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What our customer's say!

"THIS BOOK IS BEAUTIFUL", I purchased this book for myself after finding Amazon's price to be the best deal out there. It is beautiful and thorough. Sister Wendy covers every major time period with overviews of the most significant artists while including comments and close up studies of specific works. This book could easily be an art course in itself- it is comprehensive and the illustrations are just what you would expect of a DK book- beautiful and with accurate, vivid color. Sister Wendy writes in a readable layperson's style; you need not be an art student to enjoy this book. It is easily my favorite buy of the year- you will LOVE this book!

"What awful reproductions!!!", The first purpose of an artbook is usually to showcase fine art with high quality reproductions. This book certainly packs in ample artwork, well supported by Sister Wendy's colourful commentary. However the image quality is horrendous, with a vast proportion of the reproductions being badly pixelated or blurred.If you like Sister Wendy, then buy her other books. This one is so sloppy that it is disrespectful to the artworks and is to be avoided.

"Can't fail to please!", A 1¼ inch thick book with about 400 pages and more than 450 color illustrations of the most significant works of art in Western history can hardly fail to please anyone with an interest in art history. In Sister Wendy's Story of Painting, Sister Wendy provides an intellectual and somewhat passionate discussion on major art movements and sensitive analysis and interpretation of more than thirty paintings she showcases in the book. Enlargements of particular areas of these paintings are used to analyze techniques and identify symbolism. In the absence of ancient paintings that have survived, Sister Wendy uses other forms of art such as sculptures, friezes, tapestries and mosaics to illustrate the subject, composition, style and proportions used in paintings of that era. She treats all styles of art with equal reverence. Shortcomings in this book are few. Illustrated timelines that appear before each major section of the book could be improved by the addition of other historical milestones to help the reader achieve a better perspective. I would prefer less commentary about numerous paintings of a single artist and instead, more information on the cultural and political influences that shaped the development of painting. I would prefer less coverage of obscure artists such as the Nabis in favor of more on Victorian art and Art Nouveau. And I would wish for a more eloquent conclusion to the book. But the thing that was most lacking to me is a discussion on paint! Nowhere is the development of paint as a medium discussed with any depth. These aforementioned shortcomings, however, pale in comparison to what Sister Wendy has accomplished in her book -- the creation of a comprehensive and scholarly source of information on the history of painting that neither the newcomer nor the expert could fail to enjoy.

"Nun of that, now...", How bizarre...
...and yet, how wonderful. Who would have ever thought that a nun going through the museum would have (a) been interesting, (b) been publishable, (c) been television-worthy, or (d) been within the realm of credible imaginings? And yet, here is the proof, on my coffee table. Sister Wendy's smiling face, next to a scowling Vincent, greets me each day with my morning cocoa.

This is a book to be savoured. It cannot, like the morning cocoa, be rushed and enjoyed. This must take time. Not because the text is dense or confusing--indeed, it is not. It is lively, witty, historical, accessible, all that one could want in a book on art.

But, mostly, it is exquisitely visual in layout. Everything is photographed and reproduced in stunning colour and low-gloss format to make the pages vibrant and durable yet easily seen. Care has gone into the production of this volume. None of the art is reduced to black and white, but rather presented in glorious colour. With over 800 images in under 400 pages, this is a feast for the eyes. Each page is dominated by art, not text. That makes for slow moving, like reading a museum.

Sister Wendy Beckett takes us on an historical tour of painting (in the European theatre of history), beginning with prehistoric cave-art and drawings, leading up to modern and post-modern artists.

She takes representative pieces, such as the Bosch painting of Death and the Miser to illustrate points of colour, detail, composition, and story. Some paintings have complex stories (such as this one), others have simple composition (such as the 'innocently disadvantaged' Mona Lisa) which give endless speculation as to the meaning.

Sister Wendy explores each era of artistic history, listed below in broad categories (there are several subcategories of each), giving history and philosophy as well as major and representative minor works, explaining in detail at least one or two works for each, concentrating on painting, but also bringing in as relevant sculpture, stained glass, architecture, and other artistic media.

+ Art of the Ancient World
+ Gothic Painting
+ Italian Renaissance
+ Northern Renaissance
+ Baroque and Rococo
+ Neoclassicism and Romanticism
+ The Age of Impressionism
+ Post-Impressionism
+ The Twentieth Century

Sister Wendy does an admirable job at not concentrating exclusively on religious and Christian art (for being a nun), however, given the history of art in Europe, this is a major theme in its own right.

The Epilogue, says Sister Wendy, 'is both an afterword and a foreword: hundreds and thousands of artists come after the disappearance of the 'story line' into the maze of contemporary artistic experience and these same artists may of course, be the forerunners of a new story.' In concluding her volume, she highlights the paintings of Robert Natkin, Joan Mitchell and Albert Herbert, the art of each she hopes will endure.



"Wonderful, quality photos", I am very excited about using this book to study art with my children. The photos are top quality, showing close ups of interesting details in the paintings. I have a collection of art books, but this is by far the best. Worth every penny!

Read this reviews before You buy...

"Sister Wendy's signature style + Lush artwork = Great Book", The expanded version of "The Story of Painting" features an exponentially larger selection of artwork and commentary from Sister Wendy; both being a plus that benefits the reader.

