'... beautifully produced book...' Renaissance Quarterly
'Through his careful analyses of the paintings that once decorated the church, Paul attempts to reconstruct its sixteenth-century appearance. His discussions of the canvases by Jacopo Tintoretto are exemplary: the Crucifixion (now in the parish church of Selva di Montello, province of Treviso) is considered in the light of the Cassinese Congregation's tenet, in particular its Pauline theology of the Cross. For Tintoretto's high altarpiece of the Virgin and Child in glory with saints (Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice), Paul establishes a fascinating link between the Apocalyptic Woman, the massive dark clouds that support her and several of the saints, and the plague that struck Venice in 1575-77.' The Burlington Magazine