Memlinc

Weale, W. H. James (William Henry James), 1832-191Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.5

Word count: 65K words
Chapters: 7

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Memlinc by J. Cyril M. Weale and W. H. James WealeAuthor: Weale, W. H. James (William Henry James), 1832-1917,Language: English, Class: ND: Fine Arts: Painting, Release Date: Jun 4, 2013

Editor's review

This is a specialized art monograph on the Early Netherlandish painter Memlinc, co-authored by J. Cyril M. Weale and W. H. James Weale and belonging to the literature of fine art. Its value lies in its relatively systematic introduction to Memlinc's artistic profile, helping readers understand this painter's place within the fifteenth-century Netherlandish painting tradition. The discussion of works, style, and related background makes it suitable as supplementary material for art history study, and also for readers interested in Northern Renaissance painting to follow up on specific works. Because it was written quite early, its prose and scholarly conventions bear the marks of its time; readers should not rely on it as the latest research but should regard it as a topical reader of documentary value. Reading it alongside catalogues or museum collection materials yields better results. For readers who want to understand Memlinc and his art but are not satisfied with encyclopedia-entry-level introductions, this book offers a relatively concentrated narrative thread; for readers needing a contemporary scholarly overview, more recent research literature will be required.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in Netherlandish painting and Northern Renaissance art
Students needing specialized material to supplement art history coursework
Art lovers who enjoy reading alongside catalogues and museum collections
Entry-level researchers wanting to understand Memlinc's artistic profile

Not a good fit for

Specialist scholars expecting the latest academic findings and contemporary research overviews
Readers entirely unfamiliar with Western classical painting and without images for reference
Those who only want light, picture-book-style visual volumes and are unwilling to read textual discussion

Reading tips

First locate images of Memlinc's representative works and read the relevant chapters while looking at the paintings to build an intuitive impression.
Use it as supplementary reading for an art history course, taking brief chapter-by-chapter notes on works and stylistic points.
While reading, note the scholarly limitations imposed by the book's early date, and verify important conclusions against more recent literature.
Combine it with work descriptions on museum websites or in catalogues to deepen understanding of the book's arguments.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a complete biography of Memlinc?

According to the materials, this is a specialized art monograph on Memlinc, focused on introducing his art and the background of related works rather than being a complete biography in the strict sense. Readers should treat it as a topical art history reader, not expect it to be a life biography.

Can readers without an art history background understand it?

It is readable, but readers are advised to first learn the basic background of fifteenth-century Netherlandish painting and to read alongside images of the works. The book involves many specialized names and work details, so readers with no background at all may need introductory guides or encyclopedia entries for support.

Are the book's scholarly views outdated?

The book was written early, and its prose and research methods bear the characteristics of its time; it should not be used as the latest research conclusions. It still has documentary and topical reference value, however, and is suitable as a reader for understanding the shape of earlier research, with key questions checked against contemporary scholarship.

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About the author

Weale, W. H. James (William Henry James), 1832-191 Author · British · 1832–1917

W. H. James Weale (William Henry James Weale, 1832–1917) was a British art historian who lived for a long time in Belgium. He focused on Flemish painting and bookbinding, leaving solid documentary work in these fields. His representative work, Memlinc, deals with the early Netherlandish painter Hans Memling and reflects his close attention to, and careful examination of, the Flemish painting tradition. Because public information is limited, the details of his life are difficult to set out at length; yet his extant works and research interests suggest that his writing emphasized the arrangement of historical sources and the verification of works, and that his style was rigorous and restrained, serving art-historical scholarship rather than popular introduction. The library currently holds one of his works; though few, it offers a glimpse of how a British scholar of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries approached Flemish art.