The Flemish Primitives ─ Anonymous Masters

In the 5th and final volume of the series, 16 paintings are described using the same full technical and stylistic analysis of previous volumes. The paintings are of different religious subjects (they are grouped together only because they're all by anonymous artists), with the celebrated Scenes from the Life of the Virgin and the Last Judgment receiving especially lengthy discussion. Typical of this publisher, the volume is beautifully printed and bound (it's also oversized, at 8.5x11.75"), and illustrated with b&w and color plates of outstanding quality. In addition to the full discussion of style, provenance, and iconography, the chapters provide very thorough discussion of the technical analysis applied to each work. The volume includes a bibliography, but is not indexed. It is distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co. Annotation c2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)