The Divine Guido: Religion, Sex, Money, and Art in the World of Guido Reni [Hardcover]

Mr. Richard E. Spear (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0300070357 | ISBN-13: 978-0300070354 | Publication Date: December 22, 1997 | Edition: First

In this highly original study of Italian baroque master Guido Reni (1575-1642), Richard Spear paints a compelling portrait of the artist -- his complexities, his formative experiences, his cultural surroundings, and his unique sensibilities. Spear views Reni's career from a wide variety of perspectives and sets his life and works in social, economic, historical, artistic, religious, and psychological contexts.

The author focuses first on Reni's peculiar character: a man at once deeply religious, rabidly misogynist, reportedly virginal, neurotically fearful of witches, and addicted to gambling. Drawing on psychoanalytical, feminine, and gay studies, Spear reveals how the artist's personality affected his studio procedures, style, and choice of subject matter, including an exceptional number of representations of de-sexualized suicidal women. Spear also examines Reni's "divine grace", which elevated him to the loftiest artistic ranks alongside Raphael and Apelles. The author considers the enduring charisma of Reni's Crucifixions, weeping Marys, and repentant saints in the light of the Catholic doctrinal meaning of grace in Reni's time, the Church's attitude toward Mary and women, and the gendered implications of visual grace. Chapters on Reni's pricing policies, selling strategies, use of assistants, and attitude toward what constituted an "original", expose the motivating importance of money for Reni, and the concerns, even among seventeenth-century collectors, about how to distinguish original paintings from studio replicas or copies. The book investigates the ways Renaissance and baroque attitudes toward art-making affected Reni and closes with a fresh view of Reni's unfinishedcanvases and last style, including the Divine Love, the beautiful and unusual painting that remained in Reni's studio at the time of his death.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The author is a professor of art history with an unusual approach to his subject, Guido Reni (1575-1642). He discusses the interlocking effects of "Religion, Sex, Money and Art" in the work of a painter who was violently pious, an addicted gambler always greedy for money, a believer in witchcraft, a homosexual by inclination (not necessarily by practice), and a man very testy about his social status. Not an attractive figure. The author attempts to sort out how much of Reni's conduct is attributable to ideas common at the time and how much can be considered the painter's personal invention. The discussion is most interesting when the author concentrates on his own reading of Reni's work (excellently illustrated) and his interpretation of Reni's actions, less so when he depends on outside authorities--for it seems that Professor Spear has never met a quotation he didn't like. -- The Atlantic Monthly, Phoebe-Lou Adams

Product Details

• Hardcover: 438 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press; First edition (December 22, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300070357
• ISBN-13: 978-0300070354
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 7.9 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #756,127 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #91 in Books > Arts & Photography > Schools, Periods & Styles > Rococo

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Examining an all but forgotten Genius, June 15, 2011

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Divine Guido: Religion, Sex, Money, and Art in the World of Guido Reni (Hardcover)

Guido Reni (1575-1642) was an Italian artist from Bologna who lived during the time of the great baroque artists Caravaggio, Rembradt, Vermeer, Tiepolo, Velásquez, Poussin, Zurbarán etc - all great artists whose reputations grow with the passing of centuries. Oddly enough the works of Reni are highly recognizable and his output was considerable, but he tended to soften the drama of painters like Caravaggio et al and opted instead for a feminization of his subjects. In this excellent monograph author Richard Spear explores the life and times of this enigmatic artist and offers some insights as to why his work has not embrace fame.

Reni was a strange man - very pious, virginal, seemingly more interested in the money of making art than in the works he left for posterity, and besieged by his demons of his belief in witchcraft and his fear of physical contact. He did not tolerate criticism and instead developed a group of followers as students many of whom ultimately became better known the Reni. But at the same time Reni's approach to his subjects - almost exclusively religious or mythological - was that of a passionately pious person. His many depictions of the assumption, the nativity, and the crucifixion are breathtakingly beautiful if unabashedly 'pretty'. Spear's analyses of his paintings is more solid than his examination of the life style of this Baroque artist, but as a document devoted to a rather forgotten painter, this monograph of Guido Reni is the finest available. Grady Harp, June 11

9 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very interesting and informative book, December 28, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Divine Guido: Religion, Sex, Money, and Art in the World of Guido Reni (Hardcover)

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. My review may be found in "Art History" vol. 21, no. 3 (September 1998), 445-48. In the reiew I mention: "It offers the first extensive twentieth century analysis of Reni's personality and environment. Spear's relatively non-reductive research methodology is an interesting shift of study 'from the "outside" to the "inside"' of the subject (Spear p. 9). This method is used in addition to the standard revisionist focus on the artist from his/her own time, rather than from our time. 'The "Divine" Guido' is a welcome addition to the new historicist studies from publishers such as Yale University, Cambridge University, Prentice Hall and Thames & Hudson."