Options
The Beauty of Art. Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Walter Pater revisited
Bolterauer, Alice
2023
Loading...
e-ISSN
2283-6438
Abstract
The influence of the English writer and critic Walter Pater (1839-1984) on Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1874-1929) has occasionally been noted and discussed. The focus is usually on the figure of the critic Walter Pater and his understanding of art and works of art. Hofmannsthal felt a spiritual kinship with Pater and referred to the English critic and art theorist in several articles and essays. My article is less concerned with the similarities and differences between Walter Pater and Hofmannsthal in their understanding of art and theory of art, but rather with the impetus that Walter Pater gave to Hofmannsthal’s turn to the Renaissance and to Hofmannsthal’s development of Renaissancism. In fact, Hofmannsthal’s approach to the Renaissance is closer to Pater’s than to the theories of Jacob Burckhardt or Friedrich Nietzsche. In particular, it is the specific notion of beauty in art that Pater sees realized in the Renaissance, which appeals to the aesthetes and symbolists of the fin de siècle and which also becomes the starting point for Hofmannsthal’s reflections and writings. This enduring influence of Pater will be explained by analyzing Hofmannsthal’s Renaissance dramas “Gestern” and “Der Tod des Tizian”. This is a paradigm shift in that the dominant image of the Renaissance up to or before Pater was that of men of power and violence – including hedonism, self-indulgence, libido, corruption, tyranny. With Pater and his studies of the Renaissance – also reinforced by the painting of the Pre-Raphaelites – a more sensitive conception, based entirely on beauty, creativity and refinement, prevailed and would come to define Hofmannsthal’s Renaissance dramas.
Source
Alice Bolterauer, "The Beauty of Art. Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Walter Pater revisited" in: "2023 / 28 Prospero. Rivista di letterature e culture straniere", EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste, Trieste, 2023, pp. 129-151
Languages
en
File(s)