French Literature Reviews - 2026
A. Bélanger, Bomarzo or the Uncertainties of Reading: The Figure of Meraviglia in a 16th-Century Mannerist Garden.
Medieval and Renaissance Studies
Anne Bélanger, Bomarzo or the Uncertainties of Reading: The Figure of Meraviglia in a 16th-Century Mannerist Garden
Paris, H. Champion, 2008
EAN: 9782745314871
59 €
Bomarzo is a 16th-century Italian Mannerist garden that remains an enigma to researchers to this day. The reading proposed here draws upon the concept of wonder, illuminated through the poetics of meraviglia formulated by the philosopher Francesco Patrizi (1528-1597). Wonder is characterized by a mixture of truth and falsehood, the believable and the unbelievable, generating doubt and uncertainty. It bridges the senses and the mind, engaging memory and imagination, and stirring the passions. Ultimately, it is wonder that accounts for the visitor's experience of the garden and the effects of illegibility and uncertainty that arise in the mind.
The garden of Bomarzo represents a key example of Mannerist landscape design, a 16th-century artistic style characterized by a departure from classical harmony in favor of surprise and complexity. Anne Bélanger contextualizes this enigmatic site within the intellectual history of the Late Renaissance. By employing the philosophical framework of Francesco Patrizi, she illuminates how the concept of meraviglia, or wonder, was theorized during this period. This approach shifts the focus from traditional iconographic readings to the psychological and philosophical impact of the garden's design on the visitor's mind.
This study is highly valuable for art historians, landscape scholars, and students of Renaissance literature and philosophy. It addresses fundamental questions about how physical spaces can generate cognitive uncertainty and emotional responses, bridging the gap between sensory experience and intellectual interpretation. Readers interested in the reception of Mannerist art and the history of aesthetics will find Bélanger's analysis particularly insightful. Ultimately, the book offers a sophisticated methodology for interpreting enigmatic historical sites, demonstrating how Renaissance theories of mind and passion can decode the deliberate mysteries of landscape design.