Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

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 Laco#65533;n 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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CHOICE Review

This ambitious, subtly argued, and far-reaching volume examines the Renaissance rediscovery of antique sculpture and the resulting transformation of Renaissance art and aesthetics. Author of the award-winning The Gods Made Flesh: Metamorphosis and the Pursuit of Paganism (CH, Sep'87), Barkan (English and fine arts, New York Univ.) draws on a rich variety of disciplinary approaches and methodologies in his analysis. The first chapter, on "Discoveries," opens with the unearthing of the Laocoon in 1506 and traces its complex entry into the visual culture of the Renaissance before turning to related examples. The second, "Histories," focuses on Pliny's Natural History, which for Barkan is the "central grounding text of the rediscovery of ancient art". Chapter 3, "Fragments," is especially provocative, concluding with some compelling arguments about the Renaissance response to ruins and in particular the importance of these fragments for Michelangelo's aesthetic. The final chapter, "Reconstructions," is devoted to three works, "each the basis for a distinctive Renaissance activity of cultural, intellectual, and aesthetic recuperation." An indispensable acquisition for any college or university library. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. A. Derbes; Hood College