Renaissance Intarsia, edited by Luca Trevisan
Abbeville Press , 2012.
$95.00; 256 pp.
We have picked our winner: madjack01 is the lucky one.
This is some book! It is big and heavy and filled with over 200 color photographs. Renaissance Intarsia follows the evolution of the so-called “minor art” that flourished during the Italian Renaissance with essays and photos. The intarsia (or wood inlay) of this time displayed the newly developed technique to depict linear perspective and often showed cityscapes viewed through an archway or the illusion of an open cabinet filled with liturgical or scholarly equipment. The craftsmanship is amazing and this book is a beautiful tribute to it.
Lucky madjack01 is the winner. His comment was chosen at random.
Be sure to check back again soon for more giveaways.
Comments
When I was in Italy I had the opportunity to see a lot of intarsia both with wood and other materials. The Vatican had several tables on display and they were perfect. Some of the pieces had to be no larger than 1/32 of an inch.
I think the idea of these techniques developing from primitive to advanced is overstated. Indeed there is development but a lot of what we see is the "style" of the era. The Roman Statuary show wonderful perspective whereas the period illustrations are flat; one might say stylized. Perhaps this is the desired style of the community. Fashion in art causes us to go OOOH over ridiculous things (e.g - paint splashed on a canvas that people "admire" for its aesthetic -gag). Unless people are fundamentally different now (please be real) the art community strives to create novelty and the consumer pays for what they want. In the renaissance era this comes out as intarsia.
I spent a year in Italy when I was 7 years old, and I think walking around and going to the market with my parents and seeing the architecture and museums as part of daily help instil some appreciation of craftsmanship and aesthetics.
I would love to add this to my collection!
Sounds like an interesting book.
This is wonderful craftsmanship and this book will wind up in my library one way or another. It'd be great to this style make a comeback.
Looks interesting. I can't say that I've ever read a book review in FWW mag.....might not be a bad addition to the general line of the product. I know you promote Taunton products (which is understandable) but a review of the give aways would be an easy thing, or really any books the staff would recommend.
Thanks for the chance to play.
~Alan
I would love to check out this book. Looks very interesting.
I retired about 18 months ago and began to fulfill my interest in wood working. Everyday has been full of learning from building furniture to making wall art. Learning about intarsia would open up another area for me.
I would love to see the images in this book. Count me in!
Thanks for the oppertunity
Looks like a great value, and would be an asset to any library.
Love it!
I want it; I want it; I drool. Sigh ...
Maybe this will inspire me to create my own masterpiece.
I have just spent two weeks viewing Renaissance art in Italy and France. This would be a great end to my trip. Thanks for the chance to win this book.
I have just spent two weeks viewing Renaissance art in Italy and France. This would be a great end to my trip. Thanks for the chance to win this book.
The Italian woodworking craftmen are amazing. While vacationing there, I was able to see many very fine examples of their work. I in Sorrento Italy I bought a large inlay music box. The birds in the gulls in the sky almost look like pencil lines but are very tiny slivers of shaped walnut. Excellent craftsmenship. A book like this will help any woodworker (or anyone else) marvel at their skill.
Amore
Italians have art running in their blood. The book seems fantastic.
Nothing like learning from the best!
I wonder how intarsia techniques may have been informed by working with stained glass (and vice versa). Does anyone have any comments on that?
I think books like that frustrate the heck out of me, I'm no where near that tallented ( or ever will be ) and yet for some reason I continue in this trade, glutton for punnishment I guess. Still bring on the ulsers !
Looks like a beautiful book that you wouldn't ever get tired of looking at. I'd love to peek inside!! Thank you for the opportunity!
At 76 years "young", am finally (maybe) going to get a chance to work with something like this. Would really love to get the book for further inspiration.
random winner. Awesome, I have to say nothing intelligent at this point. :)
I'm going to retire soon and would to try intarsia. It looks hard.
It's books like this that inspire our inner creativity! I would love to win this book!
I like making intarsia projects this looks like it could be a new challenge.
My local library is limited when trying to learn about woodworking history or even art history and period furniture. I'd like to get my hands on this book.
