"Rich and engaging. This account of Florentine art tells the story of who commissioned these works, who made them, where they were seen, and how they were experienced and understood by their viewers. Includes a useful timeline, glossary, and series of artists' biographies."--Patricia L. Reilly, Swarthmore College "An extraordinarily useful book, not only for teachers, but also for historically minded travelers interested in an illustrated guide to the art of Renaissance Florence."--Evelyn Lincoln, Brown University "Clear and compelling. The well-chosen illustrations include ground plans and diagrams of key architectural monuments and sculpture. The updated, judicious bibliography is a resource for anyone tackling the vast scholarship on the art of Renaissance Florence."--Cristelle Baskins, editor of The Triumph of Marriage: Painted Cassoni of the Renaissance

"Rich and engaging. This account of Florentine art tells the story of who commissioned these works, who made them, where they were seen, and how they were experienced and understood by their viewers. Includes a useful timeline, glossary, and series of artists' biographies."--Patricia L. Reilly, Swarthmore College "An extraordinarily useful book, not only for teachers, but also for historically minded travelers interested in an illustrated guide to the art of Renaissance Florence."--Evelyn Lincoln, Brown University "Clear and compelling. The well-chosen illustrations include ground plans and diagrams of key architectural monuments and sculpture. The updated, judicious bibliography is a resource for anyone tackling the vast scholarship on the art of Renaissance Florence."--Cristelle Baskins, editor of The Triumph of Marriage: Painted Cassoni of the Renaissance

"A comprehensive and richly illustrated survey of Venetian Renaissance architecture, sculpture, and painting created between 1400 and 1600 addressed to students, travellers, and the general public. The works of art are analysed within Venice's cultural circumstances--political, economic, intellectual, and religious--and in terms of function, style, iconography, patronage, classical sources, gender, art theories, and artist's innovations, rivalries, and social status. The text has been divided into two parts--the fifteenth century and the sixteenth century--each part preceded by an introduction that recounts the history of Venice to 1500 and to 1600 respectively, including the city's founding, ideology, territorial expansion, social classes, governmental structure, economy, and religion. The twenty-six chapters have been organized to lead readers systematically through the major artistic developments within the three principal categories of art--governmental, ecclesiastic, and domestic--and have been arranged sequentially as follows: civic architecture and urbanism, churches, church decoration (ducal tombs and altarpieces), refectories and refectory decoration (section two only), confraternities (architecture and decoration), palaces, palace decoration (devotional works, portraits, secular painting, and halls of state), villas, and villa decoration. The conclusion offers an overview of the major types of Venetian art and architectural patronage and their funding sources"--Provided by publisher.

"Many famous artworks of the Italian Renaissance were made to celebrate love, marriage, and family. They were the pinnacles of a tradition, dating from early in the era, of commemorating betrothals, marriages, and the birth of children by commissioning extraordinary objects - maiolica, glassware, jewels, textiles, paintings - that were often also exchanged as gifts. This volume is the first comprehensive survey of artworks arising from Renaissance rituals of love and marriage and makes a major contribution to our understanding of Renaissance art in its broader cultural context. The impressive range of works gathered in these pages extends from birth trays painted in the early fifteenth century to large canvases on mythological themes that Titian painted in the mid-1500s. Each work of art would have been recognized by contemporary viewers for its prescribed function within the private, domestic domain."--BOOK JACKET.

An exploration of the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance that shows us how and why Florence became the center of the revival of Greek and Classical culture Written by a lover of Florence, The Heart of the Renaissance explores the Greek mythology and Christian traditions and legends shown in the great works of art and architecture of the Italian Renaissance. Richard Lloyd provides historical context to the stories of local saints and miraculous works of art, details the lives of the artists and their patrons, and gives precise locations to the city's works of art and notable buildings. Gorgeously illustrated, the book acts as a practical guide for art lovers exploring Florence, paying homage to the splendors of the city, its history, its art, and its architecture.

Shopping was as important in the Renaissance as it is in the 21st century. This book breaks new ground in the area of Renaissance material culture, focussing on the marketplace in its various aspects, ranging from middle-class to courtly consumption and from the provision of foodstuffs to the acquisition of antiquities and holy relics. It asks how men and women of different social classes went out into the streets, squares and shops to buy the goods they needed and wanted on a daily or on a once-in-a-lifetime basis during the Renaissance period. Drawing on a detailed mixture of archival, literary and visual sources, she exposes the fears, anxieties and social possibilities of the Renaissance marketplace. Thereafter, Welch looks at the impact these attitudes had on the developing urban spaces of Renaissance cities, before turning to more transient forms of sales such as fairs, auctions and lotteries. In the third section, she examines the consumers themselves, asking how the mental, verbal and visual images of the market shaped the business of buying and selling. Finally, the book explores two seemingly very different types of commodities - antiquities and indulgences, both of which posed dramatic challenges to contemporary notions of market value and to the concept of commodification itself.

For courses in Renaissance Art. This text offers an incisive and original account of fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Florentine art in its social, cultural, political, geographic, economic and religious settings. Ranging in scope from monumental and public artworks to the intimacy of the domestic interior, it explores artistic patronage and the working conditions of artists in a way that is fully accessible to the inexperienced reader.