Dignity and decadence : Victorian art and the classical inheritance / Richard Jenkyns.

Main entry:

Jenkyns, Richard.

Title & Author:

Dignity and decadence : Victorian art and the classical inheritance / Richard Jenkyns.

Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1992.

Description:

xviii, 363 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 341-347) and index.
1. The Victorian Setting -- 2. The Architectural Inheritance -- 3. The Idea of Sculpture. The Awkward Art. Pygmalion -- 4. Ruskin's Dilemma. Ruskin Agonistes. A Walk in the West Country -- 5. Hellene High Water -- 6. The Aesthetic Mood -- 7. The Tone of the Time.
Dust jacket.

Summary:

The starting point for Richard Jenkyns's latest work is his contention that the Victorian age, which we think of as the great age of Gothic, was so shot through with the influence of the classical past that we should instead think of Victorian art and architecture as the continuing flow forward of two stylistic streams--the Gothic and the classical, side by side. In advancing his argument Jenkyns turns our accepted notions of the Victorians upside down, presenting Ruskin as an admirer of Greek statuary, the Houses of Parliament as a classical rather than a Gothic composition, and Thomas Woolner, the only sculptor among the original Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood, as a neo-Hellenic carver and poet. Jenkyns moves effortlessly between the general and the particular and is refreshingly unafraid to make judgments. Here are some of the best descriptions of Victorian painting, sculpture, and architecture to have appeared in recent years. From the very gradual changes throughout the paintings of Leighton and Alma-Tadema, to the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan, the 'aesthetic scripture' of Pater, and even the advertisements for Beecham's pills, Jenkyns shows how what had been merely eclectic became a distinctive fin-de-siecle style and eventually began to point the way for Modernism. These are grand themes, presented by a masterly guide. Above all Jenkyns is entertaining: Dignity and Decadence is one of the most illuminating and enjoyable books about the Victorians yet to appear.

ISBN:

0674206258
9780674206250

Subject:

Art, Victorian Great Britain Classical influences.
Art, British Classical influences.
Art Great Britain 19th century.
Art victorien Grande-Bretagne Influence ancienne.
Art Grande-Bretagne 19e siècle.
Art britannique Influence ancienne.
Art, Victorian Classical influences.
Klassizismus
Kunst
Great Britain.
Großbritannien

Form/genre:

History.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 73232
Call No.: ID PLS; ID:92-B1583
Status: Available

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