This expansive study of color illuminates the substance, context, and meaning of five centuries of European painting. Between the mid-15th and the mid-19th centuries, the materials of painting remained remarkably unchanged, but innovations in their use flourished. Technical discoveries facilitated new visual effects, political conditions prompted innovations, and economic changes shaped artists' strategies, especially as trade became global. Marcia...

"Michelangelo's Last Judgment was the most criticized and discussed painting of the sixteenth century. The subject of the Last Judgment has been a barometer throughout history of cultural mood. It can be interpreted, as Michelangelo did, as the moment when mortals attain eternal bliss or, in more unsettled times, as the terrifying moment when we face the justice of the Lord and are found wanting. This book explores the context, both historical and...