Bernini and the Idealization of Death [Paperback]

Shelley Perlove (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0271014776 | ISBN-13: 978-0271014777 | Publication Date: August 11, 2009

Tracing the history of the cult of Ludovica, the Altieri Chapel, and the statue, Shelley Perlove illuminates Bernini's contribution, both artistically and iconographically, to the chapel and proposes an interpretation of the precise nature of the experience the beata is undergoing in the sculpture. This interpretation is developed from an examination of the statue in the full context of other works of art in the chapel, medieval and Renaissance tomb sculpture, contemporary accounts of Ludovica's life and cult, and devotional Catholic literature undoubtedly known to Bernini. Woven into an iconographic scheme whose layers of meaning are mutually independent, the statue and the other elements in the chapel convey a unified conception.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Shelly Perlove has give, for the first time, a thorough, lucid, and convincing analysis of one of Bernini's most famous works. The main thrust of the study is to reveal the levels of meaning--theological, social, and personal--that underlie the high emotionalism and direct appeal of this revolutionary product of Bernini's late period. Perlove provides an unusual and stimulating account of the Albertoni family interests in promoting devotion to Ludovica, as well as the popular social and economic strata in Rome to which she appealed. This background sheds considerable light on the contemporary significance of the work. --Irving Lavin, Institute for Advanced Study

About the Author

Shelley Karen Perlove is Associate Professor in the History of Art, University of Michigan at Dearborn.

Product Details

• Paperback: 156 pages
• Publisher: Pennsylvania State Univ Pr (August 11, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0271014776
• ISBN-13: 978-0271014777
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,474,887 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mixed blessing, June 7, 2007

By 

John Weretka (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bernini and the Idealization of Death (Paperback)

As the only monograph-length study of Bernini's statue of Beata Ludovica Albertoni, this book fills an important gap in Bernini art historiography. It has for this reason also attracted a certain amount of critical attention. While valuable in all kinds of ways (it reproduces sections of several primary sources dealing with the Beata, her life and the attempt to have her canonised), this is a deeply flawed book that suffers because of its reluctance from a unified vision of the statue's symbolism; Perlove reads Bernini's conception as multivalent in a way that most commentators on the 'bel composto' generally do not, and the result is an unsynthesised mish-mash of different points of view. Readers wanting something more coherent is terms of a reading are better off with Careri's 'Bernini: flights of love, the art of devotion'. The photography in this book is of a shocking quality. Most tourists to this sculpture take better pictures of this sculpture than are in this book.