From Robert Hughes, one of the greatest art and cultural critics of our time, comes a sprawling, comprehensive, and deeply personal history of Rome—as city, as empire, and, crucially, as an origin of Western art and civilization, two subjects about which Hughes has spent his life writing and thinking.
Starting on a personal note, Hughes takes us to the Rome he first encountered as a hungry twenty-one-year-old fresh from Australia in 1959. From that exhilarating portrait, he takes us back more than two thousand years to the city's foundation, one mired in mythologies and superstitions that would inform Rome's development for centuries.
From the beginning, Rome was a hotbed of power, overweening ambition, desire, political genius, and corruption. Hughes details the turbulent years that saw the formation of empire and the establishment of the sociopolitical system, along the way providing colorful portraits of all the major figures, both political (Julius Caesar, Marcus Aurelius, Nero, Caligula) and cultural (Cicero, Martial, Virgil), to name just a few. For almost a thousand years, Rome would remain the most politically important, richest, and largest city in the Western world.
From the formation of empire, Hughes moves on to the rise of early Christianity, his own antipathy toward religion providing rich and lively context for the brutality of the early Church, and eventually the Crusades. The brutality had the desired effect—the Church consolidated and outlasted the power of empire, and Rome would be the capital of the Papal States until its annexation into the newly united kingdom of Italy in 1870.
As one would expect, Hughes lavishes plenty of critical attention on the Renaissance, providing a full survey of the architecture, painting, and sculpture that blossomed in Rome over the course of the fourteenth through the sixteenth centuries, and shedding new light on old masters in the process. Having established itself as the artistic and spiritual center of the world, Rome in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries saw artists (and, eventually, wealthy tourists) from all over Europe converging on the bustling city, even while it was caught up in the nationalistic turmoils of the Italian independence struggle and war against France.
Hughes keeps the momentum going right into the twentieth century, when Rome witnessed the rise and fall of Italian Fascism and Mussolini, and took on yet another identity in the postwar years as the fashionable city of "La Dolce Vita." This is the Rome Hughes himself first encountered, and it's one he contends, perhaps controversially, has been lost in the half century since, as the cult of mass tourism has slowly ruined the dazzling city he loved so much. Equal parts idolizing, blasphemous, outraged, and awestruck, Rome is a portrait of the Eternal City as only Robert Hughes could paint it.
From the Hardcover edition.
Review
In pages of trenchant prose, Hughes chronicles the art and architecture of Rome from the Emperor Augustus to Federico Fellini. This is quite an undertaking but Hughes is an entertaining, if at times highly opinionated critic SPECTATOR in this Herculean undertaking, Hughes has captured much of the true spirit of Rome: the aspiration to great achievement despite obstacles, setbacks or failures PROSPECT informative and entertaining EVENING STANDARD If visiting Rome, you should certainly take this passionate, erudite bruiser's Baedeker with you - a superbly rich blend of history, art and travelogue SUNDAY TIMES We enjoy reading Hughes precisely because he avoids an of that corseted coyness which characterises too much art history writing nowadays. Thankfully not having to worry about securing professional tenure at a university or gaining a coveted gallery curatorship, he can speak with the candour of a visceral enthusiasm, savaging mediocrity and rhapsodically defending excellence LITERARY REVIEW His love and knowledge of the city stand forth SUNDAY TELEGRAPH This authoratative and detailed cultural history of Rome is very readable despite being nearly 500 pages long...Robert Hughes loves to put forward his own opinions, which makes for a very personal view that is always entertaining WE LOVE THIS BOOK A story that lasts almost 3,000 years and is pivotal to so much of Western civilisation requires a chronicler of well-nigh unattainable erudition, who can write with the skill needed to prevent readers from succumbing to a literary version of Stendhal syndrome. Mr Hughes, the