New Broecke Translation

There’s a new English translation of Cennino d’Andrea Cennini’s “Il libro dell’ Arte, by Lara Broecke, a professional paintings conservator and artist.

Amozon’s webpage intriguingly describes it as establishing:

more precisely what Cennino actually wrote, by correcting more than 400 errors in Thompson’s text…In addition, the author’s most informative introduction places Cennino in context and accounts for the genesis of the libro dell’arte by r eference to the society in which it was produced.

With all those errors some may explain the problems some have recreating Cennini’s recipes and techniques.

While Broecke’s book is lauded as a “landmark text” for art history students and professionals it is just the kind of book many SCA scribes will drool over. And maybe for a long time because $90 for 248, 6.9 x 9.7 inch, pages is steep. Especially since Thompson’s 80-year-old version is cheap on Amazon and free on the web, although it takes effort to access on Notebook.

Before you buy it, you may be interested in the International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Work‘s extensive review. 

With my retirement budget, my option to read this book will be interlibrary loan from my local library.