Jörg Breu the Elder

'..this book offers a new and promising approach to this period of German art as a whole. It is also a model of clear and balanced exposition, and very engagingly written.' Caroline van Eck, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam. '...offers a fascinating case study.' The Art Newspaper 'Morrall...thrusts us into a tumultuous sixteenth-century Germany, where one ideology is directly confronting another, with powerful implications for the visual arts. Morrall has focused on a fascinating topic...' The New Republic 'One of the lasting strengths of this book is that it provides critical tools for evaluating the choices or rejections of styles without reduction to empty terms of periodization...For Morrall, the prevailing interpretation of the German Renaissance aesthetic of perceptual realism was only one choice among many for an artist like Breu. Morrall demonstrates that Breu tended to retreat from perceptual realism and to embrace an artificial and distancing manner that could fit the demands of Reformation -era secular themes and a growing anxiety about idolatry. This interpretation of style as holding rhetorical force will no doubt enrich treatments of other artists of the era, such as Burgkmair and the Holbeins, or even those working outside the scope of the Renaissance.' CAA Reviews 'Morrall's account of Breu's career provides a fascinating case study of artistic production in an age of rapid social and cultural change... this book will [...] be of interest to print specialists... this volume is a welcome addition to existing scholarship on German art of the Renaissance period, a much-neglected field.' Bridget Heal, Print Quarterly 'Andrew Morrall's work on JArg Breu the Elder of Augsburg (ca. 1480-1536/37) makes many important contributions to the field of Renaissance art History. Morrall skillfully uses the career and production of Breu as a lens through which to focus on vital issues at the hear of art historical interpretation. In order to do this, Mo