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162 Reviews works but because it does not deal with the practicalities of late-medieval politics to the same extent as his other works. De Natura Legis Naturae is more theoretical than Fortescue's later works and deals with the moral laws of nature rather than the c o m m o n law, but it is nonetheless an important fifteenth-century text. Its absence is even more curious given that the only available versions of this text are reissues of the nineteenth-century book edited by one of Fortescue's o w n descendants! Lockwood's On the Laws and Governance ofEngland is, then, an unsatisfying book. Despite some excellent editing in some areas—especially in the thorough footnoting —the text is marred by unfortunate choices. The translation of works into modern English, the failure to provide parallel versions of the original texts and the omission of fully one third of Fortescue's major works mean that some readers will be frustrated in their attempt to understand Fortescue. These features of the book fit with the primary aim of the series, and allow Lockwood to produce an accessible version of this 'classic' of political thought, but they significantly devalue the text for those interested in the fifteenth century rather than the twentieth. I would tentatively recommend Lockwood's work, but only as a supplement to Chrimes' and Plummer's editions of Fortescue and not as the long-overdue replacement. Emma Hawkes Department of History University of Western Australia Gibbons, Mary W, Giambologna: Narrator of the Catholic Reformation, Berkel Los Angeles/London, University of California Press, 1995; cloth; pp. xviii, 262; 13 colour plates, 94 monochrome illustrations; R.R.P. US$50.00. Giambologna's sophisticated style of sculpture was disseminated throughout Europe via the export of small bronze statues of famous designs such as the Rape of the Sabines and Mercury. In Giambologna: Narrator of the Catholic Reformation, Mary Weitzel Gibbons suggests that scholarship on the sculptor has been far too narrowly focused on the purely formal qualities of such designs. In this study Gibbons attempts to distance herself from those analyses, exploring instead Giambologna's contribution to the narrative tradition in religious subject matter. She vigorously argues that Giambologna's clear interest in composition and technique did not preclude a concern for subject matter and emotional content in certain works. Gibbons focuses upon the period after 1575 when Giambologna received numerous commissions for religious subjects with strong narrative content. This was a significant change of direction for the courtly artist and is related to the impact of the Catholic Reformation on artistic practice and patronage. In accordance with ideologies shaped at the Council of Trent, the primary Reviews 163 function of religious art was to aid worship and inspire mass devotion. The narrative in religious works had, therefore, to be clearly expressed, instantly recognisable and persuasive. Gibbons asserts that Giambologna communicated post-Tridentine ideology with clarity, but that he also contributed significantly to the Catholic Reformation style. Although the title of the book suggests a broader study, Gibbons focuses on the analysis of one particular commission, the Grimaldi chapel in San Francesco di Castelletto in Genoa, to argue her case. Giambologna had received this commission from the Genoese patrician Luca Grimaldi in 1579. H e was required to design a whole chapel which would include the bronze sculpture of a set of six lifesize ,freestanding statues of Christian Virtues, six putti and seven reliefs of the Passion of Christ. The statues of the Virtues and Passion reliefs are closely studied and their analysis is aided by constant reference to the prevailing religious climate. For instance, the meaning of the rather unusual juxtaposition of these elements in the chapel is illuminated w h e n related to particular concerns of postTridentine theology. At the time, Gibbons notes, a crucial battle ensued between Catholics and Protestants over the issue of justification and its bearing on salvation. The Protestants believed in justification via faith alone, whereas the Catholics insisted on the necessity of combining faith with good works to attain salvation. Gibbons suggests that in the chapel the Virtues (which are manifestations of good works) mediated between the worshipper and the...

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