"Caught between the Theatricality of the Baroque and the acute sensibility of Romanticism, art in Rome in the eighteenth century has long been a neglected area of study." "The grand scale and spectacular diversity of the period are comprehensively captured for the first time in this definitive history of the period, produced to accompany a major U.S. exhibition organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and documenting the work of over 150 artists. With over 450 illustrations, and texts by an outstanding array of experts from around the world, Art in Rome in the Eighteenth Century provides a massively authoritative survey of a fascinating era."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) was the presiding genius of the Italian Baroque. As a sculptor, he produced a host of exhilarating works -- the Ecstasy of St. Teresa, David, Apollo and Daphne, The Rape of Proserpina, among others -- that seem to breathe with life. As an architect, he created the interior of St. Peter's in Vatican City as we know it today -- the ornate shrines and monuments under the dome, the papal tombs, and encircling colonnades of the Piazza San Pietro itself -- as well as churches and numerous fountains throughout Rome.Drawing on much previously unpublished research, art historian Charles Avery rescues Bernini from critical neglect and offers a thoroughgoing reevaluation of this great artist's multifaceted career. Throughout, 400 illustrations, including eighty magnificent color plates, capture the richness of Bernini's work as never before -- and reveal many extraordinary details that are difficult to see even on the originals.
This is the only scholarly work in the English language on the city of Rome in the Age of the Enlightenment, and the only book in any language to treat this fascinating city in all its multifarious aspects. Professor Gross combines extensive archival research with the latest findings of other scholars to produce a uniquely rounded portrait of the papal capital, elegantly illustrated with contemporary engravings by Piranesi and others. The book is divided into two sections, in the first of which Professor Gross discusses the material and institutional structures of the city, including its demography, economy, food supply, and judicial systems. The second section considers aspects of intellectual, cultural, and artistic life. Professor Gross contends not only that ancien-regime Rome witnessed a decline in Counter-Reformation fervour, but that this decay resulted in a marked dissonance in the political, social, and cultural life of the city.