Casanova (Boston, Mass.)

Casanova : the seduction of Europe / edited by Frederick Ilchman, Thomas Michie, C.D. Dickerson III, and Esther Bell ; with contributions by Meredith Chilton, Jeffrey Collins, Nina L. Dubin, Courtney Leigh Harris, James H. Johnson, Pamela A. Parmal, Malina Stefanovska, Susan M. Wager, and Michael Yonan.

First edition.

Boston, Massachusetts : MFA Publications, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, [2017]

New York, New York : Artbook/D.A.P.

Verona, Italy : Verona Libri

©2017

343 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), map, portraits ; 26 cm

Published in conjunction with an exhibition of the same name held at Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, August 27-December 31, 2017; Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Legion of Honor, February 10-May 28, 2018; and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, July 1-October 8, 2018.

In 18th-century Europe, while the old order reveled in the luxurious excesses of the Rococo style and the Enlightenment sowed the seeds of revolution, the shapeshifting libertine Giacomo Casanova seduced his way across the continent. Although notorious for the scores of amorous conquests he recorded in his remarkably frank memoirs, Casanova was just as practiced at charming his way into the most elite social circles, through an inimitable mix of literary ambition, improvisational genius and outright fraud. In his travels across Europe and through every level of society from the theatrical demimonde to royal courts, he was also seduced by the visual splendors he encountered. This volume accompanies the first major art exhibition outside Europe to lavishly recreate Casanova's visual world, from his birthplace of Venice, city of masquerades, to the cultural capitals of Paris and London and the outposts of Eastern Europe. It provides a survey of important works of 18th-century European art by masters such as Canaletto, Fragonard, Boucher, Houdon and Hogarth, along with exquisite decorative arts objects.

English

November 20, 2018

Includes bibliographical references (pages 297-299) and index.