# Making a Masterpiece: The Stories Behind Iconic Artworks - Hardcover

by **Debra N. Mancoff** (Author)

**What makes a work of art a masterpiece? Discover the answers in the fascinating stories of how these artworks came to be and the circumstances of their long-lasting impact on the world.**

Beginning with **Botticelli's _The Birth of Venus_**, we travel through time and a range of styles and stories - including **theft, scandal, artistic reputation, politics and power** - to **Warhol's _Campbell's Soup Cans_**, challenging the idea of what a masterpiece can be, and arriving in the twenty-first century with **Amy Sherald's portrait of Michelle Obama**, a modern-day masterpiece still to be tested by time.

Each artwork has a tale that reveals making a masterpiece often involves much more than just a demonstration of artistic skill: their path to fame is only fully disclosed by looking beyond what the eye can see. Rather than trying to describe the elements of greatness, Making a Masterpiece takes account of the **circumstances outside the frame** that contribute to the perception of greatness and **reveals that the journey from the easel to popular acclaim can be as compelling as the masterpiece itself.**

**Featuring:**  
_Birth of Venus_, Sandro Botticelli  
_Mona Lisa_, Leonardo da Vinci  
_Judith Beheading Holofernes_, Artemisia Gentileschi  
_Girl with a Pearl Earring_, Johannes Vermeer  
_Under the Wave off Kanagawa_, Katsushika Hokusai  
_Fifteen Sunflowers_, Vincent van Gogh  
_Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (Woman in Gold_, Gustav Klimt  
_American Gothic_, Grant Wood  
_Guernica_, Pablo Picasso  
_Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird_, Frida Kahlo  
_Campbell's Soup Cans_, Andy Warhol  
_Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama_, Amy Sherald

Discover the stories of **how, why and what makes a masterpiece** in this truly **compelling and comprehensive work.**

### Author Biography

**DEBRA N. MANCOFF** is an art historian and the author of more than twenty books on European and American art and culture. She lectures regularly at many of the major museums in the United States and Great Britain. Based in Chicago, she is a Scholar-in-Residence at the Newberry Library.

**Number of Pages:** 224

**Dimensions:** 1.02 x 9.37 x 6.77 IN

**Publication Date:** November 01, 2022

## Details

- **Price:** 32.0 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 32.00 USD | In stock |

## Images

- Making a Masterpiece: The Stories Behind Iconic Artworks - Hardcover

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