Author: Andy Brassell
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 139940279X
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 177
Book Description
SHORTLISTED FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2023 - ILLUSTRATED BOOK OF THE YEAR WATERSTONES BEST BOOKS OF 2022 – SPORT 'This book is a work of art about football's works of art... Loved it.' - Kevin Day, broadcaster 'A beautiful showcase of such a distinctive part of the game's culture... impossible not to get lost in the book' – Miguel Delaney, The Independent 'Gorgeous to behold... Unmissable' – Danny Kelly, TalkSPORT radio presenter 'I absolutely love this book' – Jules Breach, football presenter On high-rise buildings, street corners and stadium walls in countries around the world, eye-catching murals pay tribute to footballing greats. From Messi and Ronaldo to Rapinoe and Cruyff, these striking displays are remarkable testaments to the awe and affection fans feel for these football legends and cult heroes. Join renowned football writer and broadcaster Andy Brassell as he explores this fascinating phenomenon. Offering a fresh, highly visual perspective on the global game, Football Murals is the first book to celebrate these towering works of art. Beckenbauer and Cruyff, Rooney and Ronaldinho, Totti and Salah, Zlatan and Zidane – being honoured with a mural cements a player's place in a club's heritage and links them to the heart of the community. This richly illustrated book showcases the most impressive examples, explores their inspirational qualities and examines what they say about these icons and their sport. Written and curated by respected football writer Andy Brassell, this ground-breaking book features more than 100 murals from around the world, capturing the scale, grandeur and wit of this powerful and popular art form. Through a series of short essays and extended captions, Andy shares the players' stories, discusses the cultural politics and explains just why these men and women have been immortalised in mural form. Covering such diverse topics as Home Town Glory, Football Fame and The Cult of the Coach, Football Murals addresses the issues important to fans worldwide. It spans Marcus Rashford's inspirational mural in a Manchester suburb, the George Best tribute on the East Belfast estate where he was born, the 15-foot depiction of Megan Rapinoe in St Paul, Minnesota, and the Naples 'shrine' to Diego Maradona. 'I can't tell you how nice it is for players to see their face on a mural.' – Jermaine Jenas, The One Show
Football Murals: A Celebration of Soccer's Greatest Street Art
Author: Andy Brassell
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 139940279X
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 177
Book Description
SHORTLISTED FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2023 - ILLUSTRATED BOOK OF THE YEAR WATERSTONES BEST BOOKS OF 2022 – SPORT 'This book is a work of art about football's works of art... Loved it.' - Kevin Day, broadcaster 'A beautiful showcase of such a distinctive part of the game's culture... impossible not to get lost in the book' – Miguel Delaney, The Independent 'Gorgeous to behold... Unmissable' – Danny Kelly, TalkSPORT radio presenter 'I absolutely love this book' – Jules Breach, football presenter On high-rise buildings, street corners and stadium walls in countries around the world, eye-catching murals pay tribute to footballing greats. From Messi and Ronaldo to Rapinoe and Cruyff, these striking displays are remarkable testaments to the awe and affection fans feel for these football legends and cult heroes. Join renowned football writer and broadcaster Andy Brassell as he explores this fascinating phenomenon. Offering a fresh, highly visual perspective on the global game, Football Murals is the first book to celebrate these towering works of art. Beckenbauer and Cruyff, Rooney and Ronaldinho, Totti and Salah, Zlatan and Zidane – being honoured with a mural cements a player's place in a club's heritage and links them to the heart of the community. This richly illustrated book showcases the most impressive examples, explores their inspirational qualities and examines what they say about these icons and their sport. Written and curated by respected football writer Andy Brassell, this ground-breaking book features more than 100 murals from around the world, capturing the scale, grandeur and wit of this powerful and popular art form. Through a series of short essays and extended captions, Andy shares the players' stories, discusses the cultural politics and explains just why these men and women have been immortalised in mural form. Covering such diverse topics as Home Town Glory, Football Fame and The Cult of the Coach, Football Murals addresses the issues important to fans worldwide. It spans Marcus Rashford's inspirational mural in a Manchester suburb, the George Best tribute on the East Belfast estate where he was born, the 15-foot depiction of Megan Rapinoe in St Paul, Minnesota, and the Naples 'shrine' to Diego Maradona. 'I can't tell you how nice it is for players to see their face on a mural.' – Jermaine Jenas, The One Show
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 139940279X
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 177
Book Description
