The Portrait of Eccentricity: Arcimboldo and the Mannerist Grotesque - Paperback
by Giancarlo Maiorino (Author)
In this companion to his The Cornucopian Mind and the Baroque Unity of the Arts, Maiorino examines the links between Renaissance and the modern versions of the Groteseque.
In this interdisciplinary study, the term "eccentricity" refers to styles of playful extravagance. Maiorino focuses on the rhetorical figures of excess employed by a critic-historian (Giorgio Vasari), on the willful artificiality of a painter (Giuseppe Arcimboldo), and on the programmatic and interpretive commentary of a theorist (Gregorio Comanini).
Maiorino draws subtle and persuasive connections between the images he discusses and the grotesque "face" of sixteenth-century poetics and rhetoric. He sets the mannerist and the grotesque against the philosophical seriousness of Renaissance humanism, interpreting them as a celebration of the ludic and fantastic possibilities of art itself. Aiming at pleasure rather than instruction, this art plays on the boundaries of the natural and the artificial, the credible and the impossible, taking delight in parody, excess, disjunction, and exaggeration.
Giancarlo Maiorino is Professor of Comparative Literature at Indiana University. He is the author of Adam "New Born and perfect" The Renaissance Promise of Eternity (1987) and The Cornucopian Mind and the Baroque Unity of the Arts (Penn State, 1990).
Made with care and unconditionally loved by our customers, this signature bestseller exceeds all expectations.
Made with care and unconditionally loved by our customers, this signature bestseller exceeds all expectations.
At the heart of every product lies a unique story, driven by our passion for quality and innovation. Each item enhances your everyday life and sparks joy.