Colour in the Garden by Lucy Bellamy
In his Canzoniere, Petrarch evokes the image of the crystal heart as a metaphor for a correspondence between the inner self and external appearance. Expanding on the classical theme of the soul's open window, the metaphor of the crystal heart embodies the utopia of amorous transparency, conveying the desire to cast aside the barriers between interior and exterior, between emotion and expression, rendering love perfectly visible from the outside. Using this image as a heuristic tool, Lina Bolzoni takes us into an original investigation of Renaissance literature and portraiture. Focusing on and taking as a departure point Pietro Bembo's famous dialogue on love, the Asolani (first published in 1505), Bolzoni guides us into a meaningful exploration of love poetry and prose, letters, paintings, mirrors, and medals. Barriers fixed by the critical tradition fall along the way, for words, images, and objects, far from being relegated to their own spheres, refer constantly back and forth to one another, their interconnections woven together into refined and secret rituals that disclose the centrality of love in Italian Renaissance culture and society. Bolzoni's magistral book reveals not only the pivotal role played by a reflection on love in the creation of a new court society, and of the early-modern courtier, but also love's inextricable bond with friendship and the pleasures of interpretation.
Lucy Bellamy was Editor of Gardens Illustrated magazine, the 'Vogue of gardening', for five years. Her first book, Brilliant and Wild: A Garden from Scratch in a Year, was awarded practical book of the year by the Garden Media Guild (2018) and has been translated into German, French and Dutch. Her first book for Mitchell Beazley, Grow 5, has been translated into German and French. She has written about gardening in the national press, including for the Guardian and The Times. Lucy lives in Bristol and has a small, city garden.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781784729349 |
| ISBN 10 | 1784729345 |
| Title | Colour in the Garden |
| Author | Lucy Bellamy |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Octopus Publishing Group |
| Year published | 2025-05-22 |
| Number of pages | 224 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |