Landscape and Identity in Early Modern Rome: Villa Culture at Frascati in the Borghese Era (Monuments of Papal Rome) - Hardcover

Ehrlich, Tracy L.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521592577 ISBN 13: 9780521592574

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2002

Synopsis

Throughout the early modern period, the villas of Frascati played a central role in Roman social politics. In the mid-sixteenth century, humanists and churchmen built villas on ancient ruins and pursued the ancient ideal of learned leisure, hoping to acquire an aura of virtue and sophistication associated with eminent Romans who had sojourned at Frascati in antiquity. New families penetrated Roman society and began to climb from the ranks of the ecclesiastical nobility into the secular aristocracy. In this study, Tracy Ehrlich analyses the Villa Mondragone, built by Pope Paul V Borghese in an effort to demonstrate how architecture, landscape and rituals of villeggiatura (villa life) were used to forge a new identity as a Roman noble house. She also explores the relationship between landscape and identity and, in so doing, reevaluates the conventional privileging of the city over the countryside. This title has been awarded the Salimbeni Prize, Italy's top award for a book in the area of art history.

About this title

Review

"Ehrlich succeeds in establishing both what was accomplished at the Villa Mondragone and how the cultural resources available in early modern Rome were used to make it happen." Renaissance Quarterly

"[A] hefty and handsome volume with wonderfully informative illustrations of the villa culture at Frascati...Even if you have little interest in architecture, the way this scholar keeps buildings linked with sociodynamics will hold your attention and win your admiration." Bibliotheque d'Humanisme et Renaissance

"Well researched..." Landscape Architecture

"This scholarly but entertaining tome--relatively jargon-free--is brimming with photos, estate maps and bird's-eye views of the Frascati region." Wall Street Journal

"This fine book exemplifies the potential richness of a truly contextual history of an architechtural program. Highly recommended." Choice

"Ehrlich's insightful analysis has covered much new ground...Ehrlich has marshaled a broad range of disciplinary techniques to make such an exploration possibleand has demonstrated the richness and incisiveness that are possible when art historians give serious attention to the needs, desires, and visions of a patron." - CAA Reviews, J. Nicholas Napoli, Rutgers University

Book Description

Tracy Ehrlich analyses the Villa Mondragone and demonstrates how architecture, landscape and rituals of villeggiatura (villa life) were used to forge a new identity as a Roman noble house. Examining the relationship between landscape and identity she reevaluates the conventional privileging of the city over the countryside.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521592577
• ISBN 13: 9780521592574
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 442