Many of my WW friends would never say, out loud, "Yes down in my garage I am carrying on the work of the greatest artists of all time." The folks that I know and work with are all too humble and too modest to say that OUT LOUD or even, in most cases, to think it. BUT, somewhere inside each of us, just like with frustrated novelists, their lives the dream of the Magnum Opus...that ONE GRAND PROJECT-our one grand gesture-our Gary Cooper moment of WW...books like this one allow us the private dream of making that ONE GREAT PROJECT, that will live on long after we are all done making sawdust. Even if some of us DO NOT get to complete that ONE GREATEST PROJECT-"A MAN'S REACH MUST EXCEED HIS GRASP OR WHAT ELSE IS A HEAVEN FOR..." Great book & even better reason to have such a great book! I have had experiences with WWs (both those who are much better and much worse than I) where we both get that smile and that moment of recognition that we are bound by a common ambition to do that ONE GREAT PROJECT and then of course go on and die with a WW TOOL in our hands so we live forever in WW Valhalla, WW all day and telling WW stories all night aided by the WW Valkyries...yeah that’s the ticket!
I think of intarsia as three dimensional (relief) marquetry.
I have always loved this art form and would like to try it.
After reading Garrett Hack's book "The Hand Plane Book" my woodworking went to another level. Could reading "Renaissance Intarsia" do this for me again? I would hope so.
I really enjoy looking at materials and techniques from the past and attempting to add them to my projects.
What a beautiful art form! Would really like to own this book. I really enjoy all of the tips and tricks you make available online and in the magazine.
Love working with wood and have done some intarsia before but this book would help expand my education and try some new creations.
I want to go to there.
Hopefully after winning this book I can too make a time honored intarsia.
I hadn't thought of using intarsia for buildings.
I was faced with the problem of filling numerous holes in white oak flooring in my living room and dining room. Five doctors had divided these two rooms into examining rooms and installed sink drains and H&C pipes in the middle of the once beautiful oak floors. After removing the sinks and partitions, I inlaid wood replicas of four species of oak leaves in various autumn leaf colors. I replicated the leaf veins with a sharp wood burning tool.
Real intarsia will be my opportunity to come up to the next level of craftsmanship.
Would like to win it.
Wow, who would have thought.
Looks like an interesting book!
When it comes to woodworking, everything captures my
Attention, when you love wood, the smell of wood the
Feel of it, you have this strong desire to want to try other
Areas of the field, and I been looking into intarsia for a while
and this would be a great way of introducing myself to it.
If I win this book
Thank you for giving a coy of this book away. I'd really like to see it and I am very sure someone will enjoy this historical book from the Italian craftsmen.
How do you say ciao as a Swede?
Best,
Hope I win! Thanks for the chance.
This book would be a lovely addition to my library. Thanks for doing this.
This sounds like a great book and I'm sure I could learn a lot from it. Thanks for the chance to win it.
Would love to have this book.
Add my name
I have made some intarsia of some of our local buildings, this book would help me to expand my knowledge of intarsia construction. Intarsia is a fun, rewarding & relaxing hobby.
Schweeeet! Love to own a copy of this puppy. I'm a historian with a love of good and useful tomes. Can't wait.
always,
I'm in thanks for the chance to win.
I would love to own such a beautiful book on a wonderful art form.
Would love a copy of this book!
I wood like to lern alot more about intarsia and this book wood be the perfect start.
I want this book!! Bergamo's church showed me my first sight of this incredible art form.
Nice.
Very challenging technique. I would love to have this book. Silas Kopf, a longtime FWW contributor, has a book on marquetry, a related technique, that is amazing.
I would love a copy of this book. I have admired and done intarsia for years and have some pieces in some nice places. I do some of my own design along with some pattern stuff offered up by two or three great artists.
I've dome some pretty intricate ones but nothing quite like the ones I saw while in Europe. I was very young then and didn't know I'd someday do similar work. But...I'd love to see where I can take the artform.
Another reason I'd love the book is I pride myself on having a very nice woodworking library along with other technical manuals. I plan on leaving my entire shop and collection of books to my grandson who cherishes hard-cover books as I do. My library books do not just take up space. I don't put anything in there I wouldn't use and this would be a very nice addition. I'd be certain to put it to use. and assure it's future.
