Taste and the Antique

Speranza


CONTENTS:

I. "A new Rome" -- una nuova Roma

II. The public and private collections of Rome

public collection
private collection

III. Plaster casts and prints

print


IV. Control and codification

codification
catalogue


V. Casts and copies in seventeenth-century courts

court


VI. "Tout ce qu'il y a de beau en Italie"

VII. Erudite interests

VIII. Florence: the impact of the Tribuna

FIRENZE

IX. Museums in eighteenth-century Rome

ROMA

X. The new importance of Naples

NAPOLI

XI. The proliferation of casts and copies;

New fashions in the copying of antiquities;

Reinterpretations of antiquity;

The last dispersals;

Epilogue.

“A major chapter in the history of taste

Provides exemplary documentation for the various stages of the rise and fall of ancient sculpture … and the catalogue of the ninety-five carefully chosen paradigms is a boon to art historians

Bound to become, and remain, a basic tool for research.

The fallen idols could not have received a more fitting memorial.

H. W. Janson, The New York Review of Books

The authors assemble a catalogue of 95 Graeco-Roman sculptures and undertake to chart the rise and fall of their reputations over a period of four centuries

This catalogue, recording dates of discovery of the statues and their changing locations through the centuries, is splendid; together with the comprehensive bibliography and lavish illustrations, it will prove to be an indispensable research tool for art historians.

But the book’s main themes are developed in the 15 narrative chapters; anyone interested in the history of taste will find these pages enthralling.”—John H. D’Arms, New York Times Book Review
Lucid and readable, but also impeccably scholarly…. Due to become a standard authority.”—Joseph Alsop, New Republic
The most essential of all books on art published in recent years.”—Terence Mullaly, Daily Telegraph (London)

“Haskell and Penny have with erudition and wit fully elaborated the history of ‘the creation, the diffusion, and the eventual dissolution of a canon of universally admired antique statues.’ … Highly recommended.”—Robert Cahn, Library Journal