SHORTLISTED FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2023 - ILLUSTRATED BOOK OF THE YEAR WATERSTONES BEST BOOKS OF 2022 – SPORT 'This book is a work of art about football's works of art... Loved it.' - Kevin Day, broadcaster 'A beautiful showcase of such a distinctive part of the game's culture... impossible not to get lost in the book' – Miguel Delaney, The Independent 'Gorgeous to behold... Unmissable' – Danny Kelly, TalkSPORT radio presenter 'I absolutely love this book' – Jules Breach, football presenter On high-rise buildings, street corners and stadium walls in countries around the world, eye-catching murals pay tribute to footballing greats. From Messi and Ronaldo to Rapinoe and Cruyff, these striking displays are remarkable testaments to the awe and affection fans feel for these football legends and cult heroes. Join renowned football writer and broadcaster Andy Brassell as he explores this fascinating phenomenon. Offering a fresh, highly visual perspective on the global game, Football Murals is the first book to celebrate these towering works of art. Beckenbauer and Cruyff, Rooney and Ronaldinho, Totti and Salah, Zlatan and Zidane – being honoured with a mural cements a player's place in a club's heritage and links them to the heart of the community. This richly illustrated book showcases the most impressive examples, explores their inspirational qualities and examines what they say about these icons and their sport. Written and curated by respected football writer Andy Brassell, this ground-breaking book features more than 100 murals from around the world, capturing the scale, grandeur and wit of this powerful and popular art form. Through a series of short essays and extended captions, Andy shares the players' stories, discusses the cultural politics and explains just why these men and women have been immortalised in mural form. Covering such diverse topics as Home Town Glory, Football Fame and The Cult of the Coach, Football Murals addresses the issues important to fans worldwide. It spans Marcus Rashford's inspirational mural in a Manchester suburb, the George Best tribute on the East Belfast estate where he was born, the 15-foot depiction of Megan Rapinoe in St Paul, Minnesota, and the Naples 'shrine' to Diego Maradona. 'I can't tell you how nice it is for players to see their face on a mural.' – Jermaine Jenas, The One Show
Football, Fandom and Collective Memory
Author: Przemysław Nosal
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1040046347
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 288
Book Description
This book examines the topic of identity and collective memory in football fandom. Drawing on global research in history, sociology and political science, the book looks at how, where and why football fans and supporters’ groups introduce particular role models into their self-identity and performative narratives. The book presents original, cutting-edge research that illustrates the complex, multidimensional nature of the (re-)formulation of collective memory and the elevation of role models. It looks at the processes by which some supporters’ groups celebrate historical and contemporary figures – including political leaders, warriors, revolutionaries, or armed resistance groups – that they believe embody patriotic, regional or nationalist virtues, as well as supporters’ groups who define their patriotism in opposition to these figures. The book presents cases ranging from Ukrainian football ultras in the shadow of Russian aggression, and Jewish role models in Germany’s collective football memory, to the symbology of Che Guevara and Diego Maradona in Brazilian and Argentinian football, to hero formation and the myths of national identity in Australian football. This is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in the sociology, culture or politics of sport, or in fandom, identity, nationalism more broadly in sociology, political science or history.
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1040046347
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 288
Book Description
This book examines the topic of identity and collective memory in football fandom. Drawing on global research in history, sociology and political science, the book looks at how, where and why football fans and supporters’ groups introduce particular role models into their self-identity and performative narratives. The book presents original, cutting-edge research that illustrates the complex, multidimensional nature of the (re-)formulation of collective memory and the elevation of role models. It looks at the processes by which some supporters’ groups celebrate historical and contemporary figures – including political leaders, warriors, revolutionaries, or armed resistance groups – that they believe embody patriotic, regional or nationalist virtues, as well as supporters’ groups who define their patriotism in opposition to these figures. The book presents cases ranging from Ukrainian football ultras in the shadow of Russian aggression, and Jewish role models in Germany’s collective football memory, to the symbology of Che Guevara and Diego Maradona in Brazilian and Argentinian football, to hero formation and the myths of national identity in Australian football. This is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in the sociology, culture or politics of sport, or in fandom, identity, nationalism more broadly in sociology, political science or history.
