(5 of 5)
$15. A first-rate intellectual detective story and a fascinating photographic lecture in connoisseurship. In 1942 New York Art Dealer Piero Tozzi acquired a dirt-encrusted Renaissance statue of a boy seated on a rock. A sheepskin over one shoulder and a shell in one hand identify the youth as St. John the Baptist, and while Tozzi patiently cleaned the fragile ancient marble inch by inch, using only castile soap and a toothbrush, he began to think it might be a lost statue that Michelangelo is known to have carved in 1496. The possibility has aroused the cautious enthusiasm of a number of scholars, including Italy's Dr. Fernanda de' Maffei, who now presents the full case for attributing the statue to the sculptor. The argument draws its greatest strength from 169 photos, which compare the statue with dozens of known Michelangelo paintings, drawings and sculptures, and also with classical statues and gem carvings that would have influenced the young artist. The St. John statue itself, viewed in photo after photo from all angles, and in every possible detail, is captivatingly beautiful. The probing, questioning visual presentation is uniquely exciting.
OTHER TASTES, OTHER BOOKS: For modern architecture buffs, The Best in 20th Century Architecture (Reynal; $15) is an effective if somewhat slick presentation of a worldwide range of buildings and their creators. For players, kibitzers, or even for collectors who hardly know QR3 from KB7, Chess by Hans and Siegfried Wichmann. (Crown; $15) is a comprehensive, pleasantly illustrated history of chess pieces. For those who like social history, Mirror of Fashion by Margarete Braun-Ronsdorf (McGraw-Hill; $26.50) is a copious survey of European costume from the French Revolution to 1929, while Leather Armchairs by Charles Graves (Coward-McCann; $7.95) is an anecdote-laden, fascinating-in-spite-of-itself account of all the major London clubs. What may well prove to be both the best-illustrated and best-written of the Kennedy memorial books is The Kennedy Years (Viking; $16.50), a massively complete compilation of photographs with equally compendious text by the New York Times.