Book Reviews by Paul Hills
The Burlington Magazine, 2023
A review of "Jacopo Tintoretto: Identity, Practice. Meaning", ed. Marie-Louise Lillywhite, Tom Ni... more A review of "Jacopo Tintoretto: Identity, Practice. Meaning", ed. Marie-Louise Lillywhite, Tom Nichols and Giorgio Tagliaferro, which highlights how these conference papers challenge the view of Tintoretto propounded by Carlo Ridolfi. Several authors provide incisive discussions of the importance of drawing at all stages of the invention and execution of Tintoretto's painting. Despite the title of the volume, a number of papers offer incisive interpretations of the work of Domenico Tintoretto.
The Art Newspaper, 2020
This review underlines the value of Campbell's critique of Vasari's historiography and his concep... more This review underlines the value of Campbell's critique of Vasari's historiography and his conception of the "geopolitics of art" in sixteenth-century Italy.
Times Literary Supplement, 2000
A review of Megan Holmes, Fra Filippo Lippi, The Carmelite Painter, which highlights the author's... more A review of Megan Holmes, Fra Filippo Lippi, The Carmelite Painter, which highlights the author's valuable discussions of workshop practices, Carmelite spirituality, and the transformation of the Christian devotee "from a participant into a spectator".
The Burlington Magazine, 2005
This review of Otto Pächt's lectures draws attention to how the Viennese art historian understood... more This review of Otto Pächt's lectures draws attention to how the Viennese art historian understood the kinship betweeen an artist's conception of figure, space and narrative. In a series of brilliant expositions, Pächt elucidates differences and similarities between Jacopo, Gentile and Giovanni Bellini, and between the Bellini and Mantegna.
Times Literary Supplement, 2019
A review of Elam's anthology of Roger Fry's lectures and essays on Italian art, which highlights ... more A review of Elam's anthology of Roger Fry's lectures and essays on Italian art, which highlights the value of Elam's lengthy introduction and commentary, as well as the enduring relevance of Fry insights into Piero della Francesca, Botticelli, Mantegna and other Italian painters of the Renaissance.
Renaissance Quarterly, 1998
Sixteenth Century Journal, 1993
The Burlington Magazine, 2005
Speculum, vol 73/1, page 150, 1998
A review of the book with this title by Lew Andrews, which largely concerns "the rebirth of conti... more A review of the book with this title by Lew Andrews, which largely concerns "the rebirth of continuous narrative" in the Early Renaissance and its decline after 1510. The most valuable part of the book examines the temporal in perception. I contend that Andrews needed to give more attention to the architectural staging of narrative.
Art and Christianity, no. 91, 2017
A review of Thomas Dilworth's biography, 'David Jones: Engraver, Soldier, Painter, Poet', Jonatha... more A review of Thomas Dilworth's biography, 'David Jones: Engraver, Soldier, Painter, Poet', Jonathan Cape, London 2017. The reviewer, who visited Jones regularly between 1968 and 1974, finds that Dilworth's account of the poet's last years accords with his own experience.
Veiled Presence: Body and Drapery from Giotto to Titian, 2018
Publisher's flyer of the book by Paul Hills, Veiled Presence: Body and Drapery from Giotto to Tit... more Publisher's flyer of the book by Paul Hills, Veiled Presence: Body and Drapery from Giotto to Titian, Yale University Press, 2018.
Renaissance Quarterly, 1993
A review of Marcia B. Hall, Colour and Meaning: Practice and Theory in Renaissance Painting, Camb... more A review of Marcia B. Hall, Colour and Meaning: Practice and Theory in Renaissance Painting, Cambridge University Press, 1992
Papers by Paul Hills
artibus et historiae, 2023
This essay highlights the penitential theme of Filippino Lippi's altarpiece in the National Galle... more This essay highlights the penitential theme of Filippino Lippi's altarpiece in the National Gallery in London, its relation to the Rucellai family and the significance of its original location in San Pancrazio next to the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre. It stresses Filippino's personal engagement with its subject and the vital role of colour in his design.
