Description
Book SynopsisExamines the nexus of learned culture and architecture in the 1730s to 1750s, including major building projects in Rome undertaken by the popes.
Trade Review“This study makes a considerable contribution to our understanding of eighteenth-century architecture in its cultural and intellectual context.”
—Jeffrey Collins,Bard Graduate Center
“[The Culture of Architecture in Enlightenment Rome] has a very specific subject and is argued with great clarity: it deals with seven architectural commissions ordered by the popes Clement XII Corsini (reg. 1730–40) and Benedict XIV Lambertini (reg. 1740–58), the expression of a cultural flowering that related to the reformist currents of Roman intellectual society of the day. . . . . [Hyde Minor has] introduced new critical boundaries for the understanding of the cultural context of eighteenth-century Roman architecture.”
—Tommaso Manfredi The Burlington Magazine
“Filled with discussions of taste, doctrine, ecclesiastical history, familial strife, archaeology, and book history. . . . Minor has arrayed a rich feast of information around the architecture of papal Rome in the eighteenth century. She brilliantly resurrects the aspirant ambitions of popes, scholars, and architects that built in order to keep Rome a centre of art and learning.”
—Robin Thomas EAHN Newsletter
“This is a readable, amiable narrative bursting with information relating to an impressive range of subjects. Minor’s laudable determination to relate architecture to the world unfolding around it means that the level of contextual scene-setting goes far beyond what one normally encounters in books of this sort. . . . In the end, her book succeeds at the difficult task of offering both an engaging entry point for scholars new to the topic and a stimulating synthetic interpretation for those already involved with it.”
—Richard Wittman CAA Reviews
Table of ContentsContents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
Part 1. Restoration
The Past as Future: Ecclesiastical History and Christian Antiquity
1. San Giovanni in Laterano: How Alessandro Galilei Finished One Controversy Only to Begin Another
2. Santa Maria Maggiore: How Pier Filippo Strozzi Tried to Understand the Modern Notion of History and Failed Completely
3. The Corsini Chapel: How Giovanni Bottari Used Ecclesiastical History to Write a Book, Build a Chapel, and Vanquish His Enemies
Part 2. Reform
Papal Palaces in the Age of Economic Reform
4. The Corsini Palace: How Neri Corsini Still Managed to Build One of the Most Extravagant Palaces in Rome
5. The Quirinal Hill: How Lione Pascoli Tried to Solve Everything with a List
Part 3. Renewal
Building Knowledge: Public Institutions and Learning
6. The Capitoline Museum: How Alessandro Gregorio Capponi Finally Convinced Everyone He Was Important
7. The Corsini Library: How Giovanni Bottari Got the Last Word
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
