The Power of Images, Patrick Boucheron
The Book of the week takes you back to medieval Siena, exploring the meaning of the iconic 'Fresco of Good Government'. Discover with us The Power of Images, translated by Andrew Brown and published by Polity Press.
Patrick Boucheron leads us into the medieval Siena threatened by signoria, exploring the rich social and political dimensions of Ambrogio Lorenzetti's painting in the Palazzo Pubblico: the ‘Fresco of Good Government’.
He guides the reader through Lorenzetti’s divided city, where peaceful prosperity and leisure sit alongside the ever-present threats of violence, war and despotism. Lorenzetti’s painting reminds us crucially that good government is not founded on the wisdom of principled or virtuous rulers. Rather, good government lies in the visible and tangible effects it has on the lives of its citizens. By subjecting it to scrutiny, we may, at least for a while, be able to hold at bay the dark seductions of tyranny. From fourteenth-century Siena to the present, The Power of Images shows the latent dangers to democracy when our perceptions of the common good are distorted and undermined. It will appeal to students and scholars in art history, politics and the humanities, as well as to anyone interested in the nature of power.
Read more about this book on Polity website !
Patrick Boucheron is a French historian who graduated from the Ecole normale supérieure (ENS) Saint-Cloud. He passed the agrégation in history, obtained a PhD supervised by Pierre Toubert and became a profesor of medieval history at the University of Paris and at the Collège de France.
Andrew Brown studied at the University of Cambridge, where he taught French for many years. He now works as a freelance teacher and translator.
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