Renaissance Eroticism at the Dawn

Renaissance Eroticism at the Dawn
Author :
Publisher : Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages : 77
Release :
ISBN-10 : 1517542146
ISBN-13 : 9781517542146
Rating : 4/5 (146 Downloads)

Book Synopsis Renaissance Eroticism at the Dawn by : Philip J. Regal

Download or read book Renaissance Eroticism at the Dawn written by Philip J. Regal and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2015 with total page 77 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nudity in religious art had been virtually all shameful for the first 1400 years of Christianity-sinners burning in Hell, Adam and Eve after The Fall. But in the early Italian Renaissance, the nude human body can be found with dignity and beauty even in religious art. How were centuries of religious beliefs and traditions overcome? Renaissance Eroticism at the Dawn explores this question. It focuses on a detailed study of the first freestanding nude statue since antiquity, Donatello's puzzling bronze "David." In the popular mind this statue has long been simply the Biblical David standing on the head of Goliath, but experts have found it to be in fact quite mysterious in its details and it has never made sense simply as the slaying of Goliath. It is argued here however that mysterious details of the statue do make good sense in a historical intellectual context that has now become better understood. The general context was an effort in Italian Christian intellectual circles (loosely, the Humanist Zeitgeist) to recover a pure spirituality, unadulterated by the dogmas and politics of the then oppressive Roman Church. Intellectual Christians scoured ancient philosophical, magical, and mythological texts for possible insights into universal and authentic spiritual truths that they felt had been suppressed and denied them by theocrats. Northern European Protestants had much the same complaints with Roman dogma but took their resentments in very different directions with the Reformation. Renaissance Eroticism at the Dawn examines the details of "David" in the context of modern readings of spiritual trends in 15th century Neo-Platonism, Hermeticism, Kabbalah, spiritual alchemy, mythological allegory, magic, and numerology. These were once dismissed as "esoteric" or "occult," superstitious beliefs. But scholars began to study them more seriously in recent decades-for example to better understand the roots of modern CONCEPTUAL science. These have now come to be regarded as important "proto-sciences" and "alternative spiritualities." Of course Renaissance spirituality also forms an important chapter not only for the history of science but also for the complex history of Christian thought and of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation-and indeed for the development of the modern mind. The deeper motivational question looms: What strong compulsions-what powerful human aspirations-could have led bright people to persist doggedly at such efforts, that from our contemporary perspective can seem nonsensical? A consideration of the potential "esoteric" spirituality in "David" is an opportunity to explore the personal and emotional dimensions of that remarkably rich, diverse, and historically transformative climate of questioning, investigation, and speculation in Renaissance Italy. Renaissance, Eros, Plato, Neo-Platonism, Donatello, occult, esoteric, alchemy, magic, Ficino, Florence, putti, Amor-Atys, nudity, baptism, Pagan, Christianity, history of science, sensuality, Pico de Mirandola, mythology, Reformation, Council of Trent, Council of Florence, Dante, homosexual, androgyny.


Renaissance Eroticism at the Dawn Related Books

Renaissance Eroticism at the Dawn
Language: en
Pages: 77
Authors: Philip J. Regal
Categories: Nude in art
Type: BOOK - Published: 2015 - Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

GET EBOOK

Nudity in religious art had been virtually all shameful for the first 1400 years of Christianity-sinners burning in Hell, Adam and Eve after The Fall. But in th
Sexuality in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times
Language: en
Pages: 913
Authors: Albrecht Classen
Categories: Literary Criticism
Type: BOOK - Published: 2008-12-10 - Publisher: Walter de Gruyter

GET EBOOK

Sexuality is one of the most influential factors in human life. The responses to and reflections upon the manifestations of sexuality provide fascinating insigh
Venus and the Arts of Love in Renaissance Florence
Language: en
Pages: 637
Authors: Rebekah Compton
Categories: Art
Type: BOOK - Published: 2021-03-11 - Publisher: Cambridge University Press

GET EBOOK

In this volume, Rebekah Compton offers the first survey of Venus in the art, culture, and governance of Florence from 1300 to 1600. Organized chronologically, e
Erotic Resistance
Language: en
Pages: 255
Authors: Gigi Otalvaro-Hormillosa
Categories: Art
Type: BOOK - Published: 2024-02-20 - Publisher: Univ of California Press

GET EBOOK

Erotic Resistance celebrates the erotic performance cultures that have shaped San Francisco. It preserves the memory of the city's bohemian past and its essenti
Eos
Language: en
Pages: 872
Authors: Arthur T. Hatto
Categories: Language Arts & Disciplines
Type: BOOK - Published: 2015-07-24 - Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

GET EBOOK