San Francisco Street Art
Author:
Publisher: Prestel Publishing
ISBN:
Category : Graffiti
Languages : en
Pages : 96
Book Description
A must-have for any street art enthusiast, this book presents the most mind blowing examples of renegade creativity in San Francisco. San Francisco's vibrant street art scene exists in areas off the city's well-worn tourist paths. The alleyways and hidden side streets of the Haight, the Tenderloin, and especially the Mission district's Clarion Alley offer unexpected treats to visitors lucky enough to stumble upon them. For more than five years, photographer Steve Rotman has obsessively documented this scene as it evolved on walls, sidewalks, billboards, fences, doors, and other public spaces. Culled from thousands of images, the result is a collection of work that attests to the artists' personal and stylistic diversity, from Mars1's robotic depictions of alternate universes which reflect the local counterculture spirit, to Neck Face's whimsically ghoulish creatures that serve as a testament to entrepreneurial hipsterdom, to Bigfoot's friendly green primates inspired by the area's rich graffiti culture. San Francisco's charm as an international destination also causes foreign artists to contribute to the street dialogue--Brazilian duo Os Gemeos, Londoner D*Face and German painter Dome have all graced the city's walls with their unique points of view. An enterprising photographer, Rotman has forged relationships with many of these often-reclusive artists, allowing him access to some of the lesser-known corners of the street art world.
Publisher: Prestel Publishing
ISBN:
Category : Graffiti
Languages : en
Pages : 96
Book Description
A must-have for any street art enthusiast, this book presents the most mind blowing examples of renegade creativity in San Francisco. San Francisco's vibrant street art scene exists in areas off the city's well-worn tourist paths. The alleyways and hidden side streets of the Haight, the Tenderloin, and especially the Mission district's Clarion Alley offer unexpected treats to visitors lucky enough to stumble upon them. For more than five years, photographer Steve Rotman has obsessively documented this scene as it evolved on walls, sidewalks, billboards, fences, doors, and other public spaces. Culled from thousands of images, the result is a collection of work that attests to the artists' personal and stylistic diversity, from Mars1's robotic depictions of alternate universes which reflect the local counterculture spirit, to Neck Face's whimsically ghoulish creatures that serve as a testament to entrepreneurial hipsterdom, to Bigfoot's friendly green primates inspired by the area's rich graffiti culture. San Francisco's charm as an international destination also causes foreign artists to contribute to the street dialogue--Brazilian duo Os Gemeos, Londoner D*Face and German painter Dome have all graced the city's walls with their unique points of view. An enterprising photographer, Rotman has forged relationships with many of these often-reclusive artists, allowing him access to some of the lesser-known corners of the street art world.
Street Art
Author: Garry Hunter
Publisher: Arcturus Publishing
ISBN: 1782126678
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 312
Book Description
Our towns and cities are saturated with the imagery of commerce and advertising, but alongside it a new creative phenomenon is demanding our attention: art, on the street, available for everyone to see. Banksy, Blek le Rat, Os Gêmeos and JR are just some of the major practitioners whose works are showcased in this book. From huge murals to exquisite miniature art that can easily be missed, the examples here are powerful expressions of what it is to be a modern human living in an urban landscape.
Publisher: Arcturus Publishing
ISBN: 1782126678
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 312
Book Description
Our towns and cities are saturated with the imagery of commerce and advertising, but alongside it a new creative phenomenon is demanding our attention: art, on the street, available for everyone to see. Banksy, Blek le Rat, Os Gêmeos and JR are just some of the major practitioners whose works are showcased in this book. From huge murals to exquisite miniature art that can easily be missed, the examples here are powerful expressions of what it is to be a modern human living in an urban landscape.
