The Italian Renaissance Imagery of Inspiration: Metaphors of Sex, Sleep, and Dreams (review)
Gere, Keepers of the Drawings at the British Museum. Listed are the 253 figural and ornamental drawings that can presently be identified from the hand of Ligorio; excluded are his archaeological or topographical drawings and, with one exception, those in bound manuscripts. The list is organized by country of location or, where the present location is not known, former location. The list also includes twentyeight entries of unsure or dubious attribution, a distinction based on whether the evidence is insufficient to judge attribution (unsure) or whether Coffin is unconvinced by the opinion of others including other scholars (dubious). In piecing together Ligorio’s life, Coffin critically presents in chronological order his major works as a painter, designer, and architect. The sweep of Ligoro’s life shows the change in his professional standing over time. He came to Rome from Naples as a craftsman who painted the facades of houses. He died in Ferrara as the salaried archeologist and court intellectual for Duke Alfonso II. The transition from manual artisan to humanist intellectual was effected through Ligorio’s front-line role in collecting and in some ways defining the cultural resources of ancient Rome since, in meeting the need of the time for a full record of the classical ideal, Ligorio completed some of the partial inscriptions he found. Drama comes to this biography in the person of Giorgio Vasari who omitted Ligorio from his Vite, presumably because Ligorio competed for papal employment with Michelangelo, whom Vasari favored. Vasari’s is the background voice casting aspersions on Ligorio’s actions and work then explained by Coffin as, if not always noble, at least reasonable. Coffin notes that “there has never been an extensive or even adequate biography” of Ligorio (1). That is no longer true. Coffin’s work will not end debate on specific attributions or the quality of Ligorio’s artistic work, but this biography should serve as the foundation for any further studies of the artist. ROBERT E. ROEMER Loyola University Chicago