Rome

Robert Hughes's 'Rome' offers an exhilarating, kaleidoscopic journey through the heart of the Eternal City, tracing its monumental history from antiquity to the Renaissance and beyond. With an unwavering critical eye and a profound love for his subject, Hughes vividly resurrects the Rome of Julius Caesar, Marcus Aurelius, and the dramatic emperors Nero and Caligula, alongside literary giants like Cicero, Martial, and Virgil. He then masterfully navigates the artistic blossoming of the Renaissance, casting new light on the masterpieces of Raphael, Michelangelo, and Brunelleschi. The narrative continues into the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries, exploring the works of Caravaggio, Velázquez, Rubens, and Bernini, who converged on the city during its cultural zenith. Hughes portrays Rome as a vibrant, contradictory, and spectacular entity, a monument to both human glory and error. Peopled with colourful figures and rich in unexpected details, this book is an essential guide to understanding one of the world's most glorious and secretive cities.