Politics, Civic Ideals and Sculpture in Italy, c.1240-1400

von Brendan Cassidy

314 Seiten, Hardcover

Kurzbeschreibung des Verlags

This book explores how the different forms of government and political factions in the Italian city states c. 1240-1400 used sculpture in different ways to express their ideals and achievements. It examines favoured themes in the republics (Florence, Siena, Venice et al), in the kingdom of Naples and at the courts of the signori (Milan, Verona and Arezzo). It demonstrates how republican art tended to eschew the celebration of statesmen in favour of the state. Deprived of a political figurehead republican regimes resorted to symbolism and allegory to express the city's identity and ideals. As in their chronicles, their art celebrates the ancient origins of the city and its founders, its famous men and patron saints, and its qualities of charity, justice and prosperity. It promotes the virtues of work and chooses its 'heroes' from among the intellectual and military classes while restricting the freedom of expression of the rich and the politically powerful. Quite different was the sculpture of the signori. It formed part of a ruler cult. The lord's image, heraldry and inscribed name were ubiquitous throughout the city. Magnificence of scale and decoration in his buildings and his art were calculated signs of power to impress his subjects and to discourage opposition. His tomb imagery was often secular in content and emphasized the lord's achievements: his military virtues and his conquest of land, his legitimacy as ruler, his patronage and beneficence towards his people, and the superiority of seigneurial to communal rule. Different again was the court sculpture of the Angevin monarchs in Naples. In the numerous and strikingly original tombs of members of the royal house the Angevinsemphasized their piety and virtue as a way of ingratiating them

• Reihe: Harvey Miller
• ISBN: 9781905375011
• Sprache: Englisch
• Erscheinungsdatum: 24.08.2007
• Größe: 285 x 227 mm
• Verlag: Brepols Publishers