tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054785923214156833.post2363981561854148355..comments2024-02-03T17:02:45.046-08:00Comments on Giorgione et al...: Giorgione: Historical ImaginationDr. Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08469403843869655063noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054785923214156833.post-41644398417506247652011-01-06T03:54:38.530-08:002011-01-06T03:54:38.530-08:00Thank you for your considered reply Frank.
It is...Thank you for your considered reply Frank. <br /><br />It is difficult to engage in this discussion without venturing into emotive territory, but as we are not entirely strangers, I felt comfortable enough to share the above :)<br /><br />I definitely haven't considered that I was Epicurean before - always thinking that aspects of Stoicism rung more true to my outlook - however on deeper reflection I dont think it's easy to take part in a materialistic Western society without indulging in aspects of Epicureanism!<br /><br />Savonarola's sermons must be available somewhere - happening across a book on exactly that was how Rab Hatfield deciphered Botticelli's Mystic Nativity!<br /><br />HAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02091875643921165081noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054785923214156833.post-36975742068994610292011-01-03T07:14:49.645-08:002011-01-03T07:14:49.645-08:00H:
Thanks as always for your very thoughtful comm...H:<br /><br />Thanks as always for your very thoughtful comments. Although we share a common interest in Renaissance art, I also appreciate your willingness to engage in battle.<br /><br />I have reread my post and your comment and do not think that either I or the selections I used indicated that one has to be a "believer" in order to appreciate the art we both love. I do not think I can improve on the words of Goffen or Lewis but I can give an example of what I was getting at.<br /><br />Last year I waded through the "Hypneromachia Poliphilo." I found a scholarly, annotated, modern English translation of this incredibly boring and tedious tract in the library of a nearby Jesuit University. I certainly would not argue that this book should not have a critical modern edition or be in a Catholic library. <br /><br />But I don't know of any English edition of the sermons of Lorenzo Giustiniani, the influential first Patriarch of Venice. I don't even know if they are available in Italian. His influence on contemporary Venetians was certainly greater than any humanist tract.<br /><br />Also, what about the sermons of Savonarola? Where are they? Who is working on them? Yet, who can understand the florentine revolution without them? <br /><br />I have been pleasantly surprised in the last few years to find that many modern scholars, unlike their predecessors, are trying to see things through Venetian eyes. Most of them are not believers but they understand that the key to understanding the great works of the Renasissance lies in understanding the religion of the time. Ingrid Rowland's article on Raphael's Stanze is a good example.<br /><br />I'm surprised that you disagree with Lewis. I certainly enjoy having an Epicurean like you as my guide to the Ancient world.<br /><br />FrankDr. Fhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08469403843869655063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054785923214156833.post-23651023832154719782011-01-02T08:57:15.843-08:002011-01-02T08:57:15.843-08:00Interesting comments Frank! From when I first enco...Interesting comments Frank! From when I first encountered your work, a great sense of your faith reverberated through it. <br /><br />I think this is an aspect of one's individual journey we must be careful about when we are describing others experience of it in a negative manner.<br /><br />Many readers in the modern age will indeed have no idea "what it felt like" to live in the Renaissance. This does not mean they can not approach the study of history or art in a rational way. Do we need to be violent religious zealots to properly study the Spanish Inquistion? Of course not!<br /><br />I was raised in an Islamic community - yet write mostly about famous Christian artists. I can easily explain why - it is no mystery and not tangled in emotion and spirituality. <br /><br />These people were great innovators and thinkers - this is what appeals to us down the ages. This is what Saurat was getting at. Regardless of what their personal and patrons' motivations were - this can not be taken away from those of us who enjoy the study of this period, whilst frankly admitting a lack of spiritual connection!<br /><br />Lewis expertly used pagan mythology in his own books - mixing them in with Christian motifs to push his very Anglo-Centric Christian views. Scholars are all aware of this, yet his work endures mainly because of its remarkable escapism and fantastical creatures - watching the modern adaptations of The Narnia Chronicles, most of the religious barrow-pushing is gone - though traces are still there to the discerning viewer. <br /><br />For more on this aspect of Lewis, read Juliette Harrisson's amazing article <a href="http://www2.open.ac.uk/ClassicalStudies/GreekPlays/newvoices/Issue5/Harrisson.pdf" rel="nofollow">The Domestication of Classical Mythology in The Chronicles of Narnia.</a><br /><br />If anything, the ability of some fervently spiritual people to be rational is something that is a cause for concern. People who see images of the Madonna in a piece toast or woodgrain patterns will see strange things in paintings too - and study of history and art most definitely does not need that to further its cause!<br /><br />Your reading of Tempest makes sense historically, given what other artists were doing at the time and what was happening in the Wars of the Holy League. Whether it gave solace to Vendramin, Hutton or anyone else is interesting - but does not strengthen the great historical foundation of your work. <br /><br />What would be more interesting to investigate was why Giorgione was so deliberately ambiguous in the Tempest, and why no records exist of Vendramin or any other contemporary viewer more clearly acknowledging Tempest as a spiritual work. It's not like 'the Rest' was a forbidden topic!<br /><br />Kind Regards<br />HAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02091875643921165081noreply@blogger.com