Australian-born art critic of Time magazine, comes as near as anyone to fulfilling that job description and for much of this wide-ranging volume he succeeds magnificently THE ECONOMIST A tour of the great city with a great guide: who could do this better? -- David Sexton EVENING STANDARD The second half of the book is an engaging history of this wondrous city, very much in the tradition of The Shock of the New, packed full of sharp observation and trenchant one-liners, artfully and fearlessly told -- Mary Beard THE GUARDIAN Hughes proves an entertaining and erudite guide. He is an impeccable raconteur, commanding, self-confident, witty -- Alastair Sooke DAILY TELEGRAPH The art critic's superb cultural history is also an invaluable guide to the eternal city SUNDAY TIMES Robert Hughes traces the Eternal City's history from Romulus and Remus, through the intrigues of the Empire and the Renaissance to the present day. A personal account of his relationship with the city, the book also considers Rome's place in global culture and its influence (spiritual and profane) on people around the world THE TIMES Robert Hughes is that rarity, a boisterous yet unforgiving critic. When he is most engaged, ideas and instances tumble out of him in cornucopious profusion -- Frederic Raphael THE OBSERVER the book's muscle and sinew lie in Hughes's supremely eloquent vingnettes of churches and palaces, statues and paintings - evocations of art and place crafted with all the swagger and savour of a critic who can make his readers see, and feel, afresh...He never disappoints -- Boyd Tonkin THE INDEPENDENT No one can nail a painting like Hughes -- Rachel Spence FINANCIAL TIMES this is the work of un maestro -- Christopher Bray WORD his account of the art and architecture blazes, via exhilarating close-up encounters with Rome's masterworks INDEPENDENT i To be sure, the city has a modern history too, and on this Hughes is predictably excellent. Anyone wanting a vivid account of how Futurism fed into Fascism, or a withering polemic on what Berlusconi has meant for the cultural health of contemporary Rome, need look no further -- Tom Holland MAIL ON SUNDAY On the art, he's informative, insightful and entertaining -- Tibor Fischer STANDPOINT And by all means, take this extraordinary and passionate guide with you CATHOLIC HERALD In Rome, the ever-eloquent Robert Hughes merged a galloping overview into his forte of art criticism. He composed a richly textured portrait of a city we see, and feel, afresh. Each monument and artwork sparkles, scrubbed clean of tired cliches -- Boyd Tonkin THE INDEPENDENT Christmas Books 20111125 I would read Mr Hughes's book if I were going to Rome. I'd read it if I weren't going to Rome. You culd read it instead of going to Rome, though given the choice, I'd choose Rome. Reading the book is like being taken around the Eternal City on a long brisk march by an entertaining, erudite acquaintance with a gift for storytelling and the oddly rare ability to describe what something actually looks like. -- Francine Prose INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE 20111203 If you want an agreeable, general account of the Eternal City or need encouragement to embark on a visit, you can welcome it [the book]as a friendly and alluring companion ARPLUS.COM 20111124 The last two sections of the book,which deal with teh time after the War, offer as sensible an account of Italian painting and sculpture of that period as you are likely to get -- Joseph Rykwert ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW 20111201 Hughes was once well-known as the art critic of Time magazine and he's predictably delightful on works of art he loves: the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius on the Campidoglio, the Vatican frescoes of Raphael, the marble fantasias of Bernini. He's also an excellent hater. Confronting the flabbergasting monument to King Vittorio Emanuele II (begun 1884, completed 1935), he offers a list of its nicknames: the typewriter, the zuppa inglese, the wedding cake, the false teeth and (this one was news to me) the national urinal -- Craig Seligman BUSINESS WEEK.COM 20111129 This, so far, is my best read of the year -- Michael Collins IRISH CATHOLIC 20111208
About the Author
Robert Hughes was born in Australia in 1938. Since 1970 he has lived and worked in the United States, where until 2001 he was chief art critic for TIME, to which he still contributes. He is the recipient of a number of awards and prizes for his work.
