Titolo «Stupore di sensi»: virtualità e realtà tra arte e letteratura a Genova nella prima metà del Seicento Periodico Ricerche di storia dell'arte Anno: 2025 - Volume: 148 - Fascicolo: 3 - Pagina iniziale: 37 - Pagina finale: 44
The essay explores how early modern viewers experienced simulated realities, focusing on Luca Assarino’s (1602- 1672) writings on 17th-century artists, from Guido Reni to his Genoese contemporaries. Assarino verbalizes the virtuality of images, highlighting their ambiguity and agency. The analysis extends to garden grottoes as immersive, sensory spaces where the boundary between reality and representation blurs, an effect notably explored by Rubens and Grechetto in their painted simulations of animated statuary.