On Beauty: A History of a Western Idea

At the start of the final chapter of this supremely beautiful, weighty (1.4kgs), and thrillingly provocative book, Eco asks us to "imagine an art historian of the future or an explorer arriving from outer space who both ask themselves the same question: what is the idea of Beauty that dominated the twentieth century? At bottom we have done nothing else, in this cavalcade through the history of Beauty, but pose ourselves similar questions about other times." In essence, this is what the book is about."This is a history of Beauty and not a history of art (or of literature or music). ... So why is this history of Beauty [always spelt throughout this book with a capital B] documented almost solely through works of art?" Well, Eco argues this is because artists, poets, and novelists were the only people to leave examples for which valid (though tendentious) claims can be made about Beauty. This is plainly open to argument and is contradicted by his use of written sources by such `artists' as Immanuel Kant and Eric Hobsbawm, people whose names are listed under the index of authors and not the index of artists that appear at the end of the book. (Incidentally, to give some indication of the range of authors, the index runs from Addison to Zola; the index of artists from Abbott to Zoffany.)Still, Eco is on firmer ground by delimiting his contemplation to the concept of Beauty as it appears solely in western culture (the book is subtitled "History of a Western Idea"), for primitivism leaves no texts. As for Chinese or other literate cultures, "it is always difficult to establish up to what point certain concepts can be identified with our own". A relativistic cop-out? Well, yes: "Our book could be accused of relativism, as if we wanted to say that what is considered beautiful depends on the various historical periods and cultures. And this is precisely what we mean to say. ... In this book ... we shall highlight the differences. It is up to the reader to seek any unity underlying these differences."After the book's introduction, and before we start our contemplations in earnest, the authors have kindly supplied almost twenty pages of `comparative tables', thumbed reproductions of statues, paintings, and photographs of people that are or have been considered beautiful: Venuses and Adonises clothed and nude, Madonnas, Jesuses, kings, and queens. These help to focus the mind on which the reader finds more beautiful and, more importantly, why.But if I have said what this book is about, what is its form? More than anything, this volume is a source-book for philosophical ideas about the concept of Beauty in the western world. Consequently, one cannot review this book without feeling that one is reviewing a review. It clearly states that Eco has edited rather than written it, since the form that it takes in each chapter is for Eco to write an introductory short essay in which he refers to a variety of written sources, and these sources are then quoted in a different typeface on a separate area of the page, or indeed on a separate page altogether. In a way, the book is like one of the treatises written by those medieval scholastics so beloved by Eco, in which they set forth upon a subject and then rely upon the precedents quoted by the worthy ancients to support their pronouncements, (though it must be said that some sections have no supporting quotations). What is not broadcast too loudly is the fact that the eight of the seventeen chapters are written by Girolamo de Michele, information about whom is not forthcoming.This has been a massive undertaking and clearly also a labour of love for all those involved, so it seems unfair to refer to some odd statements. But I do so, not only to highlight what are for me differing understandings of issues, but also to show how this book provokes the reader into a deeper reflection on the meanings of various concepts. For example, what are we to make of this statement: "In the fifteenth century, under the influence of distinct but convergent factors ... Beauty was conceived according to a dual orientation that today strikes us as contradictory but that contemporaries found coherent ... Beauty both as an imitation of nature ... and as the contemplation of a supernatural degree of perfection ..."? It is not the "dual orientation" that I have problems with, it is the reference to "today". Unless I have misunderstood the meaning (the book has been translated from the Italian), the perfect in nature may be more beautiful than mere nature, but there is no incoherence or contradiction in that. Do we not also idealise imperfections, whether in art or the everyday? Besides, even Alberti, in his `On Painting' of 1435 (and quoted in this book) writes how "Demetrius, a painter of olden times, failed to win great praise because he was far more interested in making things look natural than beautiful." In response, we can either say, "Plus ca change ...", or rather make a case that in the fifteenth century the dual orientation struck contemporaries as contradictory.Other instances where Eco successfully provokes a deeper reaction in the reader rather than bland acceptance of his and others' written words include the link posited between Mannerist Beauty and the "crisis of knowledge" created by the Copernican revolution. Another would be the commentary and quotations on subjectivity and objectivity in Hume's `Of the Standards of Taste'. Alas, readers should beware that there are also instances in the text where clarity of meaning has been lost to obscure philosophical terminology. Thus, "even Kant acknowledges the presence of non-rational phenomena within the system. One of these is the legitimisation together with `adherent Beauty', of `free Beauty', the indefinable nature of the arabesque and the abstract." I'm not sure who is to blame here, the murky Kant or his so-called elucidator.The book's structure is largely (but not exclusively) chronological, commencing with the Greeks. When we reach the Victorian era and the rise of mass production, the concept of Beauty in the everyday object arises, to me an ironic Beauty rather than an iconic Beauty. There is even a chapter analysing the development through time of the idea of the Beauty of the machine. Would the fifteenth century recognise the perfection of Duchamp's `Fountain': coherence or contradiction? (Yes, I'm being cheeky.) The final chapter brings us up to consideration of the Beauty of the rave or the rock concert.A word or two about the sumptuous illustrations. As one works through the book's manifold angles and aspects of its title, these subconsciously demand greater and greater attention that might otherwise have occurred if the words were absent, if this were just an illustrated book of Beauty. Their presence certainly accentuates and aids contemplation. For example, Mengin's portrait of Sappho in the Manchester Art Gallery is followed by Fabre's portrait in the Uffizi of Ugo Foscolo. Two portraits so widely different in terms of subject-matter and style, and yet both `Romantic'. What is it that links these two paintings under the same genre heading? Is it simply that the Sappho is romantic because it does not possess the clean-lines of the neo-classical? Yet the Foscolo has the clean lines, but the cloudy sky and his knowing gaze tell us all we need to know about his Romantic credentials. Just like the accompanying texts, the illustrations themselves are arguments for coherence and contradiction. All the text might be removed, and yet the book would still serve its purpose, but perhaps not vice-versa.It would be wrong to conclude that in the succession of plate after plate of beauty personified or designed, that there was no room for consideration of the inner Beauty. True, there is no one chapter devoted to this concept, and Eco at the start distinguishes philosophically between the sentiment of Beauty rather than concepts that we might term beautiful such as a virtuous deed. It is the former that this book is about, and yet implicit in the contemplation of physical or natural beauty is this other moral Beauty that seeks to balance the attention given to natural Beauty. Plotinus, in his `Enneads' (quoted in the book) says that, "There is no beauty more authentic than the wisdom we find and love in some individual ... But if that [inner beauty] does not move you to call such a man beautiful, when you look inside yourself you will not perceive yourself as beautiful either." I have often pondered that those who are fully conscious of their own physical beauty somehow lack that inner knowledge and are often sadder and lacking wisdom as a result. But the reader of this mighty work, whether beautiful or not, will judge that for him- or herself. This book possesses both an outer perfection of natural Beauty expressed in its style, form, and design, and also an inner Beauty that is contained within its content, its vast store of wisdom about the meaning of Beauty itself.

