The Renaissance Antichrist:
Luca Signorelli's Orvieto Frescoes
Jonathan B. Riess

Cloth | 1995 | This book is out of print | ISBN13: 978-0-691-04086-8
248 pp. | 7 x 10 | color frontis. 60 halftones 3 line drawings

| Reviews | Table of Contents

A major monument, Luca Signorelli's Orvieto Cathedral frescoes rendered with vigor and invective the most ambitious consideration of the Apocalypse and the Last Judgment in Italian Renaissance art. In a fresh interpretation of these frescoes, Jonathan Riess explores the intriguing, violent style and complex iconography and places the works in their richly faceted historical setting. Begun by Fra Angelico in 1447 and completed by Signorelli at the turn of the century, the frescoes reflect the turmoil within the Papal States, the suffering brought on by a surge of natural disasters, the fear of the Turks, and the anti-Judaic campaigns of the day. The book centers on the mural depicting the Rule of Antichrist, the single monumental portrayal of the subject during the Renaissance and a revealing indicator of widespread apocalyptic obsessions.

Drawing on historical, theological, literary, and artistic sources, Riess examines the reasons behind the commissioning of the murals and considers the broad meaning of the program. The Rule of Antichrist, for example, is seen as a summa of the doom-laden worlds of Rome and Orvieto and as a blistering condemnation of the political realm. Signorelli's references to Dante, Virgil, and Cicero and to contemporary theology and dramatic performances come into play as Riess interprets the monument as a representation of the struggle between a penitential Christianity and the forces of heresy and tyranny.

Review:

"Jonathan Riess's text is the most comprehensive, scholarly treatment of Signorelli's Capella Nuova at Orvieto published to date.... Of all the published theories on Signorelli's chapel, Reiss's are the most innovative and the most carefully supported; his writing is well organized, his research is meticulous."--Sixteenth Century Journal

Endorsement:

"The subject matter is fascinating and very useful in introducing the art and culture of Italy as the sixteenth century began to unfold. This book should have a significant effect on the studies of those cycles in Rome that immediately followed this one, including Raphael's stanze and Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel Ceiling."--James Beck, Columbia University

Table of Contents

Subject Areas:

• Art and Architecture
• European History

File created: 4/23/2008

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