Blessed and Beautiful: Picturing the Saints

Kiely's knowledge of literature and his fascination with religious images come together exquisitely in a book that will be appreciated as much for its analysis of great art as its commentary on relevant texts. The Yale University English professor emeritus deftly employs and intermingles both in a project that took root nearly two decades ago as he visited churches, monasteries, and museums during a stay in Tuscany. Kiely concentrates here on the religious art of 15th- and 16th-century Italy and a dozen or so saints he particularly likes, including his acknowledged favorite, Francis of Assisi. He incorporates as well a chapter on 19th-century English art critic John Ruskin, whose Protestant sensibilities were affected by exposure to Catholic culture in art. Kiely examines, too, how artists struggled to depict the humanity of Mary, Christ's mother, and reflects on the contrast between the worldly life of the artist Sodoma and his paintings of St. Benedict and the monastic life. Engagingly written with 130 fine reproductions, this is a book that is certain to attract a diversity of readers with interests in religion, literature, and art. (Oct.)