Agamden writes scholarly books mostly, but this one caught our eye for other reasons. The title comes from a Latin and Italian word that means studious and study — in other words, to devote time and attention to acquiring knowledge. In this case, the knowledge is of the illusive spiritual kind.
Agamden explains in his introduction that “In Renaissance palaces, the studiolo was a small room to which the prince withdrew to meditate or read, surrounded by paintings he particularly loved. This volume is a studiolo of sorts for its author.” We are all princes today.
Five-to-six-page reflections are each accompanied by color reproductions of famous paintings, sculptures, and figures ranging from ancient to modern. For example, you will find Titian’s “Flaying of Marsyas” and Jan Van Eyck’s “Saint Barbara,” as well as the Spanish modernist Isabel Quintanilla (d. 2017) and her realist painting, “The Night.” There are twenty-one in all, yet this is still a small paperback.
Pondering one chapter per day was our practice. Some are full of historical and mythical meanderings, such as the opening chapter reflecting on Bellini’s painting, “Drunkenness of Noah.” The author says “Everyone knows the story of Genesis 9:20-27,” but that’s not true, and it’s good that he then explains the context before reflecting on the artist’s intentions and the viewer’s experience.
Another even shorter chapter ponders a dark painting by twentieth-century Italian painter, Gianfranco Ferroni. The chapter is titled “A Winter in God” by Agamben who concludes: “This soberly, astoundedly profane painter finds the hesychastic [quietness of solitaries] breath of a mystic — almost a winter or a greyness in God. According to the ancient aphorism, painting here is truly ‘a silent poetry.’ ”
Other chapters ponder the soul, being, consciousness, Greek myths and the death of Christ. There are allusions to Aristotle, Dante, and Dostoevsky. This is a philosopher’s book, and an opportunity for the reader/viewer to think/see alongside him.
