Creating the "Divine" Artist: From Dante to Michelangelo
Published on 26. March 2004
Book
Hardback
454 pages
978-90-04-13709-7 (ISBN)
Description
Turning a skeptical eye on the idea that Renaissance artists were widely believed to be as utterly admirable as Vasari claimed, this book re-opens the question of why artists were praised and by whom, and specifically why the language of divinity was invoked, a practice the ancients did not license. The epithet ''divino'' is examined in the context of claims to liberal arts status and to analogy with poets, musicians, and other ''uomini famossi.'' The reputations of Michelangelo and Brunelleschi are compared not only with each other but with those of Dante and Ariosto, of Aretino and of the ubiquitous beloved of the sonnet tradition. Nineteenth-century reformulations of the idea of Renaissance artistic divinity are treated in the epilogue, and twentieth-century treatments of the idea of artistic "ingegno" in an appendix.
Reviews / Votes
'...an extemely rich and informative account...'David Hemsoll, JEMH, 2005.
'This is surely one of the most stimulating books on Renaissance art history written in recent years...'
Robert W. Gaston, Renaissance Quarterly.
'This is a big book - an ambitious, wide-ranging, spirited, learned, and expansive book. It will be of interest to those scholars of Italian Renaissance art especially concerned with the emergence of the modern idea of the artist...a rich weave of intellectual history...The virtue of Emison's bountiful book is that it both consolidates and broadens our view of the modern idea of the "divine" artist. Her stimulating work now puts us in an excellent position, however, to turn our attention more fully to the partially acknowledged but still far too negelected role of theology in shaping Renaissance ideas about the "divine" artist.'
Paul Barolsky, CAA Reviews, 2004.
Well versed in cinquecento literary and musical theory as well as the visual arts, Emison has written a work that is wide-ranging, imaginative, graceful, and citation-rich. From cover to binding, the book is also beautifully produced, with dozens of seldom-seen images complementing the text.
James C. Hughes, Sixteenth Century Journal XXXVII/1 (2006)
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Leiden
Netherlands
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 244 mm
Width: 163 mm
Thickness: 33 mm
Weight
975 gr
ISBN-13
978-90-04-13709-7 (9789004137097)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Patricia Emison
Creating the "Divine" Artist: From Dante to Michelangelo
Software
05/2004
Brill
Unfortunately, price unknown
Available (delivery time upon request)
Person
Patricia Emison, Ph.D. (1985) in the History of Art, Columbia University, is Professor at the University of New Hampshire. She specializes in the history of Italian Renaissance prints and is the author of Low and High Style in Italian Renaissance Art (Garland, 1997).
Content
Acknowledgements
List of Illustrations
Introduction
The Sponge of Protogenes
Not Quite the Liberal Artist
The Divine Poet, Twinned
Idioti or Angels
Listening for the Music of the Spheres
The Artist as Huomo Famosissimo
Epilogue: The Romantic Deluge
Appendix: The Historiography of Ingegno
Appendix: Fornari's Gloss on Ariosto's Canto XXXIII
Illustrations
Bibliography
Index
List of Illustrations
Introduction
The Sponge of Protogenes
Not Quite the Liberal Artist
The Divine Poet, Twinned
Idioti or Angels
Listening for the Music of the Spheres
The Artist as Huomo Famosissimo
Epilogue: The Romantic Deluge
Appendix: The Historiography of Ingegno
Appendix: Fornari's Gloss on Ariosto's Canto XXXIII
Illustrations
Bibliography
Index