Going All City
Author: Stefano Bloch
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022649358X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 212
Book Description
“We could have been called a lot of things: brazen vandals, scared kids, threats to social order, self-obsessed egomaniacs, marginalized youth, outsider artists, trend setters, and thrill seekers. But, to me, we were just regular kids growing up hard in America and making the city our own. Being ‘writers’ gave us something to live for and ‘going all city’ gave us something to strive for; and for some of my friends it was something to die for.” In the age of commissioned wall murals and trendy street art, it’s easy to forget graffiti’s complicated and often violent past in the United States. Though graffiti has become one of the most influential art forms of the twenty-first century, cities across the United States waged a war against it from the late 1970s to the early 2000s, complete with brutal police task forces. Who were the vilified taggers they targeted? Teenagers, usually, from low-income neighborhoods with little to their names except a few spray cans and a desperate need to be seen—to mark their presence on city walls and buildings even as their cities turned a blind eye to them. Going All City is the mesmerizing and painful story of these young graffiti writers, told by one of their own. Prolific LA writer Stefano Bloch came of age in the late 1990s amid constant violence, poverty, and vulnerability. He recounts vicious interactions with police; debating whether to take friends with gunshot wounds to the hospital; coping with his mother’s heroin addiction; instability and homelessness; and his dread that his stepfather would get out of jail and tip his unstable life into full-blown chaos. But he also recalls moments of peace and exhilaration: marking a fresh tag; the thrill of running with his crew at night; exploring the secret landscape of LA; the dream and success of going all city. Bloch holds nothing back in this fierce, poignant memoir. Going All City is an unflinching portrait of a deeply maligned subculture and an unforgettable account of what writing on city walls means to the most vulnerable people living within them.
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022649358X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 212
Book Description
“We could have been called a lot of things: brazen vandals, scared kids, threats to social order, self-obsessed egomaniacs, marginalized youth, outsider artists, trend setters, and thrill seekers. But, to me, we were just regular kids growing up hard in America and making the city our own. Being ‘writers’ gave us something to live for and ‘going all city’ gave us something to strive for; and for some of my friends it was something to die for.” In the age of commissioned wall murals and trendy street art, it’s easy to forget graffiti’s complicated and often violent past in the United States. Though graffiti has become one of the most influential art forms of the twenty-first century, cities across the United States waged a war against it from the late 1970s to the early 2000s, complete with brutal police task forces. Who were the vilified taggers they targeted? Teenagers, usually, from low-income neighborhoods with little to their names except a few spray cans and a desperate need to be seen—to mark their presence on city walls and buildings even as their cities turned a blind eye to them. Going All City is the mesmerizing and painful story of these young graffiti writers, told by one of their own. Prolific LA writer Stefano Bloch came of age in the late 1990s amid constant violence, poverty, and vulnerability. He recounts vicious interactions with police; debating whether to take friends with gunshot wounds to the hospital; coping with his mother’s heroin addiction; instability and homelessness; and his dread that his stepfather would get out of jail and tip his unstable life into full-blown chaos. But he also recalls moments of peace and exhilaration: marking a fresh tag; the thrill of running with his crew at night; exploring the secret landscape of LA; the dream and success of going all city. Bloch holds nothing back in this fierce, poignant memoir. Going All City is an unflinching portrait of a deeply maligned subculture and an unforgettable account of what writing on city walls means to the most vulnerable people living within them.
It's Great to Create
Author: Jon Burgerman
Publisher: Chronicle Books
ISBN: 1452155542
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 227
Book Description
Draw, doodle, make, and have fun! There are no mistakes in this wild and wonderful world from doodle artist and illustrator Jon Burgerman. Packed with prompts for 101 unexpected art projects, It's Great to Create offers artists of all ages loads of fun ways to get inspired and kick-start the creative process. From drawing with your eyes closed or doodling on your clothes to putting faces on your condiments or finding colors that rhyme, every page offers a new opportunity to embrace creativity and make something awesome. This unique ebook invites readers to lower their artistic inhibitions and offers a glimpse into the mind of a truly original artist.
Publisher: Chronicle Books
ISBN: 1452155542
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 227
Book Description
Draw, doodle, make, and have fun! There are no mistakes in this wild and wonderful world from doodle artist and illustrator Jon Burgerman. Packed with prompts for 101 unexpected art projects, It's Great to Create offers artists of all ages loads of fun ways to get inspired and kick-start the creative process. From drawing with your eyes closed or doodling on your clothes to putting faces on your condiments or finding colors that rhyme, every page offers a new opportunity to embrace creativity and make something awesome. This unique ebook invites readers to lower their artistic inhibitions and offers a glimpse into the mind of a truly original artist.
Asphalt Warrior
Author: Kurt Boone
Publisher: Kurt Boone Books
ISBN: 1934690295
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 63
Book Description
In New York City business districts, billions of dollars are traded everyday and power deals are closed every minute. Within the hundreds of skyscrapers there are dedicated messenger centers that insure and time to the minute the delivery of business documents used to completed deals large and small.Kurt Boone spent over 14 years rushing through out the city in all weather conditions picking upand delivering these documents. In Asphalt Warrior, Kurt Boone tells his story as one of the fastest messengers in thecity and his experiences in the now world famousmessenger culture lifestyles of parties, alleycat racing, riding fixed gear bicycles and carrying messengers bags.