Intarsia is such an over-the-top use of wood. The book looks interesting.
I can't wait to read this book.
renaissance was the first - yet less known - apogee of intarsia work, with some very sophisticated tricks. I wonder if in this great book (that I've been looking for a long time) the story is told, for example, of the wood stained green by infection with the fungus Chlorociboria aeruginosa? Renaissance intarsia no doubt laid the bases for everything made by means of this technique ever after.
Looks like a great book. I have done marquetry but never tried intarsia. It would be nice to try
Anything that extends my knowledge base would be appreciated.
Intarsia is such a unique form of art!
I would love to learn how.
just what I need to get started on that Roentgen writing desk project i've been putting off . . .
Most of the intarsia I've seen has been on the folk-art/craft level. It never occurred to me that, like inlay work, there would have been a high-art equivalent. I'm fascinated!
Inlay is precise work. Intarsia can take that to the extreme. It is fascinating and beautiful.
i dont think i could spell the title of this book but I still want it.
Would love to have this book! Hope I win.
I love intracate wood inlays, particulatly on musical instruments.
I have a large woodworking library and this would be a wonderful addition
Would be a nice addition to my library and maybe then I would finally get around to doing something I have always wanted to try.
The Italian Renaissance represents one of the finest periods in furniture building. Combining fine craftsmanship with artistry of the highest order produced treasures in wood that have stood the test of time and remain a testament to the craftsmen who created these fine pieces. Fine art and craftsmanship never go out of style.
I love books that show the beauty of using wood and woodworking as thet are inspiring. I would love to own this book!
What a great book, I would love to learn more about the art of intarsia.
Artworks of rendering in wood.
I have seen similar publications that are not anywhere near the detail that this book promises
seems like a good read
Looks interesting. Can't wait to read it
I bought my first intarsia in Dubrovnik 38 years ago (a picture of the 16th century stone bridge in Mostar-before it was destroyed and rebuilt) and have been a collector ever since, with pieces from France, Germany, Italy, England and Russia. A most memorable treat was visiting the Intarsia museum in Sorrento Italy--a must see if you are in the area. Sorrento is like a candy store for those who appreciate these works, and the cathedral interior and its main doors are crown jewels of more recent work.
Looks like a good book to add to my collection.
I love the Renaissance Era. The rich textures, beautiful lines, and timeless exquisiteness of the material
i want it!
There's nothing "minor" at all about this "art!" Would be a very interesting and enlightening read.
Since I am a beginner in wood working I think it would be very interesting in learning the difference in techniques used during the Renaissance as compared to today. I have worked with that other wood material for more than 30 years and have found a lot of similarities as well as differences.
I'd like the chance to own this book. Always wanted to try this kind of stuff.
If the cover is any indication, this book will be a great inspiration to anyone interested in trying intarsia
This would be a perfect companion to my collection of marquetry books capped so far by the series by Pierre Ramond.
I have been studying Intarsia and preparing my shop for starting with more basic designs. Studying "Intarsia & Marquetry" , 1903, by F. Hamilton Jackson, and reviewing current strategies & techniques for Intarsia using my woodworking skills has caught my attention and interest. I would love to have "Renaissance Intarsia" for my library and promise a great review of it.
I was recently shown a picture of some middle age veneer-inlay work and I was very impressed. I´ll throw my name into the hat. :)
It sounds like this would be a wonderful way to get acquainted with, and to learn about using Intarsia as a great addition to my woodworking skills.
I need the help!
I need the help!
Put my name in the hat.
A great period in history to learn from & maintain its mastery in a time when such skills are disappearing.
Very interesting book . Love to have it. Count me in.
Another great book that Fine Woodworking is giving away. I would love to have this book!
this book looks interesting
This book looks interesting
I'm not sure I can handle the intricacies of Intarsia love to learn more about it.
Iam elated about a new book about Intarsia. The hope is, there was a large production run. So many times a book run is very small and by the time you find out the book is great ,they are not available.
I have started using inlay in my furniture. Can always use more insight into building pictures in wood.
