Artibus et Historiae no. 20 (X)
1989, ISSN 0391-9064Up
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Buy article pdf
DAVID SUMMERS - ARIA II: The Union of Image and Artist as an Aesthetic Ideal in Renaissance Art
The notion of costume in Francesco Bocchi's Ragionamento sopra 1'eccellenza del San Giorgio di Donatello is an adaptation of the more common notion of aria, which in turn seems to be related not only to the physiognomic tradition but also to the Greek notion of ethos as it is defined by a number of classical authors. Aria refers to the character of faces and to the character of the apparent life of painted and carved figures, but it is also central to the Renaissance discussion of expression and style. In this article, which examines various aspects of aria, it is argued that certain characteristics of paintings associated with aria in one or another sense - facial expression, the movement of figures and drapery - were also associated with maniera. Aria thus provides access to the Renaissance idea that the artist animated figures, that is, made them apparently alive, by achieving a kind of self-image. The world was thought of not simply as being represented but as being represented by the artist, and the admixture of the artist' s aria, the artist's own spirit, was essential to the apparent life of images. Aria thus gives a new dimension of meaning to the Renaissance proverb that "every painter paints himself."
