Reviews
vision, astrology and theology, giving a short
Mary Quinlan-McGrath, Influences: Art, Optics
and Astrology in the Italian Renaissance
(Chicago: The University of Chicago Press,
2013), 284 pp.
Some 15 years ago, Mary Quinlan-McGrath
argued in the article ‘Caprarola’s Sala della
Cosmografia’ (Renaissance Quarterly, Winter
1997) that the message of the astrological
vault, frieze and walls in the famous sala in
Caprarola transmit Alessandro Farnese’s per-
sonal and familial ambitions.
With her compelling book ‘Influences: Art,
Optics, and Astrology in the Italian Renais-
sance’, the author goes further in her interpreta-
tions of three astrological vaults of the period,
ultimately arguing that these vaults (the fresco
cycles at Caprarola, the Sala dei Pontefici in
the Vatican, and the astrological vault in the
Villa Farnesina) were conceived and believed
to physically affect the mind of the viewer
through celestial forces that operated through
them. Carefully researched, the book opens new
ways of understanding intersections between
philosophy, astrology and the arts.
It starts with a philosophical background in
order to understand the early modern attempts
to manipulate the heavens for human purposes
through the use of light radiation.
In chapter I the author traces the ancient and
early modern metaphysical traditions that link
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Pte Ltd
67
but useful background on Plato’s Timaeus and
on his concept of the ‘Divine Soul’, moving
on to the position of the ancient poet Marco
Manilius and that of later Christian thinkers.
In chapter II, Quinlan-McGrath gives an
overview on the astrological notions required
to understand the later discussion (e.g. an expla-
nation on the nature and function of horoscope
charts).
The following chapters are then dedicated to
a more in-depth analysis of the scientific the-
ories about celestial rays and their influences
according to Robert Grosseteste, Roger Bacon
and Marsilio Ficino, among others. The author
turns then to a discussion on general princi-
ples of universal radiation with a particular
focus on the visual and physical power of rays
(chapter IV), which were believed to enter mat-
ter and sense and therefore affect perception and
cognition.
After these intriguing and very condensed
theoretical chapters, Quinlan-McGrath gives us
more practical examples of how celestial radia-
tion affected earth and matter (chapter V), that
is: cities, such as Venice and Rome; buildings,
such as the utopian Sforzinda or St Peter Basil-
ica; and people, discussing the horoscopes of
patrons and effectively connecting architectural
theory and astrological foundations. The astro-
logical vaults enter the scene in chapters VII
and VIII, and the discussion of the images on
these vaults is concentrated in these last two
chapters.
Here Quinlan-McGrath presents to the reader
three case studies, respectively the astrological
vault in the villa commissioned by Agostino
Chigi (the ‘Farnesina’), the Vatican Palace’s
Sala dei Pontefici commissioned by Pope Leone
X, and the Sala della Cosmografia commis-
sioned by Alessandro Farnese for his Villa in
Caprarola.
The connections between astrology and
images are well argued, and the hypothesis
that these works of art were believed and
conceived to function physically on the viewers
is tantalizing. Few smaller points could be
regarded as not completely convincing. On
68 Reviews

more than one occasion Quinlan-McGrath zodiac suggested the 12 months of the year, and
makes the case that viewers of the ceilings the seven planets were linked to the 7 days of
could not understand the images they were the week (p. 186). The peculiar iconographical
looking at, as they did not possess the tools we apparati of these images support the author’s
have now (p. 172, 177, 178), and since ‘the interpretation which links them to the ingredi-
mathematics and messages seem deliberately ents for a brew found in the Picatrix, strength-
hidden’ (p. 172). Having acknowledged this ening the argument that Leo X constructed the
last point, as well as the fact that ‘even a vault as a figure of the universe.
person who knew all the symbolic figures of Concerning the last and most impressive case
planets and stars could not have understood study, the Sala della Cosmografia in Caprarola,
the mathematical essence of these frescoed the exchange of letters between Alessandro Far-
vaults without inside information provided nese and his advisor Fulvio Orsini (which could
by the patron’ (p. 172), one could argue that have been useful to have as an appendix) con-
patrons showing the vaults to their guests were stitute vital documentation of the plan behind
usually eager to provide an explanation of the fresco, and enable us to understand the
the images, as it was a matter of intellectual Caprarola vault as a complex astronomical
pride for the host to ‘show off’ their culture image.
and learning to the guests. Analyzing the three The language is clear throughout the book
cases one by one, the picture that emerges is and complex concepts on optics and mathemat-
quite diversified. ics are explained effectively. The book gives
Unarguably, Agostino Chigi in his Villa new significant insights into the mathematical,
searched for the deepest amazement of his philosophical and astrological cultures of the
guests. However, the quotation on the ‘learned Renaissance, and their application in pictorial
game’ testified by Blosio Palladio’s words, does works of the period.
not necessarily imply that ‘those who knew
the heavens well must have been challenged to Barbara Tramelli
memorize these images, then go home to their Max Planck Institute for the History of
studies and work this out’ (p. 178). This may Science, Berlin, Germany
have been the case, or perhaps Chigi preferred
to put his guests out of their misery eventually
by explaining the riddle of the astrological vault
as part of his plan to impress them. We do not
know. Also, Vasari’s description of the vault as
being alive (‘There is Medusa turning men into
stone, there is Perseus cutting off her head’-
179) could refer to the agency of these images,
as the author endorses, or it could simply be a
reference to the pictorial quality of the fresco,
since ‘so well done that it seems alive’ is a
recurrent expression used by art theorists in
order to praise the ‘liveliness’ of works of art.
As for the Astrological Vault of the Sala
dei Pontefici in the Vatican commissioned by
pope Leo X, the author takes into account the
important issue of the alterations made in ca.
1800. For some of the lost figures, she relies on
Victorian copies of the original figures making
the convincing case that the twelve signs of the

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Pte Ltd