Author: CHRISTIAN, KATHLEEN (KATHLEEN WREN) (1971-)
Title: Empire without end: antiquities collections in Renaissance Rome, c. 1350-1527 / Kathleen Wren Christian
Description: New Haven [Conn.] : Yale University Press 2010. 1st edition. Fine cloth copy in an equally fine dust-wrapper. Particularly and surprisingly well-preserved; tight. bright. clean and especially sharp-cornered. Literally as new and still in publisher's protective wrap. Physical description; ix. 440 pages: illustrations (some color). maps; 27 cm. Includes decorated end-papers. Includes bibliographical references and index. Contents; Antiquity as example: Rome in the time of Petrarch and Cola di Rienzo -- The poetics of the collection: Cardinal Prospero Colonna's 'Gardens of Maecenas' -- Fictive genealogies and ancestral collections in fifteenth-century Rome -- The virtues of the papal collector: Paul II and Sixtus IV -- Pomponio Leto and the academic garden -- The era of collecting. 1480-1527 -- Epilogue: the Sack of Rome and the hanging garden of Cardinal Andrea della Valle -- Catalogue of the collections in Roman houses and vigne before 1527. Summary; In the early fifteenth century. when Romans discovered ancient marble sculptures and inscriptions in the ruins. they often melted them into mortar. A hundred years later. however. antique marbles had assumed their familiar role as works of art displayed in private collections. Many of these collections. especially the Vatican Belvedere. are well known to art historians and archaeologists. Yet discussions of antiquities collecting in Rome too often begin with the Belvedere. that is. only after it was a widespread practice. In this important book. the author steps back to examine the 'long' fifteenth century. a critical period in the history of antiquities collecting that has received scant attention. Kathleen Wren Christian examines shifts in the response of artists and writers to spectacular archaeological discoveries and the new role of collecting antiquities in the public life of Roman elites. This lucid and coherent account provides a new overview of the collecting of antiquities in early renaissance Rome. from the time of Petrarch to the Sack of Rome in 1527. In the early 15th century. when Romans discovered ancient marble sculptures and inscriptions in the ruins. they often melted them into mortar. A hundred years later. however. antique marbles had assumed their familiar role as works of art displayed in private collections. In this important book. the author steps back to examine the 'long' 15th century. a critical period in the history of antiquities collecting that has received scant attention. She examines shifts in the response of artists and writers to spectacular archaeological discoveries and the new role of collecting antiquities in the public life of Roman elites. The book culminates in a detailed catalogue of the thirty-six most important antiquities collections formed before the Sack and brings these vanished sites back to life by using archival documents. drawings. and descriptions by visitors to clarify the history and appearance of little-studied collections. Subjects; Art. Roman - Collectors and collecting - Italy - Rome. Collectors and collecting - Italy - Rome - History. Classical antiquities - Collectors and collecting - Italy - Rome - History - To 1500. Art and Design. Antiquities - Collectors and collecting. Collecting - [14th/16th Century - Italy]. Rome (Italy) - Antiquities. Rome (Italy) - Civilization. Romans. Renaissance art. Italy; c 1000 CE to c 1500; c 1500 to c 1600. ART / History / General. ARCHITECTURE / Individual Architects & Firms / General. HISTORY / Renaissance. HISTORY / Europe / Italy. SOCIAL SCIENCE / Archaeology. Weight in Kg appr.:

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