A multimedia artist and sculptor, Castagno also researches and lectures on art and art as an investment. Here he continues his effort to identify artists behind various cryptic scratchings. For
1,225 artists whose works date from 1800 to the present, he provides information about nationalities and birth and death dates, and cites references to biographical, bibliographical, and
pictorial sources. Over 1,250 signatures are reproduced in such categories as monograms, common surnames, symbols, Arabic, Cyrillic, and Prakrit from India. He explains each category. Whatever
piece of art you have bought, he predicts (not promises), you will probably find the key in these three volumes to identify its creator. Artists are indexed. Annotation 穢2009 Book News, Inc.,
Portland, OR (booknews.com)
