New publication: Frank Fehrenbach: Quasi vivo. Lebendigkeit in der italienischen Kunst der Frühen Neuzeit
8 December 2020
"Liveliness" is the dominant topos in art and the discourse on art in the Early Modern period. It is characterized by a paradox, for the works only seem to be alive. The allure of seemingly alive works, however, also reflects the impossibility of drawing rigid boundaries between dead and alive. Thus, art explores experimentally issues that also natural philosophy of the time is dealing with.
Volume five of the series »Naturbilder. Images of Nature« (De Gruyter publishing house, Berlin-Boston) explores transitions between life and death in case studies of early tombs, anatomical depictions, sculptural monochromy, the history of coloring, Vasari's teleology, Michelangelo's non-finito, and Titian's portraits. The range of studies also includes erotic images, monetary theory, gleam in the eye and still life, the visual poetry of Baroque, princely triumphal processions, as well as light and sculpture.
Frank Fehrenbach: Quasi vivo. Lebendigkeit in der italienischen Kunst der Frühen Neuzeit. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2021. 598 pages. ISBN: 978-3110374438.