From Kairos to Occasio through Fortuna : text, image, afterlife : On the Antique critical moment, a Grisaille in Mantua (School of Mantegna, 1495-1510), and the Fortunes of Aby Warburg (1866-1929) / Barbara Baert, translated by Lizzy van Rijswijck.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Baert, Barbara, author.

Contributor:

Rijswijck, Lizzy van, translator.

Anne and Joseph Trachtman Memorial Book Fund.

Standardized Title:

Essays. Selections. English

Language:

Dutch

English

Subjects (All):

Painting, Italian--Italy--Mantua--15th century.

Painting, Italian.

Grisaille painting--Italy--Mantua--15th century.

Grisaille painting.

Mythology, Classical, in art.

Idols and images.

Mural painting and decoration, Italian--Italy--Mantua--15th century.

Mural painting and decoration, Italian.

Civilization, Classical--Influence.

Civilization, Classical.

Painters--Italy--Biography.

Painters.

Art historians--Germany--Biography.

Art historians.

Kairos (The Greek word).

Kairos (Greek deity)--In art.

Kairos.

Occasio (Roman deity)--In art.

Occasio.

Fortuna (Roman deity)--In art.

Fortuna.

Mantegna, Andrea, 1431-1506.

Mantegna, Andrea.

Warburg, Aby, 1866-1929--Influence.

Warburg, Aby.

Warburg, Aby, 1866-1929.

Italy--Mantua.

Physical Description:

209 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 29 cm

Other Title:

On the Antique critical moment, a Grisaille in Mantua (School of Mantegna, 1495-1510), and the Fortunes of Aby Warburg (1866-1929)

Place of Publication:

London/Turnhout : Harvey Miller Publishers, an imprint of Brepols Publishers, [2021]

Summary:

The author discusses the Mantuan fresco's key position in the iconographic 'Nachleben' of the Kairos/Occasio figure, and the way the theme was accustomed in the Quattrocento and the transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. The ancient Greeks had a name for the joy as well as the sorrow of an occasion that suddenly presents itself, but disappears just as swiftly: kairos, or in Latin occasio. Using the Mantua grisaille as starting point and leading motif, Barbara Baert guides us in her own intriguing way through the history of the representation of this figure in art. How did the archaic Greek Kairos model survive in the Quattrocento? Which appearances did Kairos take on along the way and how can we explain his mutations? The author shows us how the semantic and rhetorical expansion of the concept kairos/occasio brought about gender switches and conflations with other personifications of time and fate. Grasping the lock of hair of Kairos/Occasio, spinning the wheel of fortune of Tyche/Fortuna, acting as the mast of the ship and holding the billowing sails, she steers us through depictions of the motionlessness of the moment throughout history before dropping anchor in the fascinating vocabulary of Aby Warburg. During this journey, she invites us to go offshore looking for a new critical moment that presents itself as a powerful opening of possibilities.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: pt. I "I fly carried by the wind"

1. The Greek and late-antique Kairos

2. Lysippos' statue

3. Kairos' entrance in the Latin Christian world. Translations and transitions in text and image

pt. II How For tuna met up with Occasio

4. Inside-out the Mantua grisaille

5. The new Fortuna revisited

6. Footnote 56 again. Back and forth from Mantua to Bologna (In collaboration with Stephanie Heremans)

7. On the "poietical" meaning of the grisaille and another fireplace

pt. III The fortunes of Aby Warburg

8. Ninfa Fiorentina and Scheinplastik

9. Lieber Alfresco! Fortunate and less fortunate correspondences

10. Crisis as method

Butterflies. Touching the psyche of the Mantua grisaille.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 185-199) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Anne and Joseph Trachtman Memorial Book Fund.

ISBN:

9781912554621

1912554623

OCLC:

1238084894

Publisher Number:

99991608667