Product Description

For thousands of years, art has interpreted the experience of war—its methods, human costs, and moral ambiguities—and has offered historians a wealth of testimony that is only beginning to be systematically explored. In this wide-ranging study, Peter Paret discusses forty-seven paintings and prints as complex documents of war in Europe since the Renaissance and as examples of the artist's use of war as a metaphor for the human condition.

The images include works by such major artists as Uccello, Géricault, and Dix as well as academic history paintings and popular prints. By setting each in its historical environment and analyzing it from the perspective of the wars of its time, illuminates the place of war in Western consciousness and expands our understanding of works that are too often approached with little concern for the reality they depict or symbolically transform. Perhaps the most significant of the themes he traces over five centuries is the gradual change from the prince or general to the common soldier and civilian victim as central figures in the interpretation of war in art.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #790688 in Books
• Published on: 1997-09-15
• Released on: 1997-08-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 144 pages

From Library Journal
This is a fascinating study of how art can be a source for the study of various aspects of war?its prosecution, its effects, and its impact on morality. Society has indeed continually attempted to come to terms with war within the context of religion and social behavior, and art is now seen as important evidence of these efforts. In this volume Paret (Persuasive Images, Princeton Univ., 1992) examines 47 paintings and prints as sources for war in Western society since the Renaissance. The author sets each work of art in its historical context, thereby exposing the place of war in the thought of the time. Each then becomes more than a work of art; it is evidence of outlook and feeling. It is interesting to note the themes that recur in the depiction of war, and then the changing emphasis of artists as society changes. The author supports his conclusions with full citations. This well-illustrated and -written volume should be included in every academic art library.?Martin Chasin, Adult Inst., Bridgeport, Ct.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
One of the effects of a good book is that it leaves you longing for more and thinking of how its lessons might be applied in other fields. I am left thinking especially about maritime warfare, scarcely noticed in Imagined Battles, and about Eastern Europe and Russia. Another effect of a good book can be some sort of gratitude. Peter Paret's critical judgments will not be to everyone's liking, but he is surely to be thanked for rescuing the "images of war" genre from its generally mindless status and for instructing us on how to incorporate the representation of war into our most serious reflections on that dreadful, fascinating and seemingly inescapable aspect of our human condition. -- Los Angeles Times Sunday Book Review, Geoffrey Best

Review
Paret•s book is brief and clearly written. It is a wonderful example of the writing of cultural history.

Canadian Journal of History

Paret's social, political, and military allusions are equally broad and represent one of the great strengths of the work.

Journal of Military History

A fascinating study of how art can be a source for the study of various aspects of war.

Library Journal

This is a highly innovative book.

George L. Mosse, University of Wisconsin-Madison

This clearly written, concise book will interest a broad spectrum of historians of the early-modern and modern periods.

Jonathan Brown, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University