Synopses & Reviews
As they had during the Renaissance, ruins in the eighteenth century continued to serve as places of exchange between antiquity and modern times and between one architect and another. Rome functioned as a cultural entrepôt, drawing to it architects of the caliber of Filippo Juvarra, Robert Adam, Charles-Louis Clérisseau, and Giovanni Battista Piranesi. Through their collaboration, on-site exchanges, publications, and polemics, architects contributed notably to fashioning a more critical and sophisticated view of the material heritage of classical antiquity, one that we associate with the Enlightenment and the origins of modern archaeology. In this lavishly illustrated volume stemming from his Thomas Spencer Jerome Lectures at the University of Michigan and the American Academy in Rome, distinguished architectural historian John A. Pinto traces an extraordinary path through the development of European architecture. This period saw the transformation of history and archaeology. Texts were treated more skeptically as scholars placed greater reliance on artifacts as sources of information, and architects such as Giovanni Battista Piranesi increasingly played a crucial role in the recording and visual presentation of ancient art and architecture.
Piranesi and other eighteenth-century architects active in Rome explored the full creative potential of ancient architecture, its dual metaphorical function as both palimpsest and template. Their responses to the ruins of Rome, as well as other parts of the classical world, created a significant body of historical knowledge, but also propelled them to create new and dazzling designs, such as the Trevi Fountain, Santa Maria del Priorato, and Syon House. Their elaborate study and accurate renderings of ancient sites enriched contemporary understanding of the material heritage of classical antiquity; their informed conjectures and flights of fancy gave it wings. Their encounters on sites such as Hadrian's Villa and Pompeii, where the ruins spoke with great eloquence, greatly enriched the architectural discourse of the Enlightenment. Speaking Ruins emphasizes the close relationship between the intensifying archaeological explorations in this period especially in Rome and vicinity, but also in Greece and the Levant, and the development of post-Baroque styles in architecture, shading gradually into romanticism and neoclassicism.
Speaking Ruins is an investigation of the legacy of classical antiquity. As a study of the classical tradition, it should be of particular interest to classicists and archaeologists, while its argument that eighteenth-century Rome provided a crucible for the developing disciplines of archaeology and art history will engage the interest of a wide range of humanistic scholars. Speaking Ruins tells a fascinating story, with Piranesi and his works centrally involved.
Review
andquot;Pinto has erected a fine monument for Piranesi and his architectural and artistic colleagues.andquot;andnbsp;
andmdash;Bryn Mawr Classical Review
Review
andquot;This handsome book by Pinto ... is a comprehensive study of the important influence in the Ranaissance and during the 18th century of the ruins of ancient Romeandquot;
andmdash;Choice
Review
"Pompeii's Vesuvius victimsand#151;as well as the fields of museum studies and archaeology, along with more recent Italian politicsand#151;come to life here through plaster casts of those who lost their lives in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 C.E. Dwyer (art history, Kenyon Coll.) invites the reader to experience the 1861 unification of Italy and what it meant for those working on Pompeian artifacts. While keeping the focus on the statues themselves, formed by pouring plaster into cavities where ancient Pompeians lay amid hardened ash, Dwyer adds information about the era of the eruption, comparative analyses from colleagues in the field, and archaeological and political context to create a holistic scope for deeper understanding of the lives of the victims of Pompeii and the people who brought them back to life. Dwyer thus expands the scope of the lessons from the Pompeii Museum and of general museum studies.
VERDICT Scholars and armchair travelers alike will be fascinated by this distinctive book."
and#151;Library Journal
Review
"Written in a lively style with all foreign language texts translated, the book will appeal to readers at all levels."
and#8212;Choice (Highly Recommended)
Review
"Dwyer's scholarship is sound, his writing engaging."
and#8212;John R. Clar
Review
"This delightful volume is a welcome contribution to understanding what made Fiorelli and his methods so important, and to show how intimately archaeological method is linked to political and ideological change."
and#8212;A. Wallace-Hadrill, Journal of Roman Archaeology
Synopsis
A study of Piranesi's presentation of classical Roman architecture, through drawings and etchings
Synopsis
John Pintos newest volume traces an extraordinary path through the development of European architecture in the mid-18th century. This period saw the transformation of history and archaeology. Texts were treated more skeptically as scholars placed greater reliance on artifacts as sources of information, and architects such as Giovanni Battista Piranesi increasingly played a crucial role in the recording and visual presentation of ancient art and architecture.
In this lavishly illustrated volume stemming from his Thomas Spencer Jerome Lectures at the University of Michigan and the American Academy in Rome, distinguished architectural historian John Pinto offers case studies of important architectural and archaeological sites in and around Rome, such as the Trevi Fountain and the ancient Italian cities of Pompeii and Paestum. Speaking Ruins emphasizes the close relationship between the intensifying archaeological explorations in this period especially in Rome and vicinity, but also in Greece and the Levant and the development of post-Baroque styles in architecture, shading gradually into Romanticism and Neo-Classicism.
Pinto concludes with the wider context of Piranesis interests: the early researches of English architects and archaeologists in the Mediterranean and the transmission of their findings back to Great Britain. Speaking Ruins tells a fascinating story, with Piranesi and his works centrally involved.
Synopsis
An intriguing look at contemporary views regarding the casts of victims from Mt. Vesuvius' eruption
Synopsis
In AD 79, Mt. Vesuvius erupted in two stages. While the first stage was incredibly destructive, it was the second stage, a so-called pyroclastic flow, that inundated Pompeii with a combination of superheated gases, pumice, and rocks, killing tens of thousands of people and animals and burying them in ash and mud.
During excavations of the town in 1863, Giuseppe Fiorelli, the director of the dig, poured plaster of paris into a cavity under the soil revealed by a workman's pick. When the plaster set and the mound was uncovered, all were amazed to see the secret that the ground had held for 1,800 years: a detailed cast of an ancient Pompeian such as no one had seen before, frozen in the instant of dying and complete in every respect, including outlines of the clothes he was wearing at the time of the destruction. The bodies, photographed and exhibited in the specially built Pompeii Museum, completely changed the world's ideas of life in ancient Italy.
Pompeii's Living Statues is a narrative account, supported by contemporary documents, of the remarkable discovery of those ancient victims preserved in the volcanic mud of Vesuvius.
Eugene Dwyer examines these casts and related records, the originals of a number of which (along with their museum) were lost in World War II bombing. As he considers the casts as archaeological and cultural pieces, he also discusses Pompeii and its artifacts in the context of Italian unification and party politics, the development of modern excavation methods, and the challenges of maintaining a very large archaeological site. Dwyer's clear organization and writing style, combined with a collection of photographs and engravings, make for a fascinating exploration of Pompeii and its victims.
About the Author
John Pinto is Howard Crosby Butler Memorial Professor of Art and Archaeology at Princeton University and a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome.