The Villa - A sacred space?

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Abstract

A fundamental difference between ordinary and leisure time is for many the ability to indulge in extra-ordinary activities of both body and mind. Rooted in antiquity, the renaissance villas were often used as spaces for indulgence of artistic endeavors, be it philosophical discussions, poetry-writing or lavish parties. Of indulgence, Aristoteles wrote: ‘The self-indulgent man craves for all pleasant things and is led by his appetite to choose these at the cost of everything else’.1 Built around 1547 at a time before papal nepotism went out of fashion, villa Farnese in Caprarola offered a refuge from urban life. Notably this space is not decorated in the time’s usual style of religious motives, but rather that of pagan narratives and grotesques as were the standard of villa fashion. Thus, the villa became a separate space which were defined not only by the distance to city-life, but more significantly its opposite visual environment.
Building on Victor Turner’s idea of the liminal and liminoid, this presentation seeks to discuss the intersection of the sacred and the profane to which these villas lend their visual discourse. Through studying visual practices in decorations, the presentation will question what authority the remnants of antiquity play in the perception of proper leisure time, and how these contribute to the seeking of the hierophany.
Original languageEnglish
Pages3
Number of pages1
Publication statusPublished - 2022 Oct
Event Auctoritas Antiquitatis:
Classical Reception in Premodern Art and Architecture: Graduate Student Conference Istituto Swedes di Studi Classici a Roma
- Svenska Institutet i Rom, Rom, Italy
Duration: 2022 Oct 282022 Oct 28

Conference

Conference Auctoritas Antiquitatis:
Classical Reception in Premodern Art and Architecture
Country/TerritoryItaly
CityRom
Period2022/10/282022/10/28

Subject classification (UKÄ)

  • Visual Arts
  • Art History
  • Architecture
  • Cultural Studies

Free keywords

  • The renaissance villa
  • liminality
  • renaissance art
  • auctoritas antiquitatis
  • classic art

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