Redefining Eclecticism in Early Modern Bolognese Painting: Ideology, Practice, and Criticism

241 Pages·2019·3.408 MB·English

by  Daniel M. Unger

VISUAL AND MATERIAL CULTURE, 1300-1700
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Redefining Eclecticism in Early Modern Bolognese Painting
Visual and Material Culture, 1300–1700
A forum for innovative research on the role of images and objects in the late me-
dieval and early modern periods, Visual and Material Culture, 1300–1700 publishes
monographs and essay collections that combine rigorous investigation with critical
inquiry to present new narratives on a wide range of topics, from traditional arts to
seemingly ordinary things. Recognizing the fluidity of images, objects, and ideas, this
series fosters cross-cultural as well as multi-disciplinary exploration. We consider
proposals from across the spectrum of analytic approaches and methodologies.
Series Editor
Dr. Allison Levy, an art historian, has written and/or edited three scholarly books,
and she has been the recipient of numerous grants and awards, from the National
Endowment for the Humanities, the American Association of University Women,
the Getty Research Institute, the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library of Harvard
University, the Whiting Foundation and the Bogliasco Foundation, among others.
www.allisonlevy.com.
Redefining Eclecticism in Early Modern
Bolognese Painting
Ideology, Practice, and Criticism
Daniel M. Unger
Amsterdam University Press
This book is published with the support of the Israel Science Foundation.
Cover illustration: Guido Reni, Alliance between Disegno and Colore, 1620/5, Louvre, Paris (Photo: © Author).
Cover design: Coördesign, Leiden
Lay-out: Newgen/Konvertus
isbn 978 94 6298 601 5
e-isbn 978 90 4853 725 9
doi 10.5117/9789462986015
nur 685
© D.M. Unger/ Amsterdam University Press B.V., Amsterdam 2019
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this book may
be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means
(electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the written permission of both the
copyright owner and the author of the book.
Every effort has been made to obtain permission to use all copyrighted illustrations reproduced in this book.
Nonetheless, whosoever believes to have rights to this material is advised to contact the publisher.
For Dina

Contents
List of Plates and Figures 9
Preface 13
Introduction 17
1. Defining Eclecticism 33
Assimilated Eclecticism – Vasari’s Raphael 41
Arbitrary Eclecticism 46
Non-Assimilated Eclecticism – A Definition 48
2. Ideology 57
Gabriele Paleotti’s Discourse on Sacred Images 62
A Pictorial Manifest: Alliance between Disegno and Colore 75
Carlo Cesare Malvasia and the Assemblage of Styles 88
3. Practice 105
The Terrestrial and Celestial Realms 106
Portraits of Saints: St. Carlo Borromeo’s Effigy 128
Other Eclectic Paintings 141
4. Criticism 159
Winckelmann’s Introduction of Eclecticism into Artistic Discourse 160
The Nineteenth-Century juste milieu 168
The Dismissal of Eclecticism in the Twentieth Century 179
Conclusion 207
The Eclectic Approach 207
Epilogue 209
Eclecticism in a Roman Chapel 209
Index 225

List of Plates and Figures
Colour Plates
Plate 1. Ludovico Carracci, St. Michael and St. George, 1595, Santi Gregorio e Siro,
Bologna (Photo: © Archivio Fotografico del Polo Museale dell’Emilia
Romagna / Orselli).
Plate 2. Guercino, Disegno and Colore, 1656/7, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister,
Dresden (Photo: © bpk-Bildagentur).
Plate 3. Guido Reni, Alliance between Disegno and Colore (detail), 1620/5, Louvre,
Paris (Photo: © Author).
Plate 4. Ludovico Carracci, The Madonna Appearing to St. Hyacinth, 1594, Louvre,
Paris (Photo: © RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / image RMN-GP).
Plate 5. Guercino, St. Peter Standing before the Madonna, 1647, Louvre, Paris
(Photo: © RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / Gérard Blot).
Plate 6. Guercino, St. Gregory the Great with the Souls Suffering in Purgatory
(detail), 1647, San Paolo Maggiore, Bologna (Two Angels pulling Souls
from Purgatory) (Photo: © Author).
Plate 7. Guido Reni, Pietà dei Mendicanti, 1613/16, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna
(Photo: © Archivio Fotografico del Polo Museale dell’Emilia Romagna /
Quattrone).
Plate 8. Annibale Carracci, Madonna and Child Enthroned with St. John the
Baptist, St. John the Evangelist and St. Catherine of Alexandria, 1593,
Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna (Photo: © Author).
Black & White Figures
Figure 1. Parmigianino, Vision of St. Jerome, 1526/7, The National Gallery, London
(Photo: © The National Gallery, London).
Figure 2. Giacopo Giovannini after Guido Reni, The Farmers Presenting Gifts to
St. Benedict, engraving, 1694, in: Carlo Cesare Malvasia, Il claustro di San
Michele in Bosco di Bologna (Photo: © Author).
Figure 3. Domenichino, The Rebuke of Adam and Eve, 1623/5, Musée de peinture et
de sculpture, Grenoble (Photo: Ville de Grenoble / Musée de Grenoble –
J. L. Lacroix).
Figure 4. Guido Reni, Alliance between Disegno and Colore, 1620/5, Louvre, Paris
(Photo: © Author).
Figure 5. Guido Reni, The Archangel St. Michael, 1635, Santa Maria della
Concezione, Rome (Photo: Public domain via Wikimedia Commons).