Review: Pietro da Cortona and Roman Baroque Architecture, by Jörg Martin Merz and Anthony Blunt

Abstract

Joorg Martin Merz , a draft by Anthony Blunt ; Pietro da Cortona and Roman Baroque Architecture ; New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2008, 362 pp., 20 color and 200 b/w illus. ££45, ISBN 9780300111231 The variety of Pietro da Cortona's artistic output cannot easily be accommodated in a traditional monograph, and this is one reason why Cortona scholarship has tended to appear in form of specialist studies and articles. In assembling first overview of his architectural production (including unbuilt projects), Joorg Martin Merz has therefore performed a useful service, value of which is increased by range and quality of illustrations. He explains that the present monograph does not contain a catalogue, but presents Cortona's complete oeuvre as an architect in a continuous narrative, with detailed notes reflecting up-to-date bibliographical (xii). While this format makes for pleasurable reading, length of book and not always well-organized chapters mean that it cannot be used easily as a reference text. The volume consists of twenty-three chapters of varying length, most devoted to single architectural projects or to groups of related projects, and a few to Cortona's frescoes. In his text Merz provides summaries of current state of scholarship, but despite his good intentions bibliographical references remain incomplete. Unfortunately, no single chapter reflects kind of deep and sustained original research that gave Karl Noehles's monograph on SS. Luca e Martina its lasting value for the whole history of Roman baroque architecture, as Anthony Blunt foresaw.1 On title page book is described as incorporating a draft by late Anthony Blunt. Merz explains that Blunt had initially intended to write a summary of Cortona's career as an architect based on available published evidence, but that after meeting Merz in 1980 and learning of his discoveries relating to Sacchetti, Blunt had changed concept …