The book is erudite, eclectic with strong individuality emanating from the powerful intellect and personality of the author.The structure is consistent within and between chapters and comprises three distinct but interwoven elements:a succint text by the author, colour pictures lavishly illustrating the points made by the author in the text and excerpts from the sources used by the author belonging to both eponymous and anonymous authors. These excerpts were invariably, meticulously and eclectically selected and fascinating in their own right due to their engaging writing style varying from the naive during the Dark Ages to the progressively sophisticated from the Renaissance onwards and in that they provide the character of the aesthetics and the ideal of beauty of the particular era they refer to, as well as the cultural and social context in which the works of art were created.The book covers the entire spectrum of artistic creation from the classical Greek antiquity to the end of the twentieth century and beyond.In the ensuing I shall present a sample of the writing of the author relating to classical Greece and a sample of chapters comprising the book.Regarding classical Greece we are not merely presented with the familiar serene harmony, understood as order and measure, expressed in a Beauty that Nietzsche called Apollonian but also with the less familiar and disquieting, Dionysiac Beauty, which was not expressed in apparent forms, but over and above appearances. This was the joyous and dangerous Beauty, antithetical to reason and often depicted as possession and madness:it is the nocturnal side of the mild Attic sky, populated by initiation mysteries and obscure sacrificial rites, like the Eleusinian rites.Chapters include 'The Aesthetic Ideal in Ancient Greece', 'Beauty as Proportion and Harmony', 'Light and Colour in the Middle Ages', 'Magic Beauty between the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Century', 'From Grace to Disquieting Beauty', 'Reason and Beauty', 'The Sublime', 'Romantic Beauty', 'The Religion of Beauty', 'From Abstract Forms to the Depths of Material', and 'The Beauty of the Media'.The book is intellectually stimulating, visually attractive and possesses literary merit. It should fascinate and fulfil even the more discriminating reader.

I am 101 pages into this interesting text book. I bought it S it was a core book for a masters course I was registered for but due to the pandemic! I had to pull out. However, I thought I would continue to read it because it covers a subject area of interest to me. It is beautifully presented and quite an interesting book with explanatory articles that support the main text and some beautiful artworks that are reproduced in full colour. However, the text in the softcover version is far, far too small. I can’t easily see it with my reading glasses on! Also, the very shiny pages make it quite hard to read. As a piece of art it is very attractive but as a textbook these printing issues make it quite hard to access.

The hardcover edition of this book is a pleasure in itself; at four hundred and thirty pages, it is relatively short for an Eco but produced on high-quality, glossy paper with at least an illustration on each page, often more and often full page, the interesting text is well illustrated to make his points clearer.As a semiotics professor, this comes through in his analysis; he is always a pleasing read and this book is no exception.It is not a history of art; nor is it a history of aesthetics. He has combined the two in semiologist's mind and written a fascinating book charting through art and architecture, the changing aspects of beauty through the ages and those aspects which have remained unchanged. Collecting material and organising it effectively as he has done must have been a daunting but thoroughly enjoyable endeavour. Join him in his enjoyment and read this lavishly illustrated, wonderful book.