Then suddenly, suddenly, out pops a scene from an Impressionist masterpiece, or a character from a novel, or a scene from one of Shakespeare’s plays. Life is presented within the simplicity of quotidian routine–farmers tending their fields, shepherds guarding their flocks, a merchant selling wares, or a child playing hoops.

Anno’s work is in the delightfully detailed watercolors that lead the reader from pastoral scenes to village and finally to city scenes. That was Anno’s Journey–a truly inspired and for me, enchanted wordless journey through Europe. His first US title was Topsy Turvies (1970) and in 1978 the book that acquainted me with his work appeared. Here is an invitation to viewers of all ages to gaze through the eyes of a most perceptive artist at a country rich in culture, beauty and history.The work of Mitsumasa Anno has been beloved since the 1970s when his first books appeared in the United States. Such diverse characters as Tarzan, Ali Baba, William Tell, and the Three Little Pigs lend an international tone to the artfully crowded scenario. Hundreds of other images from the fine arts and architecture, history and social studies, myth and folklore will delight the diligent searcher in the exquisitely-drawn illustrations. Moving freely through time and space, Anno's observant traveler also visits a teeming Renaissance city where portraits of modern movie stars are anachronistically being sold in the shadow o Michelangelo's Pieta, while a statue of Romulus and Remus with the wolf that mothered them is wheeled past a replica of Christopher Columbus's sailing vessel. In the narrow, cobbled streets of medieval villages and towns, throngs of people view colorful parades, trade their wares, and exchange news and gossip. He shows us children playing their traditional games in the fertile fields and orchards where farmers are busily at work. Anno shares his special vision of this fascinating country, which for thousands of years has been both the source and the preserver of much of what we value in western culture today.

Using no words, but with eloquently detailed watercolor paintings, Mr. In this book, Mitsumasa Anno, creator of Anno's Journey, takes readers on another mind-stretching journey of the imagination, this time to Italy.

Anno's Medieval World by Mitsumasa Anno