Life and the Arts in the Baroque Palaces of Rome: Ambiente Barocco

Thriving centers of artistic and cultural activity, Rome`s Baroque palaces of the seventeenth century were magnificently furnished. This beautifully illustrated book presents examples of carved furniture, silver, textiles, paintings, and other items that filled these palaces. The authors explain what the furnishings reveal about the aristocratic families of the period, their social lives, and patronage of the arts.

While there is no dearth of knowledge or appreciation of the monumental aspects of Roman Baroque art, less well attended and savored are the decorative arts of the time. This handsomely illustrated exhibition catalog begins to redress this dereliction. Unlike catalogs that separate scholarly essays, this volume effectively integrates expository considerations with the exquisitely varied objects of the exhibit. The several essays create a stylistic, social, and political context for the appreciation of these decorative objects within the magnificent palaces of Rome's religious grandees. While it may not be possible to reconstruct the total kinetic experience of these works in their urban and domestic settings, the overall affect created by a consideration of ephemeral art like fireworks, festivals, and sugar sculpture, along with a splendid selection of designs, arms, furniture, and devotional objects, brings us inestimably closer to the Baroque experience. Essential for art history and design collections.ARobert Cahn, Fashion Inst. of Technology, New York
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.