Description:
From Robert Hughes, one of the greatest art and cultural critics of our time, comes a sprawling, comprehensive, and deeply personal history of Rome—as city, as empire, and, crucially, as an origin of Western art and civilization, two subjects about which Hughes has spent his life writing and thinking.
Starting on a personal note, Hughes takes us to the Rome he first encountered as a hungry twenty-one-year-old fresh from Australia in 1959. From that exhilarating portrait, he takes us back more than two thousand years to the city's foundation, one mired in mythologies and superstitions that would inform Rome's development for centuries.
From the beginning, Rome was a hotbed of power, overweening ambition, desire, political genius, and corruption. Hughes details the turbulent years that saw the formation of empire and the establishment of the sociopolitical system, along the way providing colorful portraits of all the major figures, both political (Julius Caesar, Marcus Aurelius, Nero, Caligula) and cultural (Cicero, Martial, Virgil), to name just a few. For almost a thousand years, Rome would remain the most politically important, richest, and largest city in the Western world.
From the formation of empire, Hughes moves on to the rise of early Christianity, his own antipathy toward religion providing rich and lively context for the brutality of the early Church, and eventually the Crusades. The brutality had the desired effect—the Church consolidated and outlasted the power of empire, and Rome would be the capital of the Papal States until its annexation into the newly united kingdom of Italy in 1870.
As one would expect, Hughes lavishes plenty of critical attention on the Renaissance, providing a full survey of the architecture, painting, and sculpture that blossomed in Rome over the course of the fourteenth through the sixteenth centuries, and shedding new light on old masters in the process. Having established itself as the artistic and spiritual center of the world, Rome in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries saw artists (and, eventually, wealthy tourists) from all over Europe converging on the bustling city, even while it was caught up in the nationalistic turmoils of the Italian independence struggle and war against France.
Hughes keeps the momentum going right into the twentieth century, when Rome witnessed the rise and fall of Italian Fascism and Mussolini, and took on yet another identity in the postwar years as the fashionable city of "La Dolce Vita." This is the Rome Hughes himself first encountered, and it's one he contends, perhaps controversially, has been lost in the half century since, as the cult of mass tourism has slowly ruined the dazzling city he loved so much. Equal parts idolizing, blasphemous, outraged, and awestruck, Rome is a portrait of the Eternal City as only Robert Hughes could paint it.
From the Hardcover edition.
Review
In pages of trenchant prose, Hughes chronicles the art and architecture of Rome from the Emperor Augustus to Federico Fellini. This is quite an undertaking but Hughes is an entertaining, if at times highly opinionated critic SPECTATOR in this Herculean undertaking, Hughes has captured much of the true spirit of Rome: the aspiration to great achievement despite obstacles, setbacks or failures PROSPECT informative and entertaining EVENING STANDARD If visiting Rome, you should certainly take this passionate, erudite bruiser's Baedeker with you - a superbly rich blend of history, art and travelogue SUNDAY TIMES We enjoy reading Hughes precisely because he avoids an of that corseted coyness which characterises too much art history writing nowadays. Thankfully not having to worry about securing professional tenure at a university or gaining a coveted gallery curatorship, he can speak with the candour of a visceral enthusiasm, savaging mediocrity and rhapsodically defending excellence LITERARY REVIEW His love and knowledge of the city stand forth SUNDAY TELEGRAPH This authoratative and detailed cultural history of Rome is very readable despite being nearly 500 pages long...Robert Hughes loves to put forward his own opinions, which makes for a very personal view that is always entertaining WE LOVE THIS BOOK A story that lasts almost 3,000 years and is pivotal to so much of Western civilisation requires a chronicler of well-nigh unattainable erudition, who can write with the skill needed to prevent readers from succumbing to a literary version of Stendhal syndrome. Mr Hughes, the