Images-within-Images in Italian Painting (1250–1350): Reality and Reflexivity by Péter Bokody (review)

Italian painting between 1250 and 1350 underwent a transformative shift, moving from Byzantine influence to developing its own identity and embracing spatial realism. Péter Bokody's study, rooted in his doctoral research, highlights this period's significance as the precursor to Renaissance art, focusing on artists like Giotto, Duccio, Simone Martini, and the Lorenzettis. The book explores how images-within-images, or 'parargon,' contributed to realism through trompe l’oeil, architectural illusionism, and meta-painting, while also examining Barthes’s 'reality effect.' Bokody's chronological analysis, centered on Assisi's frescoes, reveals the layered meanings in these works and their influence on later Netherlandish painting. The study avoids attributional debates but offers a fresh perspective on this pivotal era in Italian art history.

(Ed.). (2015). Images-within-Images in Italian Painting (1250–1350): Reality and Reflexivity by Péter Bokody (review). Parergon, 32(2), 268–269. https://doi.org/10.1353/pgn.2015.0098