The Mirror of the Gods: How the Renaissance Artists Rediscovered the Pagan Gods

by Malcolm Bull

By the end of the 15th century, the remains of the ancient gods littered the landscape of Western Europe. Christianity had erased the religions of ancient Greece and Rome and most Europeans believed the destruction of classical art was God's judgment on the pagan deities. How, then, did European artists during the next three centuries create such monumental works as Botticelli's The Birth of Venus and Raphael's Parnassus ?
In The Mirror of the Gods , Malcolm Bull tells the revolutionary story of how the great artists of Western Europe--from Botticelli and Leonardo to Titian and Rubens--revived the gods of ancient Greece and Rome. Each chapter focuses on a different deity and sheds dazzling new light on such familiar figures as Venus, Hercules, and Bacchus. Bull draws on hundreds of illustrations to illuminate the ancient myths through the eyes of Renaissance and Baroque artists, not as they appear in classical literature. When the wealthy and powerful princes of Christian Europe began to identify with the pagan gods, myth became the artist's medium for telling the story of his own time. The Mirror of the Gods is the fascinating and extraordinary story of how Renaissance artists combined mythological imagery and artistic virtuosity to change the course of western art.
The Mirror of the Gods profoundly deepens our understanding of some of the greatest and most subversive artwork in European history. This delightfully told, lavishly illustrated, and extraordinary book amply rewards our ongoing fascination with classical myth and Renaissance art.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Art History, History, Renaissance, Italy, Mythology

496 pages, Hardcover

First published April 28, 2005

About the author

Malcolm Bull is Professor of Art and the History of Ideas at Oxford University and a Senior Associate Research Fellow of Christ Church.

Reviews

[Roman Clodia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bull's work was greeted with an outbreak of academic controversy when it was first published, with reviews posted in papers such as the Guardian, Times and London Review of Books. It purports to overturn the established art-history view that Renaissance artists rediscovered the classical pagan gods as part of an integrated and institutionalised attempt to uncover eternal truths, and suggests instead that the gods were just decorative and ornamental, separate from any kind of ideology, and dislocated from both their textual and monumental sources.

To this end, Bull certainly provides plenty of evidence. But the premise which he kicks against is itself, now, one that does not necessarily stand up, especially in the wider, inter-disciplinary Renaissance studies world which seeks to move away from traditional art history or literary criticism as stand-alone disciplines and instead reconstruct a whole culture and its contradictory, multiple manifestations.

So this is certainly worth reading (and almost necessary for anyone working on Renaissance visual culture and/or classical influence) - but is it truly groundbreaking? Or does is simply argue against a viewpoint which has itself already been superceded?

[Sembray · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fresh and challenging look at my favourite period in art history. Bull offers an insightful, deeply researched and engrossing overview of the depiction of classical myths in the art of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, as well as the textual and antique sources they used and the ways in which allegory and mythology were used by artists and their patrons. All of the big names in the art of the period are here, from Titian and Tintoretto to Rubens and Rembrandt, and the writing is crammed with unexpected flourishes of wit and humour (I found the contortions carried out by male artists and art collectors in order to come up with excuses to paint gratuitous female nudes unexpectedly hilarious). On the whole I highly recommend this work for anyone interest in Greek and Roman mythology and the art of the 14th-17 centuries; as someone who owns a fair few books on this subject, The Mirror of the Gods is certainly among the most unique and enjoyable.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

suuuuper helpful and interesting — wish i read it sooner!

[Gregory · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read the book slowly, slowly almost a chapter every month to enjoy it better. At times there were too many details but the book was extremely interesting.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

let’s paint zeus’ horniness

[Karl · Rating 3 out of 5]

"some of the scenes on the ceiling would have been unfamiliar to a Roman viewer, who might never previously have seen favourites like Pan and Syrinx, or Diana and Callisto. And the amount of female nudity would have been a bit of a surprise, especially in the case of Diana, who in ancient times almost always wore a short tunic" (Bull: 378)

This is a book about mythological art in the Renaissance period. The book shows how this mythological art was different to the mythological art produced in ancient Rome and Greece. It also shows how different mythological art is from religious art in Renaissance Art.

The book gives many details about some Greco-Roman gods and how they were depicted in Renaissance Art. Throughout the book you get to know about the first surviving painting to date of a specific mythological subject. Or when depictions of the labours of Hercules became less frequent.

Some of the reasons as for why a mythological episode was not represented sound comical and ill-founded to me. But I love how the author challenges a few established ideas, like the one that says Titian's Sacred and Profane Love is a representation of a celestial and a terrestrial Venus. Or the one that considers Ovid as the most important source of myths.

Unless you are a big fan of mythological art, this book could be tiring to read, as the font size is pretty small, the book is large and there are many specific details to read. Perhaps a separate book for each god would have been better.

[Dwayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Erudite; and just look at that cover.

[Elijah]

Scanned through all the parts about Minerva/Athena. I've been on an Athena kick lately after reading The Odyssey again.

[Ella Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super comprehensive and a great resource

[Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting examination of portrayals and uses of classical subjects in Renaissance art. Some of the chapters are stronger than others — I particularly enjoyed the chapters about Venus, Diana, and Apollo. More like 3.5.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book for anyone who wants to understand how artists during the Renaissance shifted from portraying primarily Christian subject matter to depicting pagan gods, heros, and myths.

[Roberta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Non è una lettura eccezionale, ma da un ottimo punto di partenza per iniziare una ricerca seria sugli dei e sui loro oggetti simbolici.

[Katie Dufall · Rating 3 out of 5]

loved parts of this, like the chapter about diana/artemis, but i found i could only read a few pages a day as the writing is so intense and academic - enjoyed it overall tho

[Ted Tamasovich · Rating 4 out of 5]

so informative its almost boring. but i like the content.