Sprezzatura Concealing the Effort of Art from Aristotle to Duchamp

Paolo D'Angelo traces the history of concealing art--which Italian calls sprezzatura--from ancient rhetoric to our own times. Finding the precept that art must be hidden from cosmetics to interior design, politics to poetry, the English garden to shabby chic, Sprezzatura is an erudite and surprising tour of aesthetics, philosophy, and art history.