Would love to have this book to add to my collection, Our church was burned by arsonist, a couple years ago, Luthern church over 100 years old out in the country, what a lost, now i would love to make something for the new church that will open May 1 2013 approx. Yes I wont have it done by then but with in the next year.
I would love to win this book. I am of Ukrainian descent and this type of art is common in our faith. I am a novice wood worker and would like to learn this art to create a niche for my self and culture.
would love to add this to my library
I am very much interested in this subject and this would be a great book to have to learn more about it as done in its' heyday.
tman814
I would enjoy the chance to read it. I don't "collect" woodworking books, but I do learn from them. There are no woodworking groups in my area, so I am very dependent on reading books on the subject. Last year I did an Intarsia bear that is a really cute pattern.
Thank you for the chance to win such an outstanding book!
I have thoroughly enjoyed intarsia articles in past FWW. Thanks for the inspiration, and a chance to win this book.
I am really enjoying woodworking and this has me curious as to these great designs. I would read and study these designs and see what they might stir in my imagination to come up with, that I might add to my own woodworking choices.
Thanks for the opportunity to win a book.
very good book.
This subject is something I am looking to pursue. Hope I win.
This would be a great addition to any coffee table collection!!
I would be honored to receive this book.
We have before us a work truly important and indispensable, all dedicated to art of marquetry inlay or certainly, as I have this book on their shelves and recommend to your friends and clients
Judging by the cover the book will be a great inspiration to anyone interested in trying Ontarians.
I'm hoping a book such as this will inspire me to get back into the workshop and try this amazing technique.
This seems like an interesting resource in an area that I have been wanting to learn more about.
I'll throw my hat in the ring. Here's wishing everyone luck.
Cheers
John
Good intarsia has always seemed like magic to me. Would love to win this one.
In an era when everything seems to be automated (CNC for example), it would be valuable to have a resource showing the grand masters of inlay and what styles and artistic concepts lasted through the ages.
Pete
I'd love to see this artful book.
Seems like a heavy book. I've started building the shelf.
What a book idea! It combines two of my loves: Renaissance art and woodworking. Sign me up!
Excellent book drawing!
I would like to be included in the drawing for this book.
Thank you for this opportunity.
Would love to read this book & then, using my DeWalt 788, cut some intarsia.
Great looking book. Being first generation italian and having been to Italy, I can relate to the photos in ths book. Being a woodworker, I was always fasinated with the 3-D illusions created by the masters of this true art form.
That would be a great book to have!
Very cool. Count me in, thanks.
Sounds like a great book, thanks.
The timing of this offer couldn't be better as the Cardinals of the Catholic Church gather in Rome to choose a new Pope! Maybe Benedict is looking for a hobby now! ;>)
Would love to go through this one! Thanks for the opportunity!
Intarsia,,,where history and fine woodworking come together. This book seems to provide both.
As an architect who studied Renaissance design in Rome, and a self-proclaimed woodworker (wannabe), I need to see this book in person! Thanks for the opportunity. Cheers.
The French and the Italians were fierce rivals in producing the finest, most detailed, and expensive works for their royalty. In fact, the French chevalet was a State secret in the 1700s. The French marquetry techniques are well documented in a wonderful book by Pierre Ramond. I have used this book as both an instruction guide as well as a coffee table book (which is admired by all of our visitors). I would love to add the 'Renaissance Intarsia' volume to create a collection (albeit only a collection of two)!
Thanks for the chance to win.
I'd love to own this book. I would really like to study it.
Very Nice. Looks like an interesting read.
Looks like this would be a fun book to read and use.
I would really like this, but it is over my poor budget, so put me in
New tricks to learn. Yes!
I am beginning to work with inlay so please add my name for a chance to win this book.
Patricia
Looks like a great book. Would love to have it!
another chance to win, here is my entry.
I. NEED. This book. Enter me!
Thanks for the opportunity to win this nice book
Enter me please
Awesome mass of information for the budding intarsia hobbyist, Me !!!!
Always wanted to try intarsia so please let me win!! Thanks
One has only to visit the Metropolitan Museum in New York and see the Studiolo from Gubbio to be both awed and inspired. I would expect a similar experience from this book. Sounds like a "must have" for any serious marquetarians.
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