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Federico Barocci and the Oratorians: Corporate Patronage and Style in the Counter-Reformation. By Ian F. Verstegen. [Early Modern Studies, 14.] (Kirksville, MO: Truman State University Press. 2015. Pp. xii, 172. $60.00. ISBN 9781-61248-132-6.)
Ian Verstegen has made important contributions to Barocci scholarship. The 2008 article with John Marciari on scale relationships between Barocci's drawings and paintings is among the most frequently cited studies in the Barocci literature. The 2007 volume he edited on the della Rovere dukes provided insights into Barocci's primary patrons, and his 2003 article enriched our knowledge of Barocci's most important Roman altarpieces.6 Therefore, one turns to his new publication with high expectations. Although there is some new material in the present volume, Federico Barocci and the Oratorians is, by and large, disappointing.
The core of the book reprises the 2003 article. This is acknowledged in the book's preface, although the extent of overlap, with some passages reprinted virtually unchanged, is not really made clear. Verstegen has added an introductory section that lays out the theoretical...