Sicilian Baroque by Anthony BluntReview by: F. J. B. WATSONJournal of the Royal Society of Arts, Vol. 117, No. 5152 (MARCH 1969), p. 297Published by: Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and CommerceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41370331 .

Accessed: 24/06/2014 23:57

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce is collaborating with JSTOR todigitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of the Royal Society of Arts.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 188.72.127.119 on Tue, 24 Jun 2014 23:57:32 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

MARCH I969 NOTES ON BOOKS

to-day, for their ground floors have generally been 'disembowelled' to hold modern shop- fronts). These palaces are notable, not only for

; the rich though often dilapidated interior decora- ! tion but for the ingenious planning of their I staircases, usually situated open to the air, i sometimes even as a pierced screen allowing I glimpses of the gardens beyond. Across the bay I at Bagheria and in the Piani di Colli north of the ! city, where the nobility retired for the villegia- ' tura , large numbers of country villas sprang up. These, too, are notable for their imaginative

; planning, especially of the exterior staircases leading up to the piano nobile. They often give access also to a terrace completely surrounding the house from which the family could enjoy the views of sea and countryside in the cool of the evening. This gives these houses a character totally different from the Palladian-inspired villas of north and central Italy.

Social conditions likewise affected Palermitine ecclesiastical architecture, for in order to preserve their estates intact, the younger children of the nobility were forced into convents and monasteries whose revenues were greatly increased by the fees charged. Much of this increased wealth went on the lavish decoration of churches with complex marble inlays which often clothe, as with a brightly coloured carpet of mosaic, the walls, floors and often the altars themselves. This technique is also found at Naples but was developed far more sumptuously in Sicily. A quite unique feature of the churches of Palermo, however, is the chapels and oratories decorated by the Serpotta family with figurai compositions in stucco in the highest relief and of an almost inconceivable technical virtuosity. Many of these, notably the life-sized figures in the oratory of St. Catherine by Procopio Serpotta, are of quite remarkably romantic beauty.

The book is excellently produced and is not too bulky to be carried in a traveller's luggage, where it should prove a valuable guide-book covering its subject far more thoroughly even than the recent I.T.C. Sicilia guide. With some justice Professor Blunt describes Mr. Tim Benton's photographs (nearly 160 of them) as the raison d'être of the book. They are indeed excellent and provide an unrivalled icono- graphical corpus of Sicilian baroque archi- tecture. Only occasionally do they deviate into an unnecessarily ťmodern' angling of the camera.

297

Sicilian Baroque By Anthony Blunt . London , Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1968. 70 s net Although the dust jacket of Sacheverell Sitwell's Southern Baroque Art was decorated with a view of the Villa Palagonia at Bagheria as long ago as 1924, and in spite of the fact that both he and his elder brother were writing enthusiastically about Noto in the same decade, their pioneering efforts awoke no great response either from scholars or tourists. For all practical purposes this book is the first extended study of Sicilian baroque architecture to appear. Wittkower paid it the scantiest attention in the relevant volume of the Pelican History of Art. Even Sir Anthony Blunt's bibliography reveals little more serious than a few specialized studies of local problems written by Italian scholars. This book is there- fore most welcome.

Sicilian baroque architecture has a pronounced local flavour different from that of any other part of Italy. Its character has been largely determined by two factors, unusual natural phenomena and peculiar historical circum- stances. From time to time whole areas of Sicily are devastated by appalling earthquakes. One of ! the worst occurred in 1693, extensively damaging the eastern end of the island. The destruction of whole sections of Catania, Messina, Syracuse and other towns, provided local architects with a unique and inspiring opportunity. The conse- quences are perhaps seen best at Noto, a town so utterly destroyed by the earthquake that it had to be entirely rebuilt on a fresh site. Thanks to the way in which the city engineer, Rosario Gagliardi, and a few local architects rose to the occasion, the result is an example of baroque layout and architectural unity rivalling Bath or Richelieu and unique in Southern Europe.

The other factor which especially affected the architecture of Palermo and its neighbourhood was an historical one. To engage in any sort of industry or commerce was regarded in the eighteenth century as a dérogation de noblesse for the aristocracy. Absentee landlordism became rampant, the nobility preferring to make the maximum display at the Spanish vice-regal court at Palermo rather than farm their estates. In consequence these were heavily mortgaged and run by agents concerned only to extract rack-rents from the tenants. It is significant that in the late sixteenth century there was only one i prince, two dukes, a marquess and 22 counts j in the entire island. By the end of the eighteenth j century there were 1,500 dukes and barons, j 142 princes, and 788 marquesses, most of their j titles having been acquired by purchase from the viceroy.

The tragically stultifying social consequences for the island are painfully evident to-day, but from an architectural point of view they were beneficial. Large palaces sprang up along the streets of Palermo (though few notice them

F. J. B. WATSON

Elizabethan Handwriting, 1500-1650. A Guide to the Reading of Documents and Manuscripts. By Giles E. Dawson and Laetitia Kennedy - Skipton. London , Faber , 1968. 455 net This is the English edition of a work published in the United States in 1966. In fifty excellent

This content downloaded from 188.72.127.119 on Tue, 24 Jun 2014 23:57:32 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions