From Heaven to Arcadia: The Sacred and the Profane in the Renaissance

by Ingrid D. Rowland

From the revelations of classical statuary pulled from the Roman soil as the popes began rebuilding the city in the fifteenth century, to the myth of serenity that Venice constructed to conceal its physical and political fragility, to bloody yet cultured Florence under the Medici, Ingrid Rowland traces the worldly, unworldly, and otherworldly strivings of artists, writers, popes, and politicians during that great "outburst of mental energy" we know as the Renaissance.

Here are Botticelli, whose illustrations for the Divine Comedy reveal him to be one of Dante's most careful readers; the multifaceted genius of Leonardo; the astonishing mastery of Titian and the erratic brilliance of artists like Correggio, Caravaggio, and Artemisia Gentileschi; the enigmatic erotic novel Hypnerotomachia Poliphil i; the Western fascination with the mysteries of Egypt; and the glittering spiritual ferment of late Byzantium, which as it collapsed passed on so many ideas to Renaissance Italy.

But beyond its artistic accomplishments, Rowland writes, "Renaissance life at its most distinctive was the intangible, unworldly life of the mind." In her pages astronomers and astrologists, poets and philosophers, pornographers and prostitutes jostle for attention with painters and sculptors. Among them the inquisitive Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher stands out as a polymath who ranged over nearly every field of knowledge. Even though his commingling of scientific observation and hermetic symbolism is now obsolete, he remains for Rowland "a builder of connections who insisted on seeing harmony in the midst of disorder"—and thus one of the most exemplary Renaissance figures of all.

Genres: Art, Art History, History, Essays, Nonfiction, Renaissance

324 pages, Hardcover

First published January 31, 2005

About the author

Ingrid Drake Rowland is a professor at the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture. She is a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books. Based in Rome, Rowland writes about Italian art, architecture, history and many other topics for The New York Review of Books. She is the author of the books Giordano Bruno: Philospher/Heretic (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2008); The Place of the Antique in Early Modern Europe; The Culture of the High Renaissance: Ancients and Moderns in Sixteenth Century Rome; The Roman Garden of Agostino Chigi Horst Gerson Memorial Lecture, Groningen: University of Groningen, 2005; The Scarith of Scornello: a Tale of Renaissance Forgery (University of Chicago Press, 2004). Her essays in The New York Review of Books were collected in From Heaven to Arcadia: The Sacred and the Profane in the Renaissance (New York Review Books, 2005).

Reviews

[James G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a terrific refresher and reminder of why I loved Renaissance studies so much and an important recollection of the how, when and why I got into the business of museums. About three quarters of the way, the format -- a collection of reviews by Roland, mainly from "The New York Review of Books" (1994-2003) -- became more evident and started to drag on my intake a bit. But overall this was an exquisite look into one scholar's view of the territory (such an important source of our western ways of thinking) and related, published material produced in the last 20 years. She has a fascination with Athanasius Kircher's "Ars Magna Sciendi", and also gives Bruno a lot of significance. The writing is strong, and when it shines it is some of the very best I have ever read. The chapter on Leonardo is some of the finest expository art writing I have ever come across: so confident as even being willing to be alliterative.

[Emma Strawbridge · Rating 2 out of 5]

it was fine. reviews of book reviews when you haven’t read the book are only so good. reviews of exhibits were cool though

[Lauren Albert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the collection pretty dull but then I tend not to like writing on art which is not accompanied by the matching reproductions. There are some, but not nearly enough, and reading descriptions of art just doesn't do it for me. A few of the essays at the end I found more interesting--the one on the use of lenses in Old Master's art (starting from a review of Hockney's book on the subject), one on Renaissance Astrology and Astronomy and finally, the one on Egyptology.

[Ross Henderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being a collection of ostensible book reviews, you would be forgiven for assuming they would be a bit dated. Almost (almost) without exception, however, the are as readable and relevant now as they were on first publication, thanks to the scope and eye of the wonderfully intelligent author.

[Jack Coleman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book that i would buy. My favourite era in History is magnified
in this book.Wish i could be one of her students.
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