Only Connect: Art and the Spectator in the Italian Renaissance

John K.G. Shearman; John K.G. Shearman

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Only Connect

Art and the Spectator in the Italian Renaissance

John K.G. Shearman and John K.G. Shearman

Language: English

Published/Copyright: 2023

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About this book

A leading art historian’s plea for a more engaged reading of Italian Renaissance art

Only Connect constructs a history of Renaissance paintings and sculptures that are by design completed outside themselves by the spectator, that draw the spectator into their narrative plot or aesthetic functioning, and that reposition the spectator imaginatively or in time and space. John Shearman’s concern is mostly with anterior relationships with the viewer—that is, relationships conceived and constructed as part of a work’s design, making, and positioning. He proposes unconventional ways in which works of art may be distinguished from one another, and in which spectators may be distinguished as well, and enlarges the accepted field of artistic invention. Only Connect challenges us to recognize the presuppositions of Renaissance artists about their viewers, shining a light on the process of discovery by some of the most inventive and intellectual artists of the period.

Author / Editor information

John Shearman (1931–2003) was the Charles Adams University Professor Emeritus at Harvard University and the author of many books, including Raphael in Early Modern Sources, 1483–1602; The Early Italian Pictures in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen; and Mannerism.

Reviews

"[Shearman's] argument that the observer, in the artist's mind, was as carefully placed, posed and arranged as the content of the work is sustained by considerable intelligence and scholarship."---Robin Blake, Independent on Sunday --- "As the author of a brilliant work on Mannerism, in which literature and music were employed to explain characteristic forms, Shearman is eminently qualified for his task. [He] weaves a brilliant account of poetry and painting immortalising the sitter."---Bruce Boucher, The Times --- "Shearman's six lectures contribute significantly to current debates about the interpretation of images, particularly in relation to their reception by the spectators."---Martin Kemp, Times Literary Supplement --- "In guiding our concentrated attention to the action that unfolds in [a group of paintings by Raphael, Michelangelo, Pontormo, and others that represent the Entombment], the author has taught us to make the relevant connections and thus to see these deeply moving works with fresh eyes."---E. H. Gombrich, New York Review of Books --- "One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 1993" --- "Winner of the Charles Rufus Morey Award, College Art Association"

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Frontmatter
i

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Contents
xi

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List of Illustrations
xiii

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Introduction
1

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I. A More Engaged Spectator
10

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II. A Shared Space
59

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III. Portraits and Poets
108

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IV. Domes
149

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V. History, and Energy
192

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VI. Imitation, and the Slow Fuse
227

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Sources of Illustration
263

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Index
265

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Publishing information

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

eBook published on:

October 12, 2023

eBook ISBN:

9780691252728

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691252728

eBook ISBN: 9780691252728

Keywords for this book

Disraeli; Benjamin; Le Goff; Jacques; historiography; interpretation; methodology; Only connect...; Baxandall; Michael; Bouwsma; William; Harvard University; Marxism; Shearman; John; Steinmann; Ernst; conservatism; hermeneutics; historicism; period eye; positivism; Apelles; Aristides; Carmelites; Domenico di Bartolo; Este; Michelangelo; Novellara; Fra Pietro da; Pliny the Elder; Renaissance; iconology; interpretation; literary criticism; reading; Burckhardt; Jacob; Friedländer; Max; Kemp; Wolfgang; Leonardo

Audience(s) for this book

For a non-specialist adult audience

Only Connect

Overview

About this book

Author / Editor information

Reviews

Topics

Table of contents

Frontmatter

Contents

List of Illustrations

Introduction

I. A More Engaged Spectator

II. A Shared Space

III. Portraits and Poets

IV. Domes

V. History, and Energy

VI. Imitation, and the Slow Fuse

Sources of Illustration

Index

Bibliographic data