Festivities such as those exalting the court of Louis XIV, the celebration of James II's London coronation, and the commemoration of the peace celebrations of 1749 at The Hague culminated in dazzling pyrotechnical displays. These were in turn reproduced as prints, paintings, drawings, and published narrative descriptions. Incendiary Art examines images of European fireworks dating from approximately 1580 to 1815.

These reproductions had a life and an intention independent of the displays that they supposedly documented. Capable of reaching a much wider audience than the original event ever did, the depiction of the fireworks display could possess great value as a propaganda piece, exalting the principles of monarchy and dynasty and symbolizing the victory of order over chaos, of light over darkness.

Kevin Salatino's insightful essay examines this rhetorical function and explores the ways in which printed records of fireworks displays came to serve as vehicles of aesthetic, cultural, and emotional significance. While fascinating for the general reader, this book will also prove a useful for librarians, art historians, and scholars and students of European history.

Kevin Salatino is former curator of graphic arts at the Getty Research Institute.

This title is out of stock indefinitely. Please look for it at your local libraries and/or used bookstores.

Series: Bibliographies & Dossiers

See: Contents