The Aesthetics of Marble: From Late Antiquity to the Present

For millennia, marble has been a material of choice for art and architecture, a sign of luxury, and a material laden with meaning. It lends itself to being carved, polished, and sliced for a vast range of uses and to a variety of effects. While we know much about its physical qualities, its place as a trade commodity, and the history of its use, a focused study of this material's aesthetics has yet to be seen. Looking beyond marble's iconology, this volume engages closely with the phenomenology and anthropology of materials, bringing to light the nuanced aesthetic qualities of marble.

Drawing from theoretical propositions and empirical case studies centered on the Mediterranean from late antiquity to the present, the essays in The Aesthetics of Marble illuminate the material appeal of marble and its iconic potential. They examine the range of roles this material can play: from solid marble cladding in architecture to supple marble carvings mimicking human bodies, and from its political and philosophical connotations to modern digital de- and rematerializing of marble. Attention is also devoted to the sculptured object: to labor, technology, and artists' sensitivity to the qualities of stone and its veining. This volume brings a new aesthetic discussion to this material, rich in history, variation, and possibility.

Author: Dario Gamboni
Publisher: Hirmer Verlag GmbH
Published: 12/24/2021
Pages: 380
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 5.20lbs
Size: 11.30h x 9.10w x 1.50d
ISBN: 9783777434483

About the Author
Dario Gamboni is professor of art history at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. He has published many books, including The Destruction of Art: Iconoclasm and Vandalism since the French Revolution. Gerhard Wolf is director of the Kunsthistorisches Institut-Max-Planck-Institute in Florence and honorary professor at Humboldt University in Berlin. His recent publications include Images Take Flight: Feather Art in Mexico and Europe. Jessica N. Richardson is a senior researcher at the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence. She is coeditor and contributing author of Remembering the Middle Ages in Early Modern Italy.