From the bestselling author of SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, the
fascinating story of how images of Roman autocrats have influenced
art, culture, and the representation of power for more than 2,000
years What does the face of power look like? Who gets commemorated
in art and why? And how do we react to statues of politicians we
deplore? In this book—against a background of today’s
“sculpture wars”—Mary Beard tells the story of how for more
than two millennia portraits of the rich, powerful, and famous in
the western world have been shaped by the image of Roman emperors,
especially the “Twelve Caesars,” from the ruthless Julius
Caesar to the fly-torturing Domitian. Twelve Caesars asks why these
murderous autocrats have loomed so large in art from antiquity and
the Renaissance to today, when hapless leaders are still
caricatured as Neros fiddling while Rome burns. Beginning with the
importance of imperial portraits in Roman politics, this richly
illustrated book offers a tour through 2,000 years of art and
cultural history, presenting a fresh look at works by artists from
Memling and Mantegna to the nineteenth-century American sculptor
Edmonia Lewis, as well as by generations of weavers, cabinetmakers,
silversmiths, printers, and ceramicists. Rather than a story of a
simple repetition of stable, blandly conservative images of
imperial men and women, Twelve Caesars is an unexpected tale of
changing identities, clueless or deliberate misidentifications,
fakes, and often ambivalent representations of authority. From
Beard’s reconstruction of Titian’s extraordinary lost Room of
the Emperors to her reinterpretation of Henry VIII’s famous
Caesarian tapestries, Twelve Caesars includes fascinating detective
work and offers a gripping story of some of the most challenging
and disturbing portraits of power ever created. Published in
association with the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts,
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
General
Imprint: |
Princeton University Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Series: |
Bollingen Series |
Release date: |
September 2023 |
Authors: |
Mary Beard
|
Dimensions: |
235 x 152mm (L x W) |
Pages: |
392 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-691-22587-6 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
0-691-22587-7 |
Barcode: |
9780691225876 |
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