New, extensively annotated and lavishly illustrated edition of the most important Italian art historical source before Giorgio Vasari's Lives (1550), with a transcription faithful to the original manuscript, a state of the art Introduction and a proposal to identify the author.

This book offers a new edition of one of the most important art historical sources on Italian art. Written not long before Vasari's famous Lives (1550), this source provides an overview of art from Cimabue to Michelangelo. Moreover, the author's ambition was to provide a sketch of the art of classical antiquity. First published in the late nineteenth century, the Codex has led to numerous questions, the main one being: who was its author? We believe we have found the answer to this question, which led us to come up with a new edition of the Codex.

This book opens a new window to understanding the important role music played in the Renaissance. It was a means of popular and court entertainment and a tool for displaying the magnificence and power achieved by the lords of the time. Leonardo da Vinci, despite not being very well known for this skill, was one of the most famous improvisers and performers of the lira da braccio. However, his multifaceted scientific and technological knowledge pushed him far beyond the limit of being a good performer; his codices contain reflections on music, studies on the origin of the sound, and an extraordinary catalogue of new musical instruments. The book highlights the fact that Leonardo's profound knowledge of the workings of machines and natural phenomena was the starting point in foreshadowing many of the innovations that would be introduced after his death. This book will be of interest to academics and students in fields such as music, engineering and the arts.

In 1505, Michelangelo began planning the magnificent tomb for Pope Julius II, which would dominate the next forty years of his career. Repeated failures to complete the monument were characterized by Condivi, Michelangelo’s authorized biographer, as “the tragedy of the tomb.” This definitive book thoroughly documents the art of the tomb and each stage of its complicated evolution. Authored by Christoph Luitpold Frommel, who also acted as the lead consultant on the recent restoration campaign, this volume offers new post-restoration photography that reveals the beauty of the tomb overall, its individual statues, and its myriad details. This book traces Michelangelo’s stylistic development; documents the dialogue between the artist and his great friend and exacting patron Pope Julius II; unravels the complicated relationship between the master and his assistants, who executed large parts of the design; and sheds new light on the importance of Neo-Platonism in Michelangelo’s thinking. A rich trove of documents in the original Latin and archaic Italian relates the story through letters, contracts, and other records covering Michelangelo’s travels, purchase of the marble, and concerns that arose as work progressed. The book also catalogues fifteen sculptures designed for the tomb and more than eighty related drawings, as well as an extensive and up-to-date bibliography.

Online ed. provides access to the entire 45,000-plus articles of Grove's Dictionary of art (1996, 34 vols.) with constant additions of new material and updates to the text, plus extensive image links.

Published in conjunction with an exhibition held at the Bode-Museum, Berlin, Aug. 25-Nov. 20, 2011, and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Dec. 21, 2011-Mar. 18, 2012.