The State of Research in Italian Painting of the Seventeenth Century

Abstract

It is well known that the word “baroque” was not applied to the visual arts before the end of the eighteenth century, when it appeared as a form of abuse (meaning the superlative form of “bizarre”), and that it was not used as a stylistic term until 1855, when it was so applied by Jacob Burckhardt. Similarly, the concept of the “classic” in a stylistic rather than canonical sense was invented by Friedrich Schlegel in 1797, while its derivative “classicism” belongs entirely to the nineteenth century, occurring first in Italy in 1818, in Germany in 1820, in France in 1822, in Russia in 1830, and in England in 1831.

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Notes on contributors

Elizabeth Cropper

Elizabeth Cropper's major publications have focused on the theory and meaning of Pietro Testa's art and writings (The Ideal of Painting: Pietro Testa's Düsseldorf Notebook, 1984; various articles on him). She has also written on Parmi gianino, Bronzino, and Poussin. Currently she is guest curator of an exhibition of Testa's work (Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Sackler Museum of Harvard University, 1988–89) and writing a book on the problem of imitation in 17th-century art. [Department of the History of Art, 34th and Charles Streets, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218]

Charles Dempsey

Charles Dempsey is the author of Annibale Carracci and the Beginnings of Baroque Style (1977), and has recently been a contributor to the exhibition catalogues for The Age of Caravaggio, 1985, and The Age of Correggio and the Carracci, 1986–87. He also has written on Botticelli, Raphael, and Poussin, chiefly with an interest in iconography, theory, and the historical and stylistic criticism of the early sources. [Department of the History of Art, 34th and Charles Streets, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218]