In their introduction to this collection of papers from a conference of historians and art historians held in Minneapolis in 2003, Gary B. Cohen and Franz A. J. Szabo explain that although there are other ways of accounting for the origins of the great transformation of European cities during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, its theme is the interpretation of what they call “baroque architecture and design” as an embodiment of power. None of the essays thoroughly addresses the problem of what is “baroque,” however, and the authors do not concur in their use of the term. The main thesis is moreover challenged by the first essay, whose title tellingly adds a question mark to that of the book. In it Mark Hengerer provides a useful overview of architectural developments in Graz and Innsbruck, two former Habsburg residences. Perhaps because they were no longer imperial residences, these new buildings can be understood only in a very qualified sense as statements of power, as Hengerer finds. In contrast, Roswitha Juffinger's brief treatment of Salzburg outlines the way in which a sequence of archbishops tried to create a modern, ideal city.

A common thread is more difficult to trace through the next three essays. In a paper replete with references to primary sources, Howard Louthan discusses the contributions of the painter Karel Škréta and the sculptor Jan Jiří Bendl to what he calls the formation of a Catholic identity in baroque Prague. On the other hand, Jiří Pešek takes a wider view of the situation of Prague in relation to Wrocław and Vienna: reflecting on comparative method, he argues that although all may be regarded as metropolises within their individual countries and as important centers within the Habsburg monarchy, Prague and Wrocław cannot be granted the same significance as the imperial capital. Jan Harismowicz also takes a comparative perspective to Wrocław, but he contrasts it with two other cities, Kraków and Dresden, that are located on the so-called Hohe Straße (via regia) to Russia. Their sources and modes of representation differed, because although Wrocław was largely a commercial center where conflicting confessions felt the pressure of Catholic authority throughout the period, Kraków was the traditional capital of Poland, which became an ultra-Catholic center after the departure of the court. Dresden, on the other hand, was a ducal capital whose prince-elector converted to Catholicism, became king of Poland, and hence tried to change his residence to match his new status.

The longer-term transformation of Dresden is also the subject of Barbara Marx's “From Protestant Fortress to Baroque Apotheosis.” Marx's essay, the most substantial (along with Hengerer's) in the book, employs many unpublished archival sources and a full arsenal of secondary literature to survey Saxon architectural developments from the sixteenth to the mid eighteenth centuries, effectively manifesting the book's thesis. Of particular interest for art historians is the inclusion of illustrative drawings, ground plans, and preparatory drawings. Jeffrey Chipps Smith's comparison of two southern German cities, Protestant, commercial Nuremberg, and Catholic, princely Munich complements Marx's Dresden. Smith ably summarizes the rise and eventual decline of Nuremberg in the eighteenth century (although before Nuremberg may be described [175] as possessing only rather modest and regional importance, more research could be profitably done on the eighteenth-century scene, including its academy, whose drawings are preserved in Braunschweig). In contrast with the fate of that market and manufacturing city, Munich is presented as rising to power and splendor with its gain of an electoral dignity through its protection of the Catholic cause.

The last three essays in the book turn to areas outside of Central Europe and are less satisfactory. Thomas Dandelet argues for consideration of Rome as a Spanish imperial city, but this thesis seems tendentious, especially if actual artistic production is considered. Although Spain may have provided funds for the papacy, and supported some of its policies, notable traces of Spaniards are few and far between in the art and architecture of the eternal city. Although Velázquez may have painted a few pictures while visiting Rome to acquire works of art for the Spanish king, it is significant that Jusepe Ribera, the most important Spanish painter active in Italy in the seventeenth century, settled in Naples, the capital of a Spanish viceroyalty. The presence in Rome of other forestieri, including such famous painters as Claude Lorraine and Nicolas Poussin, not to mention the host of Dutch, Flemish, and other northern Bentvuegels, is much more noteworthy. John A. Marino's account of some processions in Naples however provides little sense of lasting constructions in that “baroque” metropolis. Finally, David Ringrose's essay on the reshaping of Madrid ignores much of the literature on the actual architecture and urban planning of that city, which, as Jesus Escobar's study of the Plaza Mayor inter alia indicates, began much earlier than he proposes. Discussion (or even mention) of some other subjects, for example the ideation and construction of whole cities, which, like Karlsruhe, really laid out power relationships, might have helped demonstrate the book's main thesis much better.

Although necessarily miscellaneous and uneven in quality, this collection contains a good bibliography; and its essays may provide useful points of introduction both for scholars and for advanced students.