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2002 Review of Vasari on Theatre, by Thomas A. Pallen Nancy Dersofi Bryn Mawr College

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Custom Citation Dersofi, Nancy. Review of Vasari on Theatre, by Thomas A. Pallen. Quarterly 55, no. 2 (2002): 702-703.

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tinctlysacred flavor to thesetting. I have summarized an elegantargument in rather baldterms, but here again Steinberg finds religious meaning in what many consider an exercisein geometryand naturalism,or evensecularism. And not surprisingly, thispart of his argument has found little support. After all, it is, as he himselffreely admits,beyond proof. On manylevels, Steinberg's book is an objectlesson in howto interrogatea ,and one which opens up manynew interpretative possibilities: a painting oftenthought of as clearand directbecomes rich and multivalent. Even if we don't agreewith all ofSteinberg's assertions and hypotheses,we can onlymarvel at his abilityto questionand to consider,to look and to see. Steinberg'sstudy of Leonardo'sfamously famous painting must be judged,now as before,as one ofthe classicsof art-historical scholarship. LEW ANDREWS Universityof Hawai'i, Mdnoa

Thomas A. Pallen. Vasarion Theatre Carbondaleand Edwardsville:Southern Illinois University Press, 1999. 159 pp. $39-95. ISBN: 0-8093-2161-0. In his Lives of theMost EminentPainters, Sculptors, and Architects, describesa numberof pageantsand theatricalperformances worked on by artistswhose biographiesappear in his work.To makeVasari's references to theatri- cal practices available in English, Thomas A. Pallen has extractedand newly translatedpertinent excerpts from the Lives. In addition to the translations,the book providescommentary on Renaissanceperformances and practices,including some omittedby Vasari,and adds severalother documents pertaining to Renais- sance theaterhistory. An appendixof cross-referencesto artistsin the DeVere and Milanesi editionsof the Lives,a list of the artists'life spans, an informativeintro- duction,and notes completethe volume. Renaissancehistorians will be interested in Pallen'sfocus on earlytheater, while the culturalcontext generated by Pallen's commentaryadvances development of therelatively new studyof theaterhistory. Divided intofour parts, the volume first reports on Triumphsand Pageantryin ,where sernitheatrical processions and pageantsplayed a role in civic life and politics.In a chapteron ingegnifor mystery plays and festivals,Pallen reviews Vasari'sdescriptions of theatricalmachinery designed by Filippo Brunelleschiand Cecca (Francescod'Angelo) forFlorentine celebrations of the Annunciationand theAscension. Translated passages from Ludovico Zorzi's interpretationsof these spectaclesand relatedcommentary on the theologicaland humanisticimplications of the Florentinemystery plays argues that the playswere the work of intellectuals concernedwith the humanist education of young men in Florence'sconfraternities. In a chapteron theatricalscenery, Pallen proposes an arc fromthe earlywork of Girolamo Genga extendingthrough contributions by BaldassarrePeruzzi, Giulio Pippi, called Giulio Romano, Bastiano da San Gallo, called Aristotile,Battista Franco,, and Vasarihimself. Although Vasari omitted from the Livesany REVIEWS 703

descriptionof the scenery he designedfor a Venetianproduction of Pietro Aretino's Talenta,deferring to commentaryelsewhere, Pallen reviews interpretations of Vasari'sscenic development of the"piazza and street"into an "infinite"street. Pallennotes that Vasari also omitsreference to his innovativeuse of a painted sipario(curtain), decorations of the auditorium and stage, and interactionbetween theintermezzi and theaction for a productionof Cofaneriain Florencein 1565 withintermezzi designed by Buontalenti. Pallen's final chapter in PartOne discusses thetheatrical work of Fra Giocondo, Cesare Cesariano, and Palladio.Vasari's omis- sionsof Leonardo da Vinciand as scenographersare lacunae here remedied bydescriptions of theircontributions to scenography. In PartTwo, excerpts from twenty of Vasari's biographies contrast markedly withthe ten volumes in GastonDeVere's English translation of the Lives, and that ofcourse is Pallen'spoint: to makethe information about theater in Vasari's monu- mentalwork accessible in English.Part Three contains supplemental documents includingBaldassare Castiglione's Letter to Ludovico di Canossadescribing the stage apparatusfor the 1513 performanceof Calandriain ,and a descriptionof thesame event found in a manuscriptin theVatican. A LetterftomVasari to Ottavi- ano deMedicidescribes the apparatus made in Venicefor a performanceof Pietro Aretino'sTalenta. Vasari's description of the wedding festivities for Francesco de' Mediciand Giovanna of Austria and his Letter to Raffael dal Borgoon theapparatus madein Florencefor the entrance of Emperor Charles V completethe documents. Notesand a Bibliographybring into play recent studies on earlytheatrical scenery, interpretationsoftheir relation to civiclife, and theoretical interests in thepractical developmentsleading to moderntheater. The Englishreader will be gladto know thatNino Pirrottaand ElenaPovoledo's seminal Li dueOrfei. Da Polizianoa Mon- teverdi(2n' ed.,Torino: Einaudi, 198 1), cited in Italian,was published as Musicand TheatreftomPoliziano to Monteverdi, translated by Karen Eales (Cambridge: Cam- bridgeUniversity Press, 1982). Overall,Pallen's bibliography is useful and his book givesEnglish readers valuable new access to thestudy of early modern stagecraft andto theaterand spectacle in RenaissanceFlorence. NANcy DERSOR BrynMawr College

HidetoshiHoshino. Industria tessile e commercio internazionale nella Firenze deltardo Medioevo Eds.Franco Franceschi and Sergio Tognetti. (Biblioteca Storica Toscana, Serie 1, vol. 39) Flo- rence:Leo S. 01schkiEditore, 2001. xvi+ 204 pp. L 42,000.ISBN: 88-222-4964-X. In 1991 Florentinescholarship lost one of its mostinfluential economic histo- rians: Hidetoshi Hoshino. Eleven years later, his impact on Florentine historiographystill resonates. Scholars who werefortunate enough to do researchin the Archiviodi Stato di Firenzein the 1970's and 1980's will certainlyremember ProfessorHoshino with fondness. His erudition, courtesy,and graciousness impressedestablished scholars and graduatestudents alike. An experton the late