Florence 1900 : The Quest for Arcadia

by Bernd Roeck; Translated by Stewart Spencer

• ISBN13: 9780300095159
• ISBN10: 0300095155
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2009-04-21
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

By the end of the nineteenth century, Florence was a key destination for cultured travelers from Europe and America. Writers such as Wilde, Rilke, and Mann; painters such as Degas and Klee; and not least, the young art historian Aby Warburg and his wife, Mary, flocked to Florence to escape the encroachments of modern life at home and to revel in the city's rich artistic and cultural past. This beguiling book fuses narrative and ideas to consider how the encounter between modernism and Renaissance culture was experienced by both visitors to Florence and its inhabitants. Based on Aby Warburg's letters, diaries, and notebooks; on Italian and German archives; and on conversations with E. H. Gombrich (director of the famous Institute that Warburg founded), the book is an intimate guide to life in Florence and the theaters, restaurants, galleries, and salons frequented by visiting cultural exiles. At the same time, the book paints an evocative picture of a city at the cusp of the modern age, adjusting to electricity and the motor car on one hand and to social unrest and a clash of cultures on the other.

Author Biography

Bernd Roeck is professor of history at the University of Zurich. He lives in Zurich. Stewart Spencer is an acclaimed translator. He lives in London.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	p. vi
Preface	p. ix
List of abbreviations	p. xiii
The mirror of Florence	p. 1
Trials and tribulations	p. 11
In the realm of Venus	p. 23
Judaeo-Christian divan	p. 35
Wonderful light: A city at the dawn of the modern age	p. 45
Florentine circles	p. 63
The Florence of foreigners	p. 83
North and South: Germans and Florentines	p. 95
May 1898	p. 109
In defence of history	p. 123
Neurasthenia and mental balance: On Leonardo and Piero della Francesca	p. 137
Dealers in beauty	p. 149
The last Romantics	p. 169
Modern Florence	p. 185
'Ninfa fiorentina'	p. 215
A farewell to Florence	p. 229
In the new century	p. 241
Notes	p. 255
Bibliography	p. 293
Index	p. 309
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.