Shake your hips
Tag Archives: Giambattista Piranesi
monumental stairs
The monumental. Rome, the grandest of Italian hill towns, has an abundance of stairs unequaled anywhere in the world. A complicated topography, and a populace with an insatiable appetite for pomp, spurred architects to devise panoramic staircases for social and … Continue reading
upstairs downstairs
To speak of the ups and downs of stairs would sound like punning, had history not left a graphic record of their shifting importance. In the past, stairs always ranked with the noblest elements of architecture. Ascending or descending a … Continue reading
re-use saves abuse
In earlier times pagan temples were converted in Christian churches, mausoleums made to serve as fortresses, sarcophagi put to use as bathtubs: by such thrifty and practical expedients untold treasures from classical antiquity have been preserved from ruin and destruction… … Continue reading
Posted in Art History/Antiquity/Anthropology, Feature Article, Ideas/Opinion
Tagged church of Sant' Adriano, church SS. Cosma e Damiano, Giambattista Piranesi, James Stuart and Nicholas Revett, Library of Augustus, Madame Pickwick, madame pickwick art blog, Mary Beard, Piranesi etchings Rome, San Lorenzo in Miranda, Santa Maria Antiqua, temple Divine Romulus, temple of Antoninus and Faustina
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antiquity: thrifty and expedient
…One wonders in looking at the the desolation of the Roman Forum or the Athenian Agora, of all the architectural splendor which once adorned these centres, why there is so little to see. Why have so many buildings vanished entirely … Continue reading
Posted in Art History/Antiquity/Anthropology, Feature Article, Ideas/Opinion
Tagged Antiquities of Athens Stuart and Revett, Giambattista Piranesi, Giovanni Arberino sarcophagus, James Stuart and Nicholas Revett, John of Velletri bishop, Madame Pickwick, madame pickwick art blog, Mary Beard, Piranesi etchings, Piranesi Rome, Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Willem van Neulandt, Willem van Nieulandt
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not much standing
…Viewing the desolation of the Roman Forum or the Athenian Agora, it is easy to wonder why , of all the architectural splendor which once adorned these important centers, thee is actually so little to see. What happened to so … Continue reading
Posted in Art History/Antiquity/Anthropology, Feature Article, Ideas/Opinion
Tagged Annibale Lippi, Boboli Garden, Emperor Joseph II of Austria, Fortuna Virilis temple, French Academy Rome, Giambattista Piranesi, Giuseppe Vasi, Grand Duke Leopold I of Tuscany, Madame Pickwick, madame pickwick art blog, Piranesi etchings, Villa Medici Rome
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reuse: the thrift instinct
…In earlier times pagan temples were converted into Christian churches, mausoleums made to serve as fortresses, sarcophagi put to use as bathtubs. By such thrifty and practical expedients untold treasures from classical antiquity were able to be preserved from ruin … Continue reading
POMPEII: Dangerously Low Necklines
When the ruins of Pompeii came to light, they caused a revolution in taste-stripping away rococo gilt, reshaping the female figure, and leaving a deposit of pseudo-Greek temples from Moscow to Mississippi- although what sometimes passed for “classical” would have … Continue reading
Posted in Art History/Antiquity/Anthropology, Cinema/Visual/Audio, Feature Article, Ideas/Opinion, Miscellaneous
Tagged A.O. Lovejoy, Beau Brummell, Boily, Emma Hamilton, Fragonard, Francois Boucher, George Boas, George Romney, Giambattista Piranesi, Giorgio Sommer, Ingres, J.A.D. Ingres, Jacques-Louis David, Jean Antoine Watteau, Jean Francois Chalgrin Architect, Johann Joachim Winckelmann, Keats, Keats Ode on a Grecian Urn, Max Beerbohm, Peter Paul Rubens, Richard Cosway, Robert Adam Architect, Roger Sandall, Sir Kenneth Clark
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POMPEII: Adam and Adamesque
When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D. , the ensuing earthquake and volcanic ash buried the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum until their rediscovery in the eighteenth century. When the ruins came to light, they caused a revolution in taste-stripping … Continue reading
Posted in Art History/Antiquity/Anthropology, Feature Article, Ideas/Opinion, Miscellaneous, Visual Art/Sculpture/etc.
Tagged Charles Greville, Edith Piaf, Emma Hamilton, Giambattista Piranesi, Horace Walpole, James Adam architect, Jean Francois Chalgrin Architect, Jean Racine, Johann Joachim Winckelmann, Joseph Addison, Josiah Wedgwood, Karl Weber Pompeii, Queen Maria Carolina of Naples, Robert Adam Architect, Sir William Hamilton, Syon House, William Beckford
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PASSION FOR POMPEII: “RANDY FOR ANTIQUE”
It was buried by a volcanic eruption in 79 A.D. Pompeii. When the ruins came to light, beginning in 1747, they caused a revolution in taste- stripping away rococo gilt, reshaping the female figure , and leaving a deposit of … Continue reading
Posted in Art History/Antiquity/Anthropology, Cinema/Visual/Audio, Feature Article, Ideas/Opinion, Literature/poetry/spoken word, Miscellaneous, Visual Art/Sculpture/etc.
Tagged Archibald Alison, Benjamin West, Bulwer-Lytton, Charles Greville, Christopher C. Parslow, Claude Lorrain, Dr. Salvatore Ciro Nappo, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Eleanor Coade, Emma Hamilton, George Romney, Giambattista Piranesi, Giorgio Sommer, Goethe, Goethe Italy, Horace Walpole, Jean Racine, Johann Joachim Winckelmann, John Flaxman, Joseph Addison, Josiah Wedgewood, Josiah Wedgwood, Judith Harris, Karl Weber Pompeii, Lord Nelson, Matthew Boulton, Nicolas Poussin, Queen Maria Carolina of Naples, Richard West, Robert Adam Architect, Robert Fulford, Sir William Hamilton, The Grand Tour, Thomas Gray, William S. Anderson
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Antique Eurythmics: “TABLEAU VIVANTS” at POMPEII
When the ruins of Pompeii came to light, they caused a revolution in taste- stripping away rococo gilt, reshaping the female figure, and leaving a deposit of pseudo-Greek temples from Moscow to Mississippi; although what sometimes passed for “classical” would … Continue reading
Posted in Art History/Antiquity/Anthropology, Feature Article, Ideas/Opinion, Literature/poetry/spoken word, Miscellaneous, Visual Art/Sculpture/etc.
Tagged Archibald Alison, Charles Greville, Claude Lorrain, Cochin, Comte de Caylus, Emma Hamilton, Fragonard, Francois Boucher, George Romney, Giambattista Piranesi, Goethe, Horace Walpole, Horatio Nelson, Jean Racine, Johann Joachim Winckelmann, Joseph Addison, Joshua Reynolds, Lord Nelson, Lord Pembroke, Pompeii, Pompeii Art, Pompeii frescoes, Queen Maria Carolina of Naples, Revett, Richard West, Thomas Gray, Vivien Leigh
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