Walter Pater And The Language Of Sculpture

Walter Pater and the Language of Sculpture is the first monograph to discuss the Victorian critic Walter Pater's attitude to sculpture. It brings together Pater's aesthetic theories with his theories on language and writing, to demonstrate how his ideas of the visual and written language are closely interlinked. Going beyond Pater's views on sculpture as an art form, this study traces the notion of relief (rilievo) and hybrid form in Pater, and his view of the writer as sculptor, a carver in language. Alongside her treatment of rilievo as a pervasive trope, Lene ?termark-Johansen also employs the idea of rivalry (paragone) more broadly, examining Pater's concern with positioning himself as an art critic in the late Victorian art world. Situating Pater within centuries of European aesthetic theories as never before done, Walter Pater and the Language of Sculpture throws new light on the extraordinary complexity and coherence of Pater's writing: The critic is repositioned solidly within Victorian art and literature.

"Walter Pater and the Language of Sculpture is the first monograph to discuss the Victorian critic Walter Pater's attitude to sculpture. It brings together Pater's aesthetic theories with his theories on language and writing, to demonstrate how his ideas of the visual and written language are closely interlinked. Going beyond Pater's views on sculpture as an art form, this study traces the notion of relief (rilievo) and hybrid form in Pater, and his view of the writer as sculptor, a carver in language. Alongside her treatment of rilievo as a pervasive trope, Lene ?termark-Johansen also employs the idea of rivalry (paragone) more broadly, examining Pater's concern with positioning himself as an art critic in the late Victorian art world. Situating Pater within centuries of European aesthetic theories as never before done, Walter Pater and the Language of Sculpture throws new light on the extraordinary complexity and coherence of Pater's writing: The critic is repositioned solidly within Victorian art and literature."--Provided by publisher.

Walter Pater and Persons investigates the vital concept of the Person in the work of Walter Pater, a major influence on late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century literature. Stephen Cheeke explores the intersections of the person, persona, and personality in Pater's work; re-examines arguments about his famously personal prose style; traces Pater's ambivalent fascination with impersonality and asceticism; considers the poetics of personification in his writings about Greek myth and religion, in the divine logos of early Christianity, and in the theory of Platonic Universals; and explores his fascination with metempsychosis (the many persons through whom the individual soul transmigrates). Cheeke also explores the networks in which Pater was interpreted and misinterpreted by different persons and personalities, such as Oscar Wilde, Arthur Symons, and W.B Yeats. Their (mis)readings of Pater, and rebellions against his work from Decadent, antinomian, and 'mystical' perspectives, reveal the ways in which Pater's writing had always been in a critical dialogue with its own thinking, as well as a prescient one in relation to his reception. The philosophical question of 'what is a person?'--a crucial one for the nineteenth century, and with an increasing urgency in our own times--is illuminated throughout this work.

This first collected discussion of Pater's significance for English literary criticism reveals his importance in shaping the principles of Modernist criticism and comprehensively contextualises his work. This title is part of the Flip it Open Programme and may also be available Open Access. Check our website Cambridge Core for details.

Imaginary Portraits' is volume 3 in the ten-volume Collected Works of Walter Pater. Among Victorian writers, Pater (1839-1894) challenged academic and religious orthodoxies, defended 'the love of art for its own sake', developed a new genre of prose fiction (the 'imaginary portrait'), set new standards for intermedial and cross-disciplinary criticism, and made 'style' the watchword for creativity and life. Pater's Imaginary Portraits are among some of the most stylish and original pieces of short fiction in Victorian literature: portrayals of a series of handsome male protagonists across the ages of European history, set against a range of evocative European backdrops from Classical Greece to Medieval France, eighteenth-century Germany and modern England. Together, they constitute a remarkable testimony to Pater's profound understanding of centuries of cultural history, reworked in the0hybrid genre of the imaginary portrait as sophisticated portrait miniatures of minor characters touched and affected by major moments in European history. They question central issues of nationhood and belonging, a Pan-European cultural identity, and the fate of the individual in the face of collective history. As formative texts for Modernist writers like Joyce, Eliot, and Woolf, Pater's Imaginary Portraits had an impact which reached far beyond the nineteenth century.

The Renaissance was a significant movement in European cultural history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity. It did not just revive but in many respects surpassed the ideas and achievements of classical antiquity. Renaissance thinking drew on Greco-Roman philosophy, including the famous humanist dictum of Protagoras that “Man is the measure of all things”. This thinking permeated multiple fields, from art and architecture, through politics, to science and literature. The contributions of the movement were vast. For instance, the artistic realm experienced a revolution with the advent of techniques such as oil painting with linear perspective. Developing concrete production techniques allowed for creating majestic architectural wonders. The printing and publishing trades expanded access to knowledge and ideas. Setting up popular educational institutions opened doors to learning for a broader part of society. In science, the Renaissance fostered empirical observation and experimentation. Further, the period witnessed significant advancements in banking and accounting practices, shaping the foundations of modern finance. However, we still mostly remember the Renaissance for the art of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and other polymaths. This is a modernized version of Walter Pater's seminal 1873 book on art and poetry during the Renaissance – translating it into present-day English to improve its readability and understandability. Walter Pater (1839-1894) was an English essayist, literary and art critic, and philosopher. His work has had a lasting impact on commentary and debate in art criticism and cultural studies. Pater explores the Renaissance through analyses of the masterpieces of renowned artists like Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Botticelli. He uncovers the literature and philosophy shaping this important period in history. He also advocates “art for art’s sake” – free of moral, political, religious, or other motives and considerations. CONTENTS Editorial foreword Preface 1 Two Early French Stories 2 Pico della Mirandola 3 Sandro Botticelli 4 Luca della Robbia 5 The Poetry of Michelangelo 6 Leonardo da Vinci: Man as the servant and interpreter of nature 7 The School of Giorgione 8 Joachim du Bellay 9 Winckelmann:“I too in Arcadia” 10 Conclusion