Petrified Beholders: The Interactive Materiality of Baldassarre Peruzzi’s <i>Perseus and Medusa</i>
Baldassarre Peruzzi’s cosmological vault fresco (1510–11) in the Villa Farnesina in Rome, prominently featuring a scene of Perseus and Medusa, showcases a dynamic operation that was often at work in the early modern period between the beholder and an immobile work of art. These types of representati...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-12-01
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| Series: | Arts |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/12/6/246 |
| _version_ | 1797382085520916480 |
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| author | Mari Yoko Hara |
| author_facet | Mari Yoko Hara |
| author_sort | Mari Yoko Hara |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Baldassarre Peruzzi’s cosmological vault fresco (1510–11) in the Villa Farnesina in Rome, prominently featuring a scene of Perseus and Medusa, showcases a dynamic operation that was often at work in the early modern period between the beholder and an immobile work of art. These types of representational objects participate in the discourse around <i>materiality</i>, not by employing the signifying powers of their constituent materials, but by encouraging thought about their material presence. I explore the process of haptic engagement that the fresco painting urges in its beholders, raising the possibility that the trope of petrification, made popular by Dante and other Italian writers of amorous poems, unlocks the work’s layered meaning. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T21:00:23Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3438d6478fa34797984f16acceefa65e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-0752 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T21:00:23Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Arts |
| spelling | doaj.art-3438d6478fa34797984f16acceefa65e2023-12-22T13:52:30ZengMDPI AGArts2076-07522023-12-0112624610.3390/arts12060246Petrified Beholders: The Interactive Materiality of Baldassarre Peruzzi’s <i>Perseus and Medusa</i>Mari Yoko Hara0School of Architecture, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN 46617, USABaldassarre Peruzzi’s cosmological vault fresco (1510–11) in the Villa Farnesina in Rome, prominently featuring a scene of Perseus and Medusa, showcases a dynamic operation that was often at work in the early modern period between the beholder and an immobile work of art. These types of representational objects participate in the discourse around <i>materiality</i>, not by employing the signifying powers of their constituent materials, but by encouraging thought about their material presence. I explore the process of haptic engagement that the fresco painting urges in its beholders, raising the possibility that the trope of petrification, made popular by Dante and other Italian writers of amorous poems, unlocks the work’s layered meaning.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/12/6/246Loggia of GalateaVilla FarnesinaBaldassarre PeruzziAgostino ChigiDante<i>rime petrose</i> |
| spellingShingle | Mari Yoko Hara Petrified Beholders: The Interactive Materiality of Baldassarre Peruzzi’s <i>Perseus and Medusa</i> Arts Loggia of Galatea Villa Farnesina Baldassarre Peruzzi Agostino Chigi Dante <i>rime petrose</i> |
| title | Petrified Beholders: The Interactive Materiality of Baldassarre Peruzzi’s <i>Perseus and Medusa</i> |
| title_full | Petrified Beholders: The Interactive Materiality of Baldassarre Peruzzi’s <i>Perseus and Medusa</i> |
| title_fullStr | Petrified Beholders: The Interactive Materiality of Baldassarre Peruzzi’s <i>Perseus and Medusa</i> |
| title_full_unstemmed | Petrified Beholders: The Interactive Materiality of Baldassarre Peruzzi’s <i>Perseus and Medusa</i> |
| title_short | Petrified Beholders: The Interactive Materiality of Baldassarre Peruzzi’s <i>Perseus and Medusa</i> |
| title_sort | petrified beholders the interactive materiality of baldassarre peruzzi s i perseus and medusa i |
| topic | Loggia of Galatea Villa Farnesina Baldassarre Peruzzi Agostino Chigi Dante <i>rime petrose</i> |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/12/6/246 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mariyokohara petrifiedbeholderstheinteractivematerialityofbaldassarreperuzzisiperseusandmedusai |