Bernard Palissy and the Arts of the Earth

This is a marvellously rich yet concise account of the life and work of one of the most idiosyncratic figures of the French Renaissance. Quiviger makes palpable the distinctive philosophy that animated Palissy’s experiments in the ceramic arts and that conditioned his unique contributions to the lavish court entertainments of his epoch. * Andrea Frisch, Professor of French and Core Faculty in Comparative Literature, University of Maryland *Based on the sober modern estimates of the number of Palissy’s extant ceramics and on his published treatises, Quiviger’s account ably demonstrates the coherence of the French ceramist’s views on creative nature with his artistic practice, which rhymes so well with many of today’s philosophical and environmental concerns. Highly recommended. * Peter Mason, author of Ulisse Aldrovandi: Naturalist and Collector *

Francois Quiviger is a fellow of the Warburg Institute, University of London. His books include The Sensory World of Italian Renaissance Art (2010) and Leonardo da Vinci: Self, Art and Nature (2019), both published by Reaktion Books.