Love: Art of Emotion 1400–1800 ed. by Angela Hesson, Charles Zika and Matthew Martin

Abstract

Reviewed by: Love: Art of Emotion 1400–1800 ed. by Angela Hesson, Charles Zika and Matthew Martin Andrea Bubenik Hesson, Angela, Charles Zika, and Matthew Martin, eds, Love: Art of Emotion 1400–1800, Melbourne, National Gallery of Victoria, 2017; paperback; pp. xii, 233; fully colour illustrated; R.R.P. AU$49.95; ISBN 9781925432312. Is there any emotion more complex and nuanced than love? It is well known that the ancient Greeks had at least sixteen terms for love in all its forms: from love that is physical (eros) to altruistic (agape), to love of a friend (philia). The Swiss philosopher Denis de Rougement recognized these nuances in his classic book on the subject, Love in the Western World (1956), in which he attempted to survey the evolution of love from a literary perspective, with particular focus on the later emergence of romantic and passionate love. Rougement’s attempt to read [End Page 213] two thousand years of texts through evolving concepts of love is one of the most significant forays in the field of the history of emotions. Surprisingly, a similar history for visual culture remains to be written. Therefore, the present publication is a very welcome one indeed. Love: Art of Emotion 1400–1800 graphic is an impressive and beautifully illustrated catalogue that accompanied the exhibition of the same title at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) in 2017. As the principal outcome of a collaboration between the NGV, The University of Melbourne, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions 1100–1800 (CHE), the exhibition and now its catalogue are part of a burgeoning field of historical research in which the emotions are at the forefront rather than receded. The painstaking curation by Angela Hesson deserves to be singled out—it could not have been easy to bring cohesion to this diverse and complex array of objects—as much as her excellent and evocatively titled ‘Silver-sweet and Frantic-mad’ introduction to the catalogue. For those who could not attend the exhibition, this catalogue is a welcome surrogate; those who did will be drawn into happy reminiscence of a thoughtful and often sensual show that was further enriched by accompanying music. The focus is very much on Western art, with the diversity of objects well suited to an emotion that continues to defy facile characterization. Love as embodied in family, friendship, religious devotion, patriotism, and nostalgia are represented not only in the expected paintings and prints but also earthenware bowls, porcelain sculptures, reliquaries, rings, fans, silks, and linens. A significant outcome is to highlight just how varied and rich the NGV collections are, with over two hundred objects chosen for inclusion. The shifts between the micro and the macro, the private and public—tiny painted snuff boxes to large scale canvases—are entirely fitting for the multifarious theme. Objects have lives, and they are very much palpable here. As rich in thought as the objects themselves are the scholarly essays, which invoke the works of art featured in the exhibition and beyond. Anne Dunlop gives a rich discussion of the reception of Ovid, whose poetry was so central to early modern conceptions of love; Patricia Simons explores the spaces of love from gardens, to bathhouses, to taverns; and James Grantham Turner considers depictions of bodies in physical and amorous pursuits. Rituals of love are detailed by Matthew Martin, while Gary Schwartz explores the love of art itself. Some of the most surprising objects featured in the exhibition—such as pendants, rings, and fans—are discussed by curator Angela Hesson and Lisa Beaven, and their characterizations of ‘the erotic charge between collector and objects’ are amongst the most compelling passages in this catalogue. Indeed, it is the ‘the emotional life of objects’ that is perhaps the most striking thematic to emerge. In effect, the choice of works and the timeframe predate the notion of romantic love. Perhaps a significant outcome here is to highlight how relatively recent such a notion really is (as anticipated by Rougement’s book cited above). As Anne [End Page 214] Dunlop points out, the essays and objects to hand ‘suggest just how historically contingent the idea of love always is...