Australian-born art critic of Time magazine, comes as near as anyone to fulfilling that job description and for much of this wide-ranging volume he succeeds magnificently THE ECONOMIST A tour of the great city with a great guide: who could do this better? -- David Sexton EVENING STANDARD The second half of the book is an engaging history of this wondrous city, very much in the tradition of The Shock of the New, packed full of sharp observation and trenchant one-liners, artfully and fearlessly told -- Mary Beard THE GUARDIAN Hughes proves an entertaining and erudite guide. He is an impeccable raconteur, commanding, self-confident, witty -- Alastair Sooke DAILY TELEGRAPH The art critic's superb cultural history is also an invaluable guide to the eternal city SUNDAY TIMES Robert Hughes traces the Eternal City's history from Romulus and Remus, through the intrigues of the Empire and the Renaissance to the present day. A personal account of his relationship with the city, the book also considers Rome's place in global culture and its influence (spiritual and profane) on people around the world THE TIMES Robert Hughes is that rarity, a boisterous yet unforgiving critic. When he is most engaged, ideas and instances tumble out of him in cornucopious profusion -- Frederic Raphael THE OBSERVER the book's muscle and sinew lie in Hughes's supremely eloquent vingnettes of churches and palaces, statues and paintings - evocations of art and place crafted with all the swagger and savour of a critic who can make his readers see, and feel, afresh...He never disappoints -- Boyd Tonkin THE INDEPENDENT No one can nail a painting like Hughes -- Rachel Spence FINANCIAL TIMES this is the work of un maestro -- Christopher Bray WORD his account of the art and architecture blazes, via exhilarating close-up encounters with Rome's masterworks INDEPENDENT i To be sure, the city has a modern history too, and on this Hughes is predictably excellent. Anyone wanting a vivid account of how Futurism fed into Fascism, or a withering polemic on what Berlusconi has meant for the cultural health of contemporary Rome, need look no further -- Tom Holland MAIL ON SUNDAY On the art, he's informative, insightful and entertaining -- Tibor Fischer STANDPOINT And by all means, take this extraordinary and passionate guide with you CATHOLIC HERALD In Rome, the ever-eloquent Robert Hughes merged a galloping overview into his forte of art criticism. He composed a richly textured portrait of a city we see, and feel, afresh. Each monument and artwork sparkles, scrubbed clean of tired cliches -- Boyd Tonkin THE INDEPENDENT Christmas Books 20111125 I would read Mr Hughes's book if I were going to Rome. I'd read it if I weren't going to Rome. You culd read it instead of going to Rome, though given the choice, I'd choose Rome. Reading the book is like being taken around the Eternal City on a long brisk march by an entertaining, erudite acquaintance with a gift for storytelling and the oddly rare ability to describe what something actually looks like. -- Francine Prose INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE 20111203 If you want an agreeable, general account of the Eternal City or need encouragement to embark on a visit, you can welcome it [the book]as a friendly and alluring companion ARPLUS.COM 20111124 The last two sections of the book,which deal with teh time after the War, offer as sensible an account of Italian painting and sculpture of that period as you are likely to get -- Joseph Rykwert ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW 20111201 Hughes was once well-known as the art critic of Time magazine and he's predictably delightful on works of art he loves: the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius on the Campidoglio, the Vatican frescoes of Raphael, the marble fantasias of Bernini. He's also an excellent hater. Confronting the flabbergasting monument to King Vittorio Emanuele II (begun 1884, completed 1935), he offers a list of its nicknames: the typewriter, the zuppa inglese, the wedding cake, the false teeth and (this one was news to me) the national urinal -- Craig Seligman BUSINESS WEEK.COM 20111129 This, so far, is my best read of the year -- Michael Collins IRISH CATHOLIC 20111208
About the Author
Robert Hughes was born in Australia in 1938. Since 1970 he has lived and worked in the United States, where until 2001 he was chief art critic for TIME, to which he still contributes. He is the recipient of a number of awards and prizes for his work.