Publisher: Kurt Boone Books
ISBN: 1934690295
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 63
Book Description
In New York City business districts, billions of dollars are traded everyday and power deals are closed every minute. Within the hundreds of skyscrapers there are dedicated messenger centers that insure and time to the minute the delivery of business documents used to completed deals large and small.Kurt Boone spent over 14 years rushing through out the city in all weather conditions picking upand delivering these documents. In Asphalt Warrior, Kurt Boone tells his story as one of the fastest messengers in thecity and his experiences in the now world famousmessenger culture lifestyles of parties, alleycat racing, riding fixed gear bicycles and carrying messengers bags.
World Football Club Crests
Author: Leonard Jägerskiöld Nilsson
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472954262
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 258
Book Description
An illustrated exploration of the design, meaning and symbolism of world football club crests. Why is there a devil shown on the crest of Manchester United? Which club's crest motto is 'To Dare Is To Do'? And whose emblem depicts a bear and a strawberry tree? From the seahorses of Newcastle United to the royal crown of Real Madrid, via the riveting hammers of West Ham United, Valencia's famous bat design and German club St Pauli's unofficial skull-and-crossbones emblem, there is a story behind every crest, a tale of identity. Covering more than 200 clubs from 20 different leagues, World Football Club Crests explores the design, meaning and symbolism of the game's most famous club crests to reveal why the badges look as they do. This carefully curated collection charts the continuing evolution of the designs and describes the changing styles, varied influences and remarkable controversies that have shaped football's most iconic crests. These important symbols of football heraldry will never be viewed in the same way again.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472954262
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 258
Book Description
An illustrated exploration of the design, meaning and symbolism of world football club crests. Why is there a devil shown on the crest of Manchester United? Which club's crest motto is 'To Dare Is To Do'? And whose emblem depicts a bear and a strawberry tree? From the seahorses of Newcastle United to the royal crown of Real Madrid, via the riveting hammers of West Ham United, Valencia's famous bat design and German club St Pauli's unofficial skull-and-crossbones emblem, there is a story behind every crest, a tale of identity. Covering more than 200 clubs from 20 different leagues, World Football Club Crests explores the design, meaning and symbolism of the game's most famous club crests to reveal why the badges look as they do. This carefully curated collection charts the continuing evolution of the designs and describes the changing styles, varied influences and remarkable controversies that have shaped football's most iconic crests. These important symbols of football heraldry will never be viewed in the same way again.
London Graffiti and Street Art
Author: Joe Epstein LDNGraffiti
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1473502578
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 195
Book Description
Over the decades, London has become a diverse landscape for all forms of graffiti and street art. From the better-known artists, down to the constant stream of fresh new talent attracted to the streets, London is a graffiti artist’s paradise and the images represent a London simmering with artistic flair. Featuring glossy photos of ground-breaking graffiti, London Graffiti and Street Art is the perfect companion for anyone excited by this most vibrant and changing of art form, and aims to give an insight into the creative output lost and found in and around the capital.
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1473502578
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 195
Book Description
Over the decades, London has become a diverse landscape for all forms of graffiti and street art. From the better-known artists, down to the constant stream of fresh new talent attracted to the streets, London is a graffiti artist’s paradise and the images represent a London simmering with artistic flair. Featuring glossy photos of ground-breaking graffiti, London Graffiti and Street Art is the perfect companion for anyone excited by this most vibrant and changing of art form, and aims to give an insight into the creative output lost and found in and around the capital.
