The Aesthetics of Marble: Від Late Antiquity to the Present

This magnificent book sheds new light on the celebration and uses of marble in art and literature and on the iconic potential of the stone. With 240 color illustrations, it showcases the marble cladding of architecture, the carving of marble and painting on stone, their political and philosophical connotations, and the de- and re-materialising of marble made possible by digital technology.

Marble is a metamorphic stone that has been a material of choice and a subject of reflection for millennia. Its geology, history, and economics are well known, but its aesthetics remain understudied. This volume contributes to the anthropology of materials, as well as to ideas of labor, technology and artists’ sensitivity to the qualities of stone and its veining. Through empirical research centered on the Mediterranean from Late Antiquity to the present, this book closely examines the artistic versatility of marble in its uses and re-uses.