The Art of Discovery : Digging into the Past in Renaissance Europe

Anthony T. Grafton

ISBN 10: 069123714X / ISBN 13: 9780691237145

Published by Princeton University Press Nov 2022, 2022

About this Item

Neuware - A panoramic history of the antiquarians whose discoveries transformed Renaissance culture and gave rise to new forms of art and knowledgeIn the early fifteenth century, a casket containing the remains of the Roman historian Livy was unearthed at a Benedictine abbey in Padua. The find was greeted with the same enthusiasm as the bones of a Christian saint, and established a pattern that antiquarians would follow for centuries to come. The Art of Discovery tells the stories of the Renaissance antiquarians who turned material remains of the ancient world into sources for scholars and artists, inspirations for palaces and churches, and objects of pilgrimage and devotion.Maren Elisabeth Schwab and Anthony Grafton bring to life some of the most spectacular finds of the age, such as Nero s Golden House and the wooden placard that was supposedly nailed to the True Cross. They take readers into basements, caves, and cisterns, explaining how digs were undertaken and shedding light on the methods antiquarians and the alchemists and craftspeople they consulted used to interpret them. What emerges is not an origin story for modern archaeology or art history but rather an account of how early modern artisanal skills and technical expertise were used to create new knowledge about the past and inspire new forms of art, scholarship, and devotion in the present.The Art of Discovery challenges the notion that Renaissance antiquarianism was strictly a secular enterprise, revealing how the rediscovery of Christian relics and the bones of martyrs helped give rise to highly interdisciplinary ways of examining and authenticating objects of all kinds.

Seller Inventory # 9780691237145

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Art of Discovery : Digging into the Past in Renaissance Europe
• Publisher: Princeton University Press Nov 2022
• Publication Date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 069123714X
• ISBN 13: 9780691237145
• Binding: Buch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 219W x 145H x 34D millimeters 219 millimeters width by 145 millimeters height by 34 millimeters depth
• Weight: 580 grams

About this title

Synopsis

A panoramic history of the antiquarians whose discoveries transformed Renaissance culture and gave rise to new forms of art and knowledge

In the early fifteenth century, a casket containing the remains of the Roman historian Livy was unearthed at a Benedictine abbey in Padua. The find was greeted with the same enthusiasm as the bones of a Christian saint, and established a pattern that antiquarians would follow for centuries to come. The Art of Discovery tells the stories of the Renaissance antiquarians who turned material remains of the ancient world into sources for scholars and artists, inspirations for palaces and churches, and objects of pilgrimage and devotion.

Maren Elisabeth Schwab and Anthony Grafton bring to life some of the most spectacular finds of the age, such as Nero’s Golden House and the wooden placard that was supposedly nailed to the True Cross. They take readers into basements, caves, and cisterns, explaining how digs were undertaken and shedding light on the methods antiquarians—and the alchemists and craftspeople they consulted—used to interpret them. What emerges is not an origin story for modern archaeology or art history but rather an account of how early modern artisanal skills and technical expertise were used to create new knowledge about the past and inspire new forms of art, scholarship, and devotion in the present.

The Art of Discovery challenges the notion that Renaissance antiquarianism was strictly a secular enterprise, revealing how the rediscovery of Christian relics and the bones of martyrs helped give rise to highly interdisciplinary ways of examining and authenticating objects of all kinds.

About the Author

Maren Elisabeth Schwab teaches postclassical Latin and history of knowledge at the University of Kiel. She is the author of Antike begreifen. Anthony Grafton is the Henry Putnam University Professor of History at Princeton University. His books include Inky Fingers: The Making of Books in Early Modern Europe and Information: A Historical Companion (Princeton).