Unearthing the Past – Archeology & Aestetics in the Making of Renaissance Culture: Archaeology and Aesthetics in the Making of Renaissance Culture - Hardcover

Barkan, Leonard

4.3

20 ratings by Goodreads

9780300076776: Unearthing the Past – Archeology & Aestetics in the Making of Renaissance Culture: Archaeology and Aesthetics in the Making of Renaissance Culture

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0300076770 ISBN 13: 9780300076776

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2000

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A fascinating story of the impact of the rediscovery of antique objects, long-forgotten and often physically buried, on the consciousness and art of 15th- and 16th-century Rome. Barkan brings to life the inspired attempts to bridge the huge gap between ancient and Renaissance Rome, a rebirth which not only transformed art but also poetry and history. Stories of the rediscovery of statues such as the Lacoon and the Torso Belvedere is accompanied by extracts of Roman descriptions of statues and art as well as Renaissance accounts of uncovering them and their attempts to understand them. Finally, Barkan examines the influence of sculptures on specific Renaissance artists and works, notably Bandinelli.

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Review:

"In this book the idea of the Renaissance is itself reborn." -- Stephen Greenblatt, Harvard University

"This book is a teasing exploration of ... epistemological mysteries in the history of art. It describes the elusiveness of imitation as a goal, the creative force of dialogue with uncertainty and the way truth in art grows cheekily out of historical falsehoods." -- Garry Wills, New York Times

"Throughout this remarkable book, Barkan demonstrates an eye that is as refined and penetrating as his writing. It is a book for all art historians, scholars of the Renaissance, and readers generally concerned with history and artistic production." -- John Hollander, Yale University

From the Publisher:

Review
'an unalloyed pleasure' - Kathleen Burk, BBC History Magazine - History Books of the Year

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