Il marmo spirante : sculpture and experience in seventeenth-century Rome
Gastel, J.J. van
Citation
Gastel, J. J. van. (2011, September 8). Il marmo spirante : sculpture and experience in seventeenth-century Rome. Retrieved from
https://hdl.handle.net/1887/17826
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Preface
This study is concerned with seventeenth-century sculpture in Rome, but it is not a study of the ordinary kind. It will not give an overview of the period, or of a stylistic development, nor will it be restricted to a single artist, or one spe- cific type of sculpture. Although the work and reception of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, without a doubt the sculptor who managed to leave the largest impres- sion on the sculpture of the period, will play a central role, this is not supposed to be a book about him, nor is it to be a book about any of the other seven- teenth-century sculptors in particular. Many of such books exist—indeed, some would argue, too many—and I have used them gratefully. And even if many sculptors have been less fortunate than Bernini it is not the aim of this book to fill this gap. So what does this study have to say about the sculpture of the Ro- man baroque? It is about how people looked at sculpture and how we may look at it today. It is about the ways the seventeenth-century beholder engaged with the apparent life of the sculpted figure, but also with the cold hardness of the marble, and how the sculptor invited him or her to do so. It is about what texts may tell us about these things, and about how we can use psychology to bring these things together. And whereas I have not strived for completeness, I hope some of my ideas will have a relevance beyond the specific cases I relate them to, and even beyond the period I have chosen as my focus.
This thesis has been written in the context of the research project Art, Ag- ency, and Living Presence in Early Modern Italy, generously funded by the Nether- lands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and sited at Leiden Univer- sity. The questions that form the core of this book have been formulated against the background of the main theme of the project, that is, the agency of
Preface iv
early modern Italian art (painting, sculpture, architecture, theatre) and the ways in which beholders engage with art as if it is alive, and I would urge those who are interested in such questions also to have a look at the other studies that have and will come out of it. Some of the ideas I put forward in the text go back to earlier dates though, when I studied psychology and art history at the VU University, Amsterdam, and I am thankful to my two mentors there, Huib Looren de Jong and Paul van den Akker respectively, for providing me with such a rich background.
Among the colleagues of the Art and Agency project, I would first like to thank Minou Schraven; without her encouragement to apply for a position within the project this book would have never been written. I am grateful to Caroline van Eck, not only for her support and countless suggestions on my work but also for the lengths she went to in order to secure a place for me in the project. Maarten Delbeke has generously shared with me his broad know- ledge on the Roman baroque, and his numerous suggestions on my texts often made me feel that he knew better than myself what I wanted to say. Like Mi- nou, also the other post-docs of the project, Stijn Bussels and Lex Hermans, have been inspiring colleagues, and it will be difficult to forget our productive discussions and laughter-filled research meetings.
Pallas, later Institute of Cultural Disciplines, provided a lively scholarly con- text for my work while as a member of the Huizinga Institute I had many op- portunities to discuss my ideas in an interdisciplinary setting. During the annual workshops that were organized in the context of the Art and Agency project at the Netherlands Institute of Advanced Studies in Wassenaar I have profited greatly from discussing my work with the scholars who joined us there. I recall particularly fruitful exchanges with Malcolm Baker, Frank Fehrenbach, Jason Gaiger, Jeanette Kohl, Arno Witte and Joanna Woodall.
My research could not have been conducted without the hospitality and support of both the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome and the Dutch Uni- versity Institute of Art History in Florence. At the institute in Rome I am par- ticularly grateful to Bert Treffers, David Rijser, Ivana Bolognese, and the other members of staff. At the Florence institute to Bert Meijer, Gert Jan van der Sman, and Tjarda Vermijden.
Finally I thank my family, who have encouraged and supported me throughout my studies and academic endeavours. I dedicate this book to Elsje van Kessel, who joined me on this crazy ride, and has never failed to stand by me.
Ferrara, 19 June 2011
