the author's ability to combine formidable erudition with pellucid prose, the elegance with which he organises his almost limitless material, and the originality of the entire enterprise. This book is the crowning achievement of a life's work.”—Daniel Johnson, The Critic“More comprehensive and detailed than any previous work devoted to this subject, David Ekserdjian’s The Italian Renaissance Altarpiece: Between Icon and Narrative both provides an authoritative history of altarpieces in Italy up to c.1600 and addresses fundamental questions about the nature of religious art in this period.”—Nicholas Penny, The Burlington MagazineCHOICE Outstanding Academic Title 2022