Renaissance and Renascences in Western Art

by Erwin Panofsky

Renaissance and Renascences in Western Art spans the period from the 10th to the 15th century, including discussion of the Carolingian renaissance and the 12th century proto-renaissance. Erwin Panofsky posits that there were "reanscences" prior to the widely known Renaissance that began in Italy in the 14th century. Whereas earlier renascences can be classified as revivals, the Renaissance was a unique instance that led to a wider cultural transformation.

From the Back Cover:
Panofsky's study brings welcome light into the darkness. His subject is the character of Renaissance art--in the strictest sense of the word-and its uniqueness in comparison with art produced during earlier revivals of the classical heritage.

Genres: Art, Art History, History, Nonfiction, Renaissance, Humanities

242 pages, Perfect Paperback

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

Erwin Panofsky was a German art historian, whose academic career was pursued almost entirely in the U.S. after the rise of the Nazi regime. In 1935, while teaching concurrently at New York University and Princeton University (something he continued to do his entire career), he was invited to join the faculty of the newly formed Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. From 1947 to 1948 Panofsky was the Charles Eliot Norton professor at Harvard University.

Panofsky's work remains highly influential in the modern academic study of iconography. Many of his works remain in print, including Studies in Iconology: Humanist Themes in the Art of the Renaissance (1939), and his eponymous 1943 study of Albrecht Dürer. His work has greatly influenced the theory of taste developed by French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, in books such as The Rules of Art or Distinction. In particular, Bourdieu first adapted his notion of habitus from Panofsky's Gothic Architecture and Scholasticism.

Reviews

[Michael Finocchiaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

In art history, there are some heavyweights (also reviewed here on GR) such as the eminent 19c German writer Burckhardt who were so widely read and carried so much weight that his opinions about the Middle Ages vs the Renaissance because sort of the idées reçus that were just assumed to be true. Erwin Panofsky came about a generation and a half after Burckhardt and contested his views. To be more precise, the conventional wisdom said that the period after the fall of Rome (476 AD) until the Renaissance (let's choose arbitrarily 1492 as a start date for both Columbus but also Reconquista although 1453 (the fall of Constantinople) would be just as appropriate) was a "dark" age (let us not forget that Burckhardt was writing during the Enlightenment and so the light/dark analogy was a common one) with a general regression in knowledge and art which only changed with the advent of the Renaissance. Panofsky was probably one of the first eminent writers to challenge this view which is no longer considered valid in light of on-going research. There were, indeed, lots of incredible advances in technology as well as our view of the world and the universe (notwithstanding the challenges to religious thought, etc) that occurred in the 16c, but Panofsky goes to lengths to demonstrate that there were actually several small rebirths (renascences) such as that of Charlemagne in 800AD, the advances around 1000 AD due to the Gregorian reforms, and others. Latin was still read in the Middle Ages and important literature was written (the Divine Comedy was from the 14c) and so his contention that the Middle Ages were not so dark is convincing. This volume is a bit academic but still readable. You also need to take Panofsky with a grain of salt because recent research has actually taken us beyond even Panofsky's rejection of Burckhardt in seeing a vibrant period during the late Middle Ages in which some of the creative avenues being explored were actually destroyed by the Renaissance.
In any case, this is a foundation text about the Middle Ages in art history.

[Owen Hatherley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enduringly important and luridly illustrated study against the view that nothing ever really 'happens' in (art) history, it just all muddles along.

[Cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just in case you are looking for a book that puts to rest, once and for all, the debate over whether there was one "Renaissance" or multiple renascences in western art, Prof. Panofsky is here.

Though written in the 50's, this book retains its relevance. After all, he's covering a period of time from the 10th to the 15th century. His basic answer is that there were "reanscences" prior to the Renaissance, but that the Renaissance was unique in that it was akin to a cultural "mutation" whereas the earlier renascences were more like revivals.

Panofsky is not afraid to quote latin without translation, nor is he afraid to put greek in the text without providing the alphabetical version of the word or words. Also, he quotes books from at least four different languages in his subtitles.

I understand that one does not read Panofsky for his easy accesibility, one reads him for his mastery. None the less, the "readability" issues in this book prevent me from giving the full five stars;; just as his obvious mastery of the subject prevent me from giving it three stars. Truly, it was the longest 200 page book I ever read, and I doubt I shall dabble further in the Renaissance (or renascences), but at least now I have a firm idea of the parameters surrounding the long running debate.

[Alberto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Qué maravilla.

[Clara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un poco trampa, eso de I'm finished. Lo compensaremos con la nota de arte.

[Lucas Porras · Rating 5 out of 5]

Muy buenas ideas, muy refrescante

[Rafa González · Rating 4 out of 5]

adios 2023!!!!!!!

[eléna]

„The classical world ceased to be both a possession and a menace - and became, instead, the object of an everlasting nostalgia“

[Karl Georg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ausführliche und detailreiche Darstellung der Vorläufer der "richtigen" Renaissance. Für mich sehr aufschlussreich (und völlig neu) der Hinweis auf den Neoplatinismus als gemeinsamem ideengeschichtlichem Hintergrund für Künstler und Humanisten von Botticelli über Erasmus bis Goethe.