Front Matter

Cambridge University Press 0521843413 - The Death of the Baroque and the Rhetoric of Good Taste Vernon Hyde Minor Frontmatter More information

THE DEATH OF THE BAROQUE and THE RHETORIC OF GOOD TASTE <

In late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century Rome, a rhetorical war raged among intellectuals in the attack and defense of language, literature, and the visual arts. The Death of the Baroque and the Rhetoric of Good Taste examines the cultural upheaval that accompanied attacks on the baroque predilection for orna- ment, extended visual metaphors, grandiloquence, and mystical rapture. Rome’s Academy of the Arcadians emerged as a potent social and cultural force in the ﬁnal decade of the seventeenth century, and throughout the eighteenth century it provided a setting for arguments on artistic taste and reforms in literature and religion. This book describes the waning days of the baroque, and ends with an analysis of the Parrhasian Grove, the Arcadian garden on the slopes of Rome’s Janiculum Hill.

Vernon Hyde Minor is professor in the departments of art and art history, and comparative literature and the humanities, at the University of Colorado, Boulder. A Fellow of the American Academy in Rome and member of the Association of Members of the Institute for Advanced Study, he is the author of Art History’s History, Baroque and Rococo: Art and Culture, and Passive Tranquility: The Sculpture of Filippo de la Valle. He is currently the Editor of the Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome.

THE DEATH OF THE BAROQUE and THE RHETORIC OF GOOD TASTE <

Vernon Hyde Minor

cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao˜ Paulo

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c Vernon Hyde Minor 2006

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First published 2006

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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Minor, Vernon Hyde. The death of the baroque and the rhetoric of good taste / Vernon Hyde Minor. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn-13: 978-0-521-84341-6 (hardback) isbn-10: 0-521-84341-3 (hardback) 1. Arts, Baroque – Italy. 2. Arts, Italian – 16th century. 3. Aesthetics, Modern – 17th century. 4. Art criticism – Italy – History – 17th century. I. Title. nx552.a1.m55 2005 700.9032 –dc22 2005011725

isbn-13 978-0-521-84341-6 hardback isbn-10 0-521-84341-3 hardback

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contents <

Illustrations page vii Acknowledgments ix

introduction 1

one: cattivo gusto and some aspects of baroque rhetoric 4

two: buon gusto 26

three: arcadia, pastoralism, and good taste 61

four: what is arcadian architecture? 97

five: a short history of the academy of the arcadians 115

six: the parrhasian grove 127

Notes 171 Bibliography 191 Index 193

illustrations <

1 Michelangelo Marisi da Caravaggio, Cruciﬁxion of St. Peter, 1601–02, Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome page 13 2 Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, St. John the Baptist, 1609–10, Villa Borghese, Rome 15 3 Gianlorenzo Bernini, Interior of Sant’Andrea al Quirinale, 1658–70, Rome 19 4 Luca Giordano, Ecce Homo, 1659–60, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan 23 5 Francesco Trevisani, Rest on the Flight into Egypt,c.1715, Dresden, Gemaldegalerie¨ Alte Meister 67 6 Jan Frans van Bloemen, Arcadian Scene with Roman Buildings,c. 1690s 70 7 Giacomo della Porta, Tomb of Paul III, Farnese, 1551 –1575 , St. Peter’s, Rome 77 8 Gianlorenzo Bernini, Tomb of Urban VIII, Barberini, 1623–45, St. Peter’s, Rome 79 9 Filippo della Valle, Tomb of Innocent XII, Pignatelli (with design provided by Ferdinando Fuga), 1743, St. Peter’s Rome 82 10 Filippo della Valle, Tomb of Thomas Dereham, 1739, S. Tommaso degli Inglesi, Rome 83 11 Detail of Figure 10 83 12 Carlo Maratti, Venus Tinting the Rose, black chalk, after original painting (now lost), Belgium, Private Collection 88 13 Carlo Maratti, The Judgment of Paris, Ekaterininsky Palace, Pushkin (Tzarskoje Selo), Russia 90 14 Carlo Maratti, Apollo and Daphne, 1681, Brussels, Musees´ Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgigue 92 15 Carlo Maratti, Self Portrait with the Marchese Pallavicini (Il Tempio di Virtu),` Stourhead, Wiltshire, The National Trust, Hoare Collection 94 16 Nicola Salvi, Trevi Fountain, 1732–62, Rome 103 17 Nicola Salvi, Trevi Fountain, detail of slipping pilaster 107

