Baroque Visual Rhetoric

"Vernon Hyde Minor's work on Baroque visual rhetoric is on the cutting edge of art theory and history. His book is a rare treasure, especially for those interested in the application of rhetorical analysis to the visual arts." -- Jeffrey Geller, Department of Philosophy and Religion, University of North Carolina at Pembroke

Baroque Visual Rhetoric probes the Baroque’s combination of style and message and the methodological basis on which the critical art historian comes to establish that meaning.

Intricate, expressive, given to grandeur and even excess, Baroque art as a style is inseparable from the meanings it seeks to convey. Vernon Hyde Minor’s Baroque Visual Rhetoric probes this combination of style and message and – equally importantly – the methodological basis on which the critical art historian comes to establish that meaning.

Drawing on a breathtaking range of critical literature, from the German founders of art history as an academic discipline to Heidegger, Derrida, and de Man, Minor considers the issue through a series of Baroque masterpieces: Bernini’s Baldacchino in St. Peter’s Basilica, the statues in the church of San Giovanni in Laterano, Borromini’s church of Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza, Baciccio’s frescoes in the church of Il Gesù, the paintings of Philippe de Champaigne, and the Corsini Chapel in San Giovanni in Laterano.