Reviving the Renaissance: The Use and Abuse of the Past in Nineteenth-Century Italian Art and Decoration (Cambridge Studies in Italian History and Culture) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521481511 ISBN 13: 9780521481519

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1997

Synopsis

This book offers an account of neo-Renaissance taste and style in Italy during the second half of the nineteenth century. By the time Italy had developed its obsession with the neo-Renaissance in the 1870s, collectors and scholars in the rest of Europe had been excited by Renaissance taste and style for several decades. In Italy the Renaissance was promptly reconceptualised, in a forced alignment with the accepted historical version of its birth and development, and its help enlisted in the search for an Italian national identity. But what represented this neo-Renaissance in Italy, and what aided its diffusion? In an attempt to answer these questions this book explores the many areas marked by neo-Renaissance taste. It traces its diffusion and development from the institutions which instructed its chief exponents, to architecture and exhibitions and the publications which disseminated neo-Renaissance designs so effectively.

About this title

Book Description

An account of neo-Renaissance taste and style in Italy during the second half of the nineteenth century, and of the ways in which the Renaissance was enlisted in the search for Italian national identity. Art, architecture, photography, town planning, fashions and furnishings are among the topics discussed.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521481511
• ISBN 13: 9780521481519
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 295
• Editor: Pavoni Rosanna