The Italian Renaissance in the Twentieth Century, ed. Allen J. Greco et al, Olschki: Florence, 2002
An analysis of the ways in which colour in Renaissance art and culture has been discussed in twen... more An analysis of the ways in which colour in Renaissance art and culture has been discussed in twentieth-century scholarship from Wolfflin and Fry to Shearman and John Gage. The essay concludes with suggestions of avenues for resarch in the future. These include embracing a wider range of artefacts – such as manuscript illumination, jewelry, textiles and table glass – rather than concentrating on paintings. Closer attention needs to be paid to the role of metaphor and to distinctions between different languages
Venedig und Oberdeutschland in der Renaissance: Beziehungen zwischen Kunst und Wirtschaft. (Schriftenreihe des Deutschen Studienzentrums in Venedig, Vol. 9) Jan Thorbecke, Sigmaringen, 1993
Tintoretto found creative ways to advance his career by tapping into new markets and advertising ... more Tintoretto found creative ways to advance his career by tapping into new markets and advertising his skills. This paper looks at how he expanded production as prices for paintings failed to match the steep rise in food prices in the first half of the sixteenth century. Painting fast was one solution; another was aggressive marketing; another was to make votive donations of paintings. Striking parallels can be drawn between Tintoretto and the self-promotional strategies of the contemporary proto-journalists or 'poligrafi' who were active in feeding the Venetian press with their writings.
Tiziano, ed. Miguel Falomir, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2003
A survey of Titian's use of colour and how it developed over his long career. Titian's mastery o... more A survey of Titian's use of colour and how it developed over his long career. Titian's mastery of 'colorito' is discussed in relation to his experience of Venice and its luxury manufactures – notably fine textiles and Murano glass – as well as contemporary art theory.
A Spanish translation of the author's text, with illustrations in colour, is followed by the English original.
Jacopo Tintoretto nel quarto centenario della morte, ed. Paola Rossi & Lionello Puppi, 1996
Fire, flames and smoke are a striking feature of the paintings of Jacopo Tintoretto. This paper ... more Fire, flames and smoke are a striking feature of the paintings of Jacopo Tintoretto. This paper examines their significance in relation to a shift from light or illumination to fire or ardour as ruling metaphor for the working of divine grace in the sixteenth-century. In Tintoretto's case there is also – it is argued here – a relation to the modern arts of warfare and pyrotechnics that were devoloped pre-eminently in the Venetian arsenal.
artibus et historiae, 2013
Shrouds and veils are just a part, but a significant part, of Lotto's use of draperies and textil... more Shrouds and veils are just a part, but a significant part, of Lotto's use of draperies and textiles of all kinds to stage events and put sacred figures on show. This paper highlights the narrative purpose and symbolic force of shrouds and veils in Lotto's religious paintings.
The Books that Shaped Art History, ed. Richard Shone and John-Paul Stonard, 2013
An account of the significance, reception and impact of a text that shaped the study of the histo... more An account of the significance, reception and impact of a text that shaped the study of the history of art in the late 20th century. Particular attention is drawn to the subtitle of Baxandall's book "A Primer in the Social History of Style" and to his subtle emphasis on the role of style. I argue that Baxandall has been wrongly interpreted as advocating a social history of art.
Concepts of Beauty in Renaissance Art, ed. F. Ames-Lewis and M. Rogers, 1998
This paper argues that the proliferation of luxury goods, noatably Venetian table-glass, shaped s... more This paper argues that the proliferation of luxury goods, noatably Venetian table-glass, shaped social behaviour and refined aesthetic sensibility. It suggests ways in which Titian and Tintoretto responded in their paintings to the inventions of the Murano glass-makers, including the transparency of 'cristallo', the marbling of chalcedony glass, the random marking of ice-glass, and the spatial whirls of 'vetro a fili'.
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Book Reviews by Paul Hills
Papers by Paul Hills
A Spanish translation of the author's text, with illustrations in colour, is followed by the English original.
A Spanish translation of the author's text, with illustrations in colour, is followed by the English original.
In my paper I explore how the depiction of textiles activate the image and prompt a mimetic response on the part of the beholder. Ritual unfolds in time: in pictorial images this unfolding is conveyed by the rythym and "ductus" of loose clothing and drapery. Examples discussed range from frescoes in Assisi to altarpieces by Filippino Lippi, Lorenzo Costa and Lorenzo Lotto.
In the quattrocento Alberti's emphasis on the expressive variety of individual figures disrupted the relation of part to whole established by Giotto. Titian returned to Giotto's example: what was sequential in the Scrovegni cycle, he now realised as a manifold event within a single frame. In the twentieth century Matisse learnt from Giotto's handling of drapery, praising the Scrovegni frescoes as exemplifying "the totality that constitutes a picture".