I can't help but think that the Hollywood Walk of Fame is a less than adequate means by which to tell future generations just how important the concept of 'celebrity' was to the present age. Those mass-produced pink sidewalk stars say almost nothing of the individuality, fan worship or media frenzy that marked the extraordinary lives of our film and magazine heroes.
Wouldn't it be more fitting to celebrate the great contributions from these revered figures by raising a grand and richly ornate edifice in their honour? The pyramids have been done of course but why not create a temple of worship based on the understated refinement that Wendel Dietterlin drafted in his 1598 masterpiece of mannerist-come-baroque engravings - 'Architectura von Ausstheilung, Symmetria und Proportion der Fünff Seulen'?
Bands of enthusiasts could cruise around and grab celebrities right off the street at the height of their popularity. They could be snap encased in concrete and stone to preserve their celebrity vigour and then bolted straight onto the temple columns. Dietterlin's tasteful designs allow for displays such as Paris Hilton and the chihuahua or Princess Di and the crashed car which could be forever entombed at a dedicated fan site. Drive through celebrity worship in a baroque architectural setting - now that would give the archaeologists of the future something to ponder.
But wait, there's more! To come soon - maybe even with some actual background.
AMAZING BLOG!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!
These are great: they look quite strongly reminiscent of the Fontainebleau-school stuff, only perhaps even a little further over-the-top...
ReplyDelete-quite strongly reminiscent of the Fontainebleau-school stuff, only perhaps even a little further over-the-top-
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, that was my first thought. The school is mentioned in the same paragraph but never really the same sentence in ref. to Dietterlin. It was more like his work is touted along with the school as having helped disseminate renaissance motifs.
There is no mention of Dietterlin having been directly exposed to their work (not that that means much) and the 2 points of interest I took away were that the Rhine river - where Dietterlin spent all his life - acted as highway for the renaissance to filter north from Italy; and that (and perhaps this is common sense) the further away from the renaissance one goes, the more eccentric are the interpretations - and that it should be thought of in terms of an international mannerist genre because of range of influences, rather than being particularly associated with one school or country. (I'm possibly badly paraphrasing but the links in the next post provide or augment this assessment - at least I think they do: I discarded many, many links and can't remember where I read everything now)
Hugues Sambin is also mentioned but again, it's more by motif association rather than direct exposure -- this is of course territory that requires devoted books and not handfuls of speculative and dubious internet sites.
[that said, Sambin is a very likely link - as I recall, his 1572 book was - like Dietterlin - divided into the classic architectural orders of Vitruvius : a logical approach for anyone I suppose, but it's not like interpretative treatises featuring fantastical decorative sketches were issued every other week]