History of beauty

If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, it's certain that this gaze is influenced by the cultural standards of the observer. After all, what is beauty? What is art? Is taste debatable? Should beauty be analyzed coldly or free from the constraints of reason? With his usual perspicacity and erudition, Umberto Eco poses these questions in * The History of Beauty* , an essay on the transformations of the concept of beauty through time.

Eco assumes that the meaning of Beauty is mutable and distinct from the meaning of desire: "The thirsty person who comes upon a spring rushes to drink from it does not contemplate Beauty. He may do so later, once his desire is satisfied." From this point on, the author avoids preconceived notions of Beauty to review everything that, in a given culture or historical period, seemed pleasing to human contemplation, regardless of desire. Even the ugly, the cruel, and the demonic deserve Umberto Eco's contemplation, serving as parameters for the existence of Beauty.

The book is neither a history of art nor a study of aesthetics, but uses both to delineate the idea of Beauty from antiquity to the present day. In 17 chapters, nine of which he wrote (the others were written by the Italian writer Girolamo de Michele), Umberto Eco reflects on the various transformations of the concept of Beauty not only in the world of art, but also in various fields of knowledge, such as philosophy, theology, science, politics, and economics.

Besides being beautifully illustrated, the work uses utterly original and intelligent language to discuss such a complex concept. Drawing on images from hundreds of masterpieces and a vast anthology of texts—from Pythagoras to the present day—Eco explores the multiple concepts of beauty expressed and discussed from ancient Greece to the present day, drawing parallels that may seem somewhat unusual, such as, for example, between the nudity of the Venus de Millo, from the second century BC, and that of model Monica Bellucci, in a Pirelli calendar; or between the athletic body of the Apollo of the Belvedere, displayed at the Vatican Museums in Rome, and Arnold Schwarzenegger's anabolic biceps in the film Commando, before the actor became governor of California.

It will be up to readers to decide whether the idea of Beauty has retained any constant characteristics throughout these various manifestations. In any case, they will certainly experience a captivating intellectual and sensory adventure. A lover of words as much as images, Umberto Eco ultimately transformed this sophisticated, yet moving, work into the best translation of what he intended to investigate: *History of Beauty * is a magnificent book. A seductive and irresistible invitation to a journey through the realm of Beauty, with the privilege of having Umberto Eco's inspired mind as your guide.