| The 1584 dialogue Il Riposo by Raffaello Borghini (1537--1588), published sixteen years after the second edition of Giorgio Vasari's Vite, was the first art treatise specifically directed toward a lay audience. Although never translated, it has enjoyed five editions in addition to two twentieth century facsimile editions. Borghini's dialogue is presented as taking place over four days at a country estate (named Il Riposo) outside Florence. The first book addresses iconography; the second is concerned with style and technique. Two additional books review ancient and Renaissance Italian art concluding with a discussion of later sixteenth century artists. Borghini's dialogue is the most frequently cited Florentine response to the Council of Trent (1545--1563). It is also a vague, flexible and relatively unenthusiastic Florentine interpretation of the "new seriousness" with which the second half of the sixteenth century reacted against the High Maniera. The dialogue expressed the values of the by now provincial court of Grand Duke Francesco I and was written, in part, as a carefully understated defense of the Medici.;For the ostensibly straightlaced Borghini, whose treatise focused on public religious painting, art was the straightforward illustration an invention of a donor or, preferably, a learned advisor. To this the artist added, with modesty, reverence and devotion, as little as possible. Mimesis determined style which was to be simple, clear, and lucid, providing these qualities did not detract from the grace, style, and cleverness of the presentation. In the most interesting part of the dialogue these inconsistent values are somewhat inconsistently applied to the painting and statuary which the four discussants encounter as they imagine they are walking through the churches and public spaces of Florence.;Borghini's treatise has been heavily criticized for its derivative character. Much of the iconographic material is taken from Benedetto Varchi and Giovanni Gilio. Much of the technical studio material is taken from Cennino Cennini, Leonardo, and Vasari. The historical material prior to the 1560's is taken almost entirely from Pliny and Vasari. Subsequently, however, Borghini provided much first-hand or otherwise unavailable second-hand information concerning contemporary developments in Venice and Florence which is of particular value to students of Tintoretto, Giambologna, and the artists of the Studiolo of Francesco I. Furthermore, students have found Borghini's detailed Counter-Reformation and Counter-Maniera analysis of contemporary paintings and sculpture helpful in understanding the aesthetics of the later sixteenth century. |
