The Mirror of the Gods: Classical Mythology in Renaissance Art

by Malcolm Bull

Perhaps the single most revolutionary aspect of the Renaissance was the re-emergence of the gods and goddesses of antiquity. In the midst of Christian Europe, artists began to decorate luxury goods with scandalous stories from classical mythology, and rulers to identify themselves with the deities of ancient religion. The resulting fusion of erotic fantasy and political power changed the course of Western art and produced many of its most magical and subversive works. The first book ever to survey this extraordinary phenomenon in its entirety, "The Mirror of the Gods" takes the story from the Renaissance to the Baroque. Each chapter focuses on a particular god (Diana, Apollo, Hercules, Venus, Bacchus, Jupiter) and recounts the tales about that deity, not as they appear in classical literature but as they were re-created by artists such as Botticelli, Titian, Bernini and Rembrandt. And yet this is not a book simply about painting and sculpture. It is an attempt to re-imagine the entire designed world of the Renaissance, where the gods also appeared in carnival floats and in banquet displays, and entertained the public in the form of snow men and fireworks. This rich and original new portrait of the Renaissance will ensure that readers never see the period in quite the same way again.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Art History, History, Renaissance, Italy, Classics

480 pages, Paperback

First published April 28, 2005

About the author

Malcolm Bull is Professor of Art and the History of Ideas at Oxford University and a Senior Associate Research Fellow of Christ Church.

Reviews

[Roman Clodia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bull's work was greeted with an outbreak of academic controversy when it was first published, with reviews posted in papers such as the Guardian, Times and London Review of Books. It purports to overturn the established art-history view that Renaissance artists rediscovered the classical pagan gods as part of an integrated and institutionalised attempt to uncover eternal truths, and suggests instead that the gods were just decorative and ornamental, separate from any kind of ideology, and dislocated from both their textual and monumental sources.

To this end, Bull certainly provides plenty of evidence. But the premise which he kicks against is itself, now, one that does not necessarily stand up, especially in the wider, inter-disciplinary Renaissance studies world which seeks to move away from traditional art history or literary criticism as stand-alone disciplines and instead reconstruct a whole culture and its contradictory, multiple manifestations.

So this is certainly worth reading (and almost necessary for anyone working on Renaissance visual culture and/or classical influence) - but is it truly groundbreaking? Or does is simply argue against a viewpoint which has itself already been superceded?

[Sembray · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fresh and challenging look at my favourite period in art history. Bull offers an insightful, deeply researched and engrossing overview of the depiction of classical myths in the art of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, as well as the textual and antique sources they used and the ways in which allegory and mythology were used by artists and their patrons. All of the big names in the art of the period are here, from Titian and Tintoretto to Rubens and Rembrandt, and the writing is crammed with unexpected flourishes of wit and humour (I found the contortions carried out by male artists and art collectors in order to come up with excuses to paint gratuitous female nudes unexpectedly hilarious). On the whole I highly recommend this work for anyone interest in Greek and Roman mythology and the art of the 14th-17 centuries; as someone who owns a fair few books on this subject, The Mirror of the Gods is certainly among the most unique and enjoyable.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

suuuuper helpful and interesting — wish i read it sooner!

[Gregory · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read the book slowly, slowly almost a chapter every month to enjoy it better. At times there were too many details but the book was extremely interesting.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

let’s paint zeus’ horniness

[Karl · Rating 3 out of 5]

"some of the scenes on the ceiling would have been unfamiliar to a Roman viewer, who might never previously have seen favourites like Pan and Syrinx, or Diana and Callisto. And the amount of female nudity would have been a bit of a surprise, especially in the case of Diana, who in ancient times almost always wore a short tunic" (Bull: 378)

This is a book about mythological art in the Renaissance period. The book shows how this mythological art was different to the mythological art produced in ancient Rome and Greece. It also shows how different mythological art is from religious art in Renaissance Art.

The book gives many details about some Greco-Roman gods and how they were depicted in Renaissance Art. Throughout the book you get to know about the first surviving painting to date of a specific mythological subject. Or when depictions of the labours of Hercules became less frequent.

Some of the reasons as for why a mythological episode was not represented sound comical and ill-founded to me. But I love how the author challenges a few established ideas, like the one that says Titian's Sacred and Profane Love is a representation of a celestial and a terrestrial Venus. Or the one that considers Ovid as the most important source of myths.

Unless you are a big fan of mythological art, this book could be tiring to read, as the font size is pretty small, the book is large and there are many specific details to read. Perhaps a separate book for each god would have been better.

[Dwayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Erudite; and just look at that cover.

[Elijah]

Scanned through all the parts about Minerva/Athena. I've been on an Athena kick lately after reading The Odyssey again.

[Ella Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super comprehensive and a great resource

[Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting examination of portrayals and uses of classical subjects in Renaissance art. Some of the chapters are stronger than others — I particularly enjoyed the chapters about Venus, Diana, and Apollo. More like 3.5.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book for anyone who wants to understand how artists during the Renaissance shifted from portraying primarily Christian subject matter to depicting pagan gods, heros, and myths.

[Roberta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Non è una lettura eccezionale, ma da un ottimo punto di partenza per iniziare una ricerca seria sugli dei e sui loro oggetti simbolici.

[Katie Dufall · Rating 3 out of 5]

loved parts of this, like the chapter about diana/artemis, but i found i could only read a few pages a day as the writing is so intense and academic - enjoyed it overall tho

[Ted Tamasovich · Rating 4 out of 5]

so informative its almost boring. but i like the content.