Christmas art books | 2 December 2006

The seemingly unstoppable rise of the exhibition catalogue happily does not mean that nothing else gets published, and my selection of glossy delights to drive away the Boxing Day blues has more than its fair share of goodies that were not born in museums. The Royal Tombs of Egypt by Zahi Hawass (Thames & Hudson, £39.95) is a spectacular case in point, which not only contains numerous gorgeous photographs of the paintings and carvings within them, but also some remarkable six-page fold-outs. Hawass is above all concerned with the subject-matter and meaning of these decorations, which were based upon such texts as the Book of the Dead, and proves to be an exemplary guide to their intricate iconography.

Bellini, Giorgione, Titian, and the Renaissance of Venetian Painting by David Alan Brown and Sylvia Ferino-Pagden (Yale, £40) is a Washington/Vienna co- production, but it does also serve as a lasting memorial to one of the great turning-points in the history of Western painting. Better yet, it balances its consideration of the giants of its title by paying appropriate attention to such fascinating lesser figures as Giovanni Agostino da Lodi and Giovanni Gerolamo Savoldo at their very best.

Still in the Serenissima, Palladio’s Venice by Tracy E. Cooper (Yale, £45) examines the relationship between the most influential of all architects and the most beautiful of cities in a highly novel way. While doing justice to the familiar landmarks — principally San Giorgio Maggiore and the Redentore — the author also engages in authoritative and absorbing burrowing into the near-misses and might-have-beens. It is a spooky thought that Palladio wanted to replace the Doge’s Palace with a new design in the wake of a disastrous fire in 1577, but in most instances the dead ends are a source of regret, not relief.

Rembrandt is one of the only old masters who seemingly cannot be studied to death, and not just because of the endless wrangling about the dividing-line between his oeuvre and the productions of his pupils.