Edinburgh University Press The Art of Gesture: Classical and Renaissance Expressions

A philosophy of art in contradistinction to aesthetics – a genuine philosophical engagement with the detail of works of art Provides an original interpretation of Rosso Fiorentino and Piero Della Francesca in terms of the Christian political theology Utilises the work of Walter Benjamin to develop a critical response to Agamben and Warburg on gesture Develops the original conception of gesture Andrew Benjamin approaches the relationship between philosophy and art history through the concept of gesture. Critically engaging with Walter Benjamin, Aby Warburg and Giorgio Agamben, by focusing on gesture he offers a novel philosophical intervention into the classical problem of ‘meaning’ in art, as well as addressing the new perspectives brought by political theology into art theory. Benjamin uses gesture to function as the continual point of orientation, allowing works of art and their detail to be central. Original interpretations of Domenico Ghirlandaio, Rosso Fiorentino and Piero dell Francesca show how Christian political theology has an operative presence within the works of art examined. A key theme running through the book is the question of time in the work of art, alongside the question of how art history, and the representation of history in art, are to be understood philosophically.