Carl Brandon Strehlke. Italian Paintings, 1250-1450. John G …

Short Description
Italian Paintings, 1250-1450. John G. Johnson Collection and the. Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art: Pennsylvania State …

Website: www.heliotropia.org | Filesize: 30kb

Content
Heliotropia 3.1-2 (2005-06) http://www.heliotropia.org
http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/heliotropia/03-0102/laberge.shtml
Carl Brandon Strehlke. Italian Paintings, 1250-1450. John G. Johnson Collection and the
Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art: Pennsylvania State
University Press, 2004, Pp. xi + 556.
This weighty museum catalog illustrates the famous collection of John Graver Johnson
(1841-1917), an important American lawyer (who twice turned down appointments to the
US Supreme Court) and graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. The donation, housed
at the Philadelphia Museum of Art since shortly after Johnson’s death, formed the nucleus of
the Museum’s initial holdings and comprises 1279 objects, including 469 Italian paintings.
This impressive book focuses mainly on the Italian paintings from the medieval and early
Renaissance periods (pp. 1-19). Most subjects are religious, including many versions of representations
of the Virgin, Saints, and scenes from the Bible. There is roughly one reproduction
on each page. Most of these are in black and white in a small format, although many are
almost full-page and in color.
The opening section includes a historical essay about how John G. Johnson assembled…