Main entry:

Curran, Brian A. (Brian Anthony), 1953-

Title & Author:

The Egyptian renaissance : the afterlife of ancient Egypt in early modern Italy / Brian Curran.

Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2007.

Description:

xiv, 431 pages, 12 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 29 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 389-411) and index.
The memory of Egypt -- Egyptian monuments from antiquity to the Middle Ages -- Humanists and hieroglyphs -- Egyptian monuments for Renaissance princes -- Sacred writings : Hermes Trismegistus and hieroglyphic epigraphy -- Egyptian ancestors : Alexander VI, Pinturicchio, and Annius of Viterbo -- Egypt in Venice : Francesco Colonna and Gentile Bellini -- Cleopatra and the second Julius : Egypt and the dream of empire in High Renaissance Rome -- Egyptian lives (and afterlives) in the Rome of the Medici popes -- Hieroglyphic studies in the High Renaissance -- The scepter of Osiris : Egyptian mysteries in the Missal of Cardinal Pompeo Colonna -- Conclusion : The Egyptian in the mirror.

Summary:

Fascination with ancient Egypt is a recurring theme in Western culture, and here Brian Curran uncovers its deep roots in the Italian Renaissance, which embraced not only classical art and literature but also a variety of other cultures that modern readers don't tend to associate with early modern Italy. Patrons, artists, and spectators of the period were particularly drawn, Curran shows, to Egyptian antiquity and its artifacts, many of which found their way to Italy in Roman times and exerted an influence every bit as powerful as that of their more familiar Greek and Roman counterparts. Curran vividly recreates this first wave of European Egyptomania with insightful interpretations of the period's artistic and literary works. In doing so, he paints a colorful picture of a time in which early moderns made the first efforts to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs, and popes and princes erected pyramids and other Egyptianate marvels to commemorate their own authority. Demonstrating that the emergence of ancient Egypt as a distinct category of historical knowledge was one of Renaissance humanism's great accomplishments, Curran's peerless study will be required reading for Renaissance scholars and anyone interested in the treasures and legacy of ancient Egypt.

Resources:
Table of contents
Table of contents
Contributor biographical information
Publisher description
Table of contents only
Contributor biographical information
Publisher description

ISBN:

9780226128931 (alk. paper)
0226128938 (alk. paper)

Subject:

Egyptology Italy History.
Renaissance Italy.
Égyptologie Italie Histoire.
Renaissance Italie.
15.70 history of Europe.
20.70 European art.
Civilization.
Civilization Egyptian influences.
Egyptology.
Renaissance.
Kultur
Rezeption
Antiquities.
Reception.
Italy Civilization Egyptian influences.
Italy Civilization 1268-1559.
Italie Civilisation 1268-1559.
Egitto antico Civiltà Fortuna Italia Sec. 15.-16.
Italy.
Italien
Ägypten
Egypt.

Form/genre:

History.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 254691
Call No.: BIB 184732
Status: Available