vii

ILLUSTRATIONS

18 Nicola Salvi, Trevi Fountain, detail of grotesque masks, c. 1735, Rome 108 19 Giuseppe Prodi and Francesco Pincellotti, Oak Tree, 1742–4, Trevi Fountain, Rome 109 20 Filippo della Valle, Salubrity, 1762, Trevi Fountain, Rome 110 21 Filippo della Valle, Fecundity, 1762, Trevi Fountain, Rome 111 22 Andrea Bergondi, Agrippa Supervising the Construction of the Aqua Virgo, 1760, Trevi Fountain, Rome 112 23 Giovanni Battista Grossi, Trivia Pointing Out the Source of the Aqua Virgo, 1760, Trevi Fountain, Rome 113 24 Giovan Mario Crescimbeni, Plan for an Arcadian Garden, 1725, Biblioteca Angelica, Rome 131 25 Antonio Canevari, Project for the Bosco Parrasio, 1725, drawing, Accademia di San Luca, Rome 132 26 Antonio Canevari, Dedicatory Plaque, with Inscription to John V of Portugal 133 27 Antonio Canevari, Stairway, Bosco Parrasio, Rome 134 28 Antonio Canevari, Skene and Paraskenia, Theater, Bosco Parrasio 135 29 Plaque Honoring Giovan Mario Crescimbeni, Bosco Parrasio, Rome 137 30 Ernst Lawson, Plan of Bosco Parrasio, 1920, Library of the American Academy in Rome, Rome 145 31 Antonio Canevari, Capital on Inside of Gate, Bosco Parrasio, Rome 146 32 Antonio Canevari, Grotto, Bosco Parrasio, Rome 147 33 Antonio Canevari, Gravina’s “Laws” of the Arcadia, Bosco Parrasio, Rome 149

viii

acknowledgments <

I first encountered references to buon gusto back in the 1970s when I was scouring through Caterina Chracas’s gossipy little Roman newspaper Il diario ordinario. Nearly every time she described the dedication of a new work of art in early- eighteenth-century Rome, she inserted this phrase. It was clear to me that there was some considerable meaning lying behind what seems on the surface to be an innocent appeal to good taste. Because I have, in fact, been thinking about the subject of this book since graduate school days, my debts of gratitude are legion. My doctoral adviser, Robert Enggass, was there at the beginning and spoke with me about Roman art of the settecento just before his death late in 2003. There are no words to describe his encouragement and support – and so I will leave it at that. I did not actively begin the research and writing of this book until 1997– 1998, when I was fortunate enough to be, while on sabbatical from the University of Colorado, a member of the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton. There Irving Lavin was an important presence and an encouraging colleague. He and his wife, Marilyn, organized Monday lunches for those of us interested in visual studies, and I have vivid memories of the stimulating conversations we had. And the fun. Marian Zelazny, the administrative officer of the School of Historical Studies at the IAS, made everything work, and Allen Rowe, the associate director of the Institute, became a friend, and is one to this day. He helped me in any number of ways during my tenure there. In 1999–2000, I was the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) senior Rome prize fellow at the American Academy in Rome. The director of the academy, Lester Little, organized “shop talks,” which we all enjoyed. When it was my turn, I spoke on buon gusto and the Academy of the Arcadians. There is nothing like the fellowship shared at such a place, nor no more beautiful setting than the American Academy in Rome. I thank Adele Chatfield Taylor, Wayne A. Linker, Pina Pasquantonio, Lella Gandini, Anne Coulson, and Christina Huemer of the American Academy who work tirelessly for the benefit of the fellows and this wonderful place. The continued collaboration of the National Endowment for the Humanities, who sponsored my fellowship, is

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

crucial to the success of the academic mission at the academy. I am grateful to the NEH. For three months in the spring of 2001, I was a visiting fellow – in fact, a “scientific guest” – at the Bibliotheca Hertziana in Rome. Elisabeth Kieven, codirector of the Hertiziana, has been a colleague since the days when we were both writing our dissertations. The Hertziana and the Max Planck Gesellschaft are fortunate indeed to have Elisabeth at the helm. She was gracious and endlessly helpful during my time in Rome. John Pinto of Princeton University, also a fellow at the Hertziana, was kind enough to share his office with me. We had a number of adventures together in Rome and became fast friends. He has read parts – and indeed, all – of this manuscript probably more times than he would like to remember. His ability to give just the right suggestion for changes and rearrangements amazes me. I thank him and his wife Meg for their friendship and support. Many at the University of Colorado at Boulder have been superb mentors and colleagues. I especially want to thank Paul Gordon, David Ferris, Erika Doss, and Claire Farago. Tod Gleeson, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, along with associate dean for the Arts and Humanities Graham Oddie, have been unfailingly helpful and generous. On a number of occasions, the Graduate Committee on Arts and Human- ities and the Council on Research and Creative Work have provided me with much needed and much appreciated travel grants. The Roman library that holds in its Fondo Antico the documents and texts of the Accademia degli Arcadi, the Biblioteca Angelica, is a delightful place to work. Vanvitelli’s beautiful reading room, which soars like a cathedral, inspired me in my studies. I thank the director of the Angelica, Marina Panetta, along with Daniela Scialanga, who assisted me with acquiring photographs of documents in their collection. Janice Powell of Princeton University’s Marquand Art Library has made me feel welcomed and has assisted me beyond anything I had a right to expect in the use of one of the world’s premier collection of art historical texts. It heartens me that such places exist. We are all the richer for people like Jan, custodians of vast bibliographic wealth and delightful spaces in which to study. Liesel Nolan, head librarian of the University of Colorado’s art library, never failed to help me find resources for my researches, and I thank her for her assistance over the years. Finally, I thank my wife Heather for everything. Toher I dedicate this book.