What is Quality in Art?: A Meditation Based on European Paintings from the 15th to the 18th Centuries

This book explores the question of what makes a work of art good or high quality, using a deep knowledge of art history to provide objective tools for understanding. It invites readers to join a Socratic voyage of discovery.

Format: Hardback
Length: 144 pages
Publication date: 24 July 2024
Publisher: Cannibal/Hannibal Publishers

Throughout history, human beings have excelled at creating art of the highest quality. Aristotle wrote that Homer “surpassed all others” and Pliny the Elder referred to “masterpieces that we never tire of admiring”. Velázquez distinguished between portraits “made with art” and those that were not. What did they all mean exactly? What do we mean when we say that a work of art is good, of high quality? This book is an attempt to explain this central question, which remains surprisingly unexplored.

Alejandro Vergara-Sharp argues that “a deep knowledge of the history of art provides us with the tools to approach this issue objectively”. He then invites the reader to share with him a Socratic voyage of discovery, gradually unveiling arguments that can assist us in understanding this elusive and crucial concept.

Vergara approaches this question with the pace and attitude of a peripatetic thinker, making it a legitimate and necessary one. He reminds one of Montaigne or Stendhal, as there is something here that evokes a sense of both. The book is an attempt to explain this central question, which remains surprisingly unexplored. Vergara believes that a deep knowledge of the history of art provides us with the tools to approach this issue objectively.

He invites the reader to join him on a Socratic voyage of discovery, gradually unveiling arguments that can help us understand this elusive and crucial concept. The book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in art, culture, and the history of art.

Weight: 386g
Dimension: 146 x 217 x 22 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9789464941197