The Lost Battles
Author: Jonathan Jones
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 030796101X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 427
Book Description
From one of Britain’s most respected and acclaimed art historians, art critic of The Guardian—the galvanizing story of a sixteenth-century clash of titans, the two greatest minds of the Renaissance, working side by side in the same room in a fierce competition: the master Leonardo da Vinci, commissioned by the Florentine Republic to paint a narrative fresco depicting a famous military victory on a wall of the newly built Great Council Hall in the Palazzo Vecchio, and his implacable young rival, the thirty-year-old Michelangelo. We see Leonardo, having just completed The Last Supper, and being celebrated by all of Florence for his miraculous portrait of the wife of a textile manufacturer. That painting—the Mona Lisa—being called the most lifelike anyone had ever seen yet, more divine than human, was captivating the entire Florentine Republic. And Michelangelo, completing a commissioned statue of David, the first colossus of the Renaissance, the archetype hero for the Republic epitomizing the triumph of the weak over the strong, helping to reshape the public identity of the city of Florence and conquer its heart. In The Lost Battles, published in England to great acclaim (“Superb”—The Observer; “Beguilingly written”—The Guardian), Jonathan Jones brilliantly sets the scene of the time—the politics; the world of art and artisans; and the shifting, agitated cultural landscape. We see Florence, a city freed from the oppressive reach of the Medicis, lurching from one crisis to another, trying to protect its liberty in an Italy descending into chaos, with the new head of the Republic in search of a metaphor that will make clear the glory that is Florence, and seeing in the commissioned paintings the expression of his vision. Jones reconstructs the paintings that Leonardo and Michelangelo undertook—Leonardo’s Battle of Anghiari, a nightmare seen in the eyes of the warrior (it became the first modern depiction of the disenchantment of war) and Michelangelo’s Battle of Cascina, a call to arms and the first great transfiguration of the erotic into art. Jones writes about the competition; how it unfolded and became the defining moment in the transformation of “craftsman” to “artist”; why the Florentine government began to fall out of love with one artist in favor of the other; and how—and why—in a competition that had no formal prize to clearly resolve the outcome, the battle became one for the hearts and minds of the Florentine Republic, with Michelangelo setting out to prove that his work, not Leonardo’s, embodied the future of art. Finally, we see how the result of the competition went on to shape a generation of narrative paintings, beginning with those of Raphael. A riveting exploration into one of history’s most resonant exchanges of ideas, a rich, fascinating book that gives us a whole new understanding of an age and those at its center.
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 030796101X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 427
Book Description
From one of Britain’s most respected and acclaimed art historians, art critic of The Guardian—the galvanizing story of a sixteenth-century clash of titans, the two greatest minds of the Renaissance, working side by side in the same room in a fierce competition: the master Leonardo da Vinci, commissioned by the Florentine Republic to paint a narrative fresco depicting a famous military victory on a wall of the newly built Great Council Hall in the Palazzo Vecchio, and his implacable young rival, the thirty-year-old Michelangelo. We see Leonardo, having just completed The Last Supper, and being celebrated by all of Florence for his miraculous portrait of the wife of a textile manufacturer. That painting—the Mona Lisa—being called the most lifelike anyone had ever seen yet, more divine than human, was captivating the entire Florentine Republic. And Michelangelo, completing a commissioned statue of David, the first colossus of the Renaissance, the archetype hero for the Republic epitomizing the triumph of the weak over the strong, helping to reshape the public identity of the city of Florence and conquer its heart. In The Lost Battles, published in England to great acclaim (“Superb”—The Observer; “Beguilingly written”—The Guardian), Jonathan Jones brilliantly sets the scene of the time—the politics; the world of art and artisans; and the shifting, agitated cultural landscape. We see Florence, a city freed from the oppressive reach of the Medicis, lurching from one crisis to another, trying to protect its liberty in an Italy descending into chaos, with the new head of the Republic in search of a metaphor that will make clear the glory that is Florence, and seeing in the commissioned paintings the expression of his vision. Jones reconstructs the paintings that Leonardo and Michelangelo undertook—Leonardo’s Battle of Anghiari, a nightmare seen in the eyes of the warrior (it became the first modern depiction of the disenchantment of war) and Michelangelo’s Battle of Cascina, a call to arms and the first great transfiguration of the erotic into art. Jones writes about the competition; how it unfolded and became the defining moment in the transformation of “craftsman” to “artist”; why the Florentine government began to fall out of love with one artist in favor of the other; and how—and why—in a competition that had no formal prize to clearly resolve the outcome, the battle became one for the hearts and minds of the Florentine Republic, with Michelangelo setting out to prove that his work, not Leonardo’s, embodied the future of art. Finally, we see how the result of the competition went on to shape a generation of narrative paintings, beginning with those of Raphael. A riveting exploration into one of history’s most resonant exchanges of ideas, a rich, fascinating book that gives us a whole new understanding of an age and those at its center.