Built by the greatest architects of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, decorated by the most important artists of Italy, Roman palaces are grand beyond description. This magnificent book showcases 24 such dwellings--from the Palazzo Farnese, designed by Michelangelo, to the Palazzo Quirinale, headquarters of the President of the Republic--all photographed by the renowned Roberto Schezen. 450 color illustrations.
In Gardens of the Roman Empire, the pioneering archaeologist Wilhelmina F. Jashemski sets out to examine the role of ancient Roman gardens in daily life throughout the empire. This study, therefore, includes for the first time, archaeological, literary, and artistic evidence about ancient Roman gardens across the entire Roman Empire from Britain to Arabia. Through well-illustrated essays by leading scholars in the field, various types of gardens are examined, from how Romans actually created their gardens to the experience of gardens as revealed in literature and art. Demonstrating the central role and value of gardens in Roman civilization, Jashemski and a distinguished, international team of contributors have created a landmark reference work that will serve as the foundation for future scholarship on this topic. An accompanying digital catalogue will be made available at: www.gardensoftheromanempire.org.
Romans loved their gardens, whether they were the grand gardens of imperial country estates or the small private spaces tucked behind city houses. They treasured gardens both as places for relaxation and as plots to grow ornamental plants as well as fruits and vegetables. The soothing sound of bubbling fountains often added further to the pleasures of life in the garden. Romans constructed gardens in every corner of their empire, from Britain to North Africa and from Portugal to Asia Minor. Long after their empire collapsed, the gardens they had so carefully planted continued to exert influence in the farflung corners of their former world. This book describes the variety of Roman gardens throughout the empire, from the humblest to the most lavish, including such well-known places as Hadrian’s Villa in Tivoli and the gardens of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The continued influence of Roman gardens is traced though Arabic, medieval, and Renaissance gardens to the present day. Many of the lavish illustrations were commissioned for this book.
This book explores the principles of the display of art in the magnificent Roman palaces of the early modern period, focusing attention on how the parts function to convey multiple artistic, social, and political messages, all within a splendid environment that provided a model for aristocratic residences throughout Europe. Many of the objects exhibited in museums today once graced the interior of a Roman Baroque palazzo or a setting inspired by one. In fact, the very convention of a paintings gallery— the mainstay of museums—traces its ancestry to prototypes in the palaces of Rome. Inside Roman palaces, the display of art was calibrated to an increasingly accentuated dynamism of social and official life, activated by the moving bodies and the attention of residents and visitors. Display unfolded in space in a purposeful narrative that reflected rank, honor, privilege, and intimacy. With a contextual approach that encompasses the full range of media, from textiles to stucco, this study traces the influential emerging concept of a unified interior. It argues that art history—even the emergence of the modern category of fine art—was worked out as much in the rooms of palaces as in the printed pages of Vasari and other early writers on art.
Evolving from a patrician domus, the emperor's residence on the Palatine became the centre of the state administration. Elaborate ceremonial regulated access to the imperial family, creating a system of privilege which strengthened the centralised power. Constantine followed the same model in his new capital, under a Christian veneer. The divine attributes of the imperial office were refashioned, with the emperor as God's representative. The palace was an imitation of heaven. Following the loss of the empire in the West and the Near East, the Palace in Constantinople was preserved – subject to the transition from Late Antique to Mediaeval conditions – until the Fourth Crusade, attracting the attention of Visgothic, Lombard, Merovingian, Carolingian, Norman and Muslim rulers. Renaissance princes later drew inspiration for their residences directly from ancient ruins and Roman literature, but there was also contact with the Late Byzantine court. Finally, in the age of Absolutism the palace became again an instrument of power in vast centralised states, with renewed interest in Roman and Byzantine ceremonial. Spanning the broadest chronological and geographical limits of the Roman imperial tradition, from the Principate to the Ottoman empire, the papers in the volume treat various aspects of palace architecture, art and ceremonial.
A fascinating look at the history and legacy of Roman gardens, focusing on Great Britain. The author is a board member of the Association for Roman Archaeology and a prolific writer of papers on Roman art and architecture and has lectured on the subject of Roman gardens.
"Buildings have lives in time," observes Patricia Waddy in this pioneering study of the relation between plan and use in the palaces of the Borghese, Barberini, and Chigi families.
In a fascinating study of ancient Roman architecture, classics scholar Alexander McKay examines simple houses, mansions, estates and palatial buildings, interior furnishings, and gardens--revealing that Roman civilization was astonishingly similar to our own. He also discusses the conditions of life in the Roman provinces. 153 illustrations.
Legend tells us that the first garden was born at the foot of a tree. As a mark of respect, the area around it was swept, and so it became sacred. Gardens - places where nature is imitated and ordered by human intervention - have been a part of history since the days of ancient Mesopotamia. Harmony is the key component, and this book invokes this harmony on every page. Illustrated with a magnificent array of photos and antique botanical prints, Morocco in Bloom is more than just a celebration of Moroccan flora. It is also a practical manual, dedicated to the cultivation, creation and maintenance of southern Mediterranean gardens. The author's words will resonate with any garden lover based in the broader Mediterranean Basin, from Spain to Greece, Provence to Tunisia. The book has been composed in the style of an almanac, guiding the reader through the year month by month. Each chapter provides vital advice on how to plant, prune and care for the most beautiful and rare plants in the Mediterranean climate region. AUTHOR: Giuppi Petromarchi is a renowned Italian landscape designer, a specialist in Mediterranean botany and the creator of numerous gardens in Tuscany and elsewhere. She has authored many books on the history of Italian gardens and on Mediterranean flora, including the lauded botanical text for The Gardens of Ninfa, and has also regularly contributed articles to gardening magazines. From 1986-1989 she lived in Rabat, where her husband was the Italian Ambassador to Morocco. It was then that she discovered the rich beauty of the Moroccan garden. Giulio Pietromarchi began his work as an assistant photographer in Rome, aged 16. That year he met Niki de Saint Phalle, who, having seen his work, asked him to document her Tarot Garden in Tuscany. His photographs span the 27 years it took to realise the project. Their long collaboration led him to document the artist's work around the world, resulting in many publications. He began his film career in 1983 as a director of photography. His filmography includes more than sixty films and documentaries. SELLING POINTS: * A beautifully illustrated reference book for any gardener working in the Mediterranean climate * Intersperses important tips on plant care and garden design with stunning photography * Laid out in an accessible month-by-month 'almanac' style 137 colour illustrations
