Art History in the Age of Bellori
Giovan Pietro Bellori was one of the most important intellectuals of seventeenth-century Italy. Best known today for his art criticism and biographies of artists he knew personally, such as Nicholas Poussin, in his own day he was renowned for his expertise in coins, gems, and ancient painting. This collection of essays presents new findings about Bellori's multifarious activities as well as fresh interpretations of his ideas. A frank, unbiased reevaluation of its subject, Art History in the Age of Bellori contributes to a more nuanced understanding of Bellori's place in seventeenth-century letters and politics, art criticism, and antiquarian studies.
- Offers first book-length account of Bellori's life and writings in English
- Identifies Bellori's role as dean of seventeenth-century classicism
- Considers the articulation of classical aesthetics as a cultural ideal an entire century prior to Winckelmann
Reviews & endorsements
"[T]his collection of 11 essays ... is the first comprehensive work on the historian--and thus of inestimable value.... As a whole, the volume elucidates the complex network of interactions among Roman artists, scholars, and patrons, with Bellori at its nexus. Essential." Choice
"...substantial and carefully researched...a considerable contribution to our understanding of the intersections among Bellori's myriad activities, his political alliances and patronage networks, and his unique role within the cultural-political world of seventeenth-century Europe." Renaissance Quarterly
"A welcome addition to a growing body of work on early modern art theory, this volume should inspire further scholarly investigation of Bellori's writings on art." Sixteenth Century Journal
Product details
September 2002Hardback
9780521782487
412 pages
256 × 182 × 28 mm
1.093kg
106 b/w illus.
Unavailable - out of print January 2008
Table of Contents
- Introduction Janis Bell
- 1. Belloriana methodus: a scholar's Bildungsgeschichte in seventeenth-century Rome Giovanna Perini
- 2. Antiquarian modes and methods: Bellori and Filippo Buonaroti the Younger Louis Marchesano
- 3. Bellori and Christina of Sweden Tomaso Montanari
- 4. Bellori, Raffele Fabretti, and Trajan's Column Ingo Herklotz
- 5. Bellori as iconographer: the Veterum illustrium imagines Eugene Dwyer
- 6. From darkness to light: Annibale Carracci, Bellori, and ancient painting Hetty E. Joyce
- 7. Judicious imitation: the allegorical engravings in Bellori's lives Claire Pace and Janis Bell
- 8. Con modo nuovo li descrive: Bellori's method of describing Martina Hansmann
- 9. Scherzo: hidden meaning, genre, and generic criticism in Bellori's Lives Anthony Colantuono
- 10. Bellori's analysis of colore in Domenichinos' Last Communion of St. Jerome Janis Bell
- 11. The second edition of Bellori's Lives: placing Luca Giordano in the canon of moderns Thomas Willette.