At the end of the fifteenth century, when the Jagiellons and first Habsburg rulers sat on Prague's throne, the character of the city's municipalities began to transition from medieval to Renaissance. In Renaissance Prague, historian Eliska Fučíková paints a vivid picture of the Bohemian capital during this time of sweeping change. As Fučíková reveals, this period saw the evolution of new architectural motifs across the city. In particular, there was a distinct transformation of Prague Castle, including the construction of well-known features such as the Ball Game Hall and Queen Anne's Summer Palace. Featuring a concise historical overview and a guide to prominent figures of the time, as well as a variety of illustrations--from artwork to archival images, contemporary photographs, and maps--Fučíková's book is a beautiful, enlightening tour through the Renaissance metropolis of the Bohemian Kingdom.

Includes a detachable map affixed to inside flap of back cover.

The volume analyses some of the travelling and bridge-building activities that went on in Renaissance Europe, mainly but not exclusively across the Channel, true to Montaigne's epoch-making program of describing 'the passage'. Its emphasis on Anglo-Continental relations ensures a firm basis in English literature, but its particular appeal lies in its European point of view, and in the perspectives it opens up into other areas of early modern culture, such as pictorial art, philosophy, and economics. The multiple implications of the go-between concept make for structured diversity. The chapters of this book are arranged in three stages. Part 1 ('Mediators') focuses on influential go-betweens, both as groups, like the translators, and as individual mediators. The second part of this book ('Mediations') is concerned with individual acts of mediation, and with the 'mental topographies' they presuