Bearers of Meaning

Rating:
Summary: Original but often questionable
Review: Note: This book spans the 5th century BC to the 16th century AD. I read the portion from the 5th to the 15th centuries as that was all that was applicable to my research.

Onians takes on an impressive task in this book: tracing the use and meaning of the Classical orders from their still poorly understood and greatly mythologized origins, through a period in which tradition would claim that they disappeared, and into the age of their supposed revival. The topic alone is innovative, and many of Onians' interpretations are correspondingly iconoclastic. Unfortunately, these interpretations, though intriguing, often lack substantiating evidence and/or are very broad generalizations based on archetypal pairs of opposites such as male/female or structure/ornament. In his chapters regarding the ancient world, Onians tends to take a rather Vitruvian view of architecture, classifying columns as male or female despite Vitruvius post-dating much of the architecture Onians discusses. It is notable that in his discussion of the Gothic Onians addresses the continued used of ancient orders; however, he remains disappointingly blind to the possibility that this implies a continued interest in the ancient world. As for the Renaissance, I was pleased to see Onians arguing that the early stages of this movement involved not a revival of the antique but a remodeling of the medieval in ancient terms in order to rival the ancient world. Unfortunately, Onians does not present convincing evidence for this point of view--in particular, he cannot overcome the traditional argument that many of the medieval Tuscan forms found in quattrocento architecture are present as a result of the misdating of such monuments as the Baptistery of Florence to ancient Roman times. Perhaps the fatal flaw of the book, however, is Onians' relentless need to find a single theme for each period he examines. Thus, architecture in the ancient world revolved around the principles of masculine and feminine; the medieval focus was on spiritual and symbolic use of architecture in order to reconcile pagan forms with Christianity; and the quattrocento was about "cleaning up" after the middle ages. It is sometimes painful to watch Onians as he tries his best to fit exceptions to his rules, often falling back on single words in theoretical texts in order to do so. I would have preferred a bit more practicality and give in the interpretive framework of this book.

Ultimately, this book is ambitious and thought-provoking at best, but problematic and sometimes misleading at worst. I would recommend it to those who are curious about the subject and want to hear some unusual theories. I would not recommend it as the cornerstone for anyone's research or as a "good introduction."