This is not a dry, scholarly work, and I suspect the author would not desire it to be viewed that way anyway. What "The Story of Painting" brings to the reader is a very approachable style of writing and some of the most lush artwork you will see in any book on this subject. I was particularly surprised to see many works that I had never seen in any other book of this kind. Some were a revelation (like Tintorretto's "The Last Supper"), while others allowed - via the detailed closeups featured in the book - a closer inspection of brushstrokes and technique not normally covered in other historical painting overviews.

"The Story of Painting" begins with short section covering works before the medieval era, mostly Greek, Roman, and Etruscan, then kicks into high gear before ending with the 20th Century. This concluding section is one of the weaker parts of the book, but I think it can be argued that the latter half of that time period has not produced many of the glorious works featured in other parts of the book. Too much time deconstructing art and not enough making soul-stirring paintings, I suppose.

As with any Sister Wendy art book, you get the sage, grandmotherly insights into the works from a woman who deeply enjoys art. Other books impart a barrier between the works, the critical evaluation of them by the author, and the reader. Sister Wendy smashes that piece of artifice and seeks to draw people into the works themselves, not to critique them and simply move on to the next, but to give life to each work. She does this admirably, in my opinion. From time to time she does take more time to dissect a piece and look at it elements apart from the work as a whole, and in each evaluation she lends her knowledge of iconography and symbolism to help the reader fully understand the painter's intent. Very helpful. When compared with other art books, it becomes even more rare as it also might be one of the few books of its kind that would work well as a primer for parents sitting down with children to examine the works together.

Lastly, the book itself is classic Dorling Kindersley: bright, white, glossy paper; easy to read, well-spaced typesetting; beautiful and large illustrations; helpful sidebars; and just an overall feel of quality. It's quite hard to find fault with the book. And as an expanded version of the original, it works faultlessly. This hefty tome practically defines the phrase "coffee table book". At 736 pages in length, its sheer heft would make it a fine weapon against your least favorite sneering, art critic!

Highly recommended.

"An amazing work of art -- and teaching art", The first time I came across Wendy Becket's "The Story of Painting", I was taking some History of the Art classes and I thought this book would be very useful for my lessons. I was completely wrong. It was not only useful for my course but also for my everyday life as an art enthusiast.

Now, three years and much more experience later I still have this book at hand because I always want to check something about a painter or a work. Her stile is unique and easy. Although the book is chronological developed, one can pick a picture at randon and read and learn about it. It deals with the whole history of painting since the primitive humans to the late 20th century artists. It is packed with beautiful colourful paintings that are a refresh for the eyes - some readers may find funny what I said hence the fact I am writing about a of about art, but I myself have some art history books in which most pictures are black & white, what can be very frustating.

In the begining of every section, there's a very complete timeline showing historical and artitics events of each era. And in every single page there are some margin notes about any relevant point related to the main picture such as times, characters, literature... But the most important thing, to me, is the study of the paintings. They are very detailed and easy to understand even for those who always complian not understanding art. Evey tecnical term that the writer uses is explained in an easy way.

It seems to me that the only thing that this book misses out is sculpture. But it is not actually a problem, once the book is about painting. I feel that after reading and studying most of this book - I haven't read everything yet- I've never looked to a painting as I did before. Now I know how to analyze and really enjoy it. I highly recomend this book for those who when contemplating a painting can only say " OH! That's beatiful!",because everybody says so. This book will give you background to say why a painter is good or not.

"I just love Sister Wendy!", This book sells itself, of course, with the beautiful paintings from throughout history. But I have just a couple of problems with it: First, I question the choices of some of the art in the book. Or should I say not in the book. Of course, they couldn't put in every painting ever done, but I think there are some too-obviously missing pieces. Second, I miss Sister Wendy's warm humor. The material seemed clipped, as if the editor just crossed out everything funny, just to shorten the material. Well, not everything -- some of it managed to find its way in. On both of these counts, I must say I would rather have had two volumes and included more paintings and more of her commentary. This one is just not enough. But still, if you were brought up to admire fine art, as I was, you will LOVE sitting down with this book.

.

"Wonderful!", This book has brought life to painting and the history of art for my 10 year old daughter. She has looked at other art books before, but has never paid too much attention to the explanations written in the text. This book has held her attention, it is different from others because Sister Wendy gives such vivid descriptions of the artists and especially of their paintings. I am thoroughly enjoying reading this book with my daughter. There are some nude pictures in it, as another reviewer mentioned; nevertheless, they are in good taste and beautiful. Sister Wendy gets 5 stars from our family!

"Incomparable Visual Presentation", After re-reading The Story of Painting up to the Mannerist period, I read History of Art, by A. W. Janson, up until the same time. I found both experiences wonderful.

Glancing back at The Story of Painting, the incomparable visual presentation was dramatically apparant. I have been wondering ever since if Sister Wendy Beckett arranged for some of her profits to be plowed back into high quality paper and extra large details that you find throughout the book.

I also appreciate the time she takes to closely analyze some of the paintings. In the History of Art, there are many references to the necessity to be brief. Sister Wendy takes the time to look in depth at key paintings.

In regards to a former review where it said that Sister Wendy knows nothing about art, I would be interested in a few solid examples of her ignorance. She certainly delights me with her presentations and has motivated me to further study.

If you are a Sister Wendy Beckett fan, I would encourage you to get a copy of the VCR-taped interview with Bill Moyers. I find her depth and insight an inspiration and Bill Moyers is a most excellent interviewer. I wish they would do it with a few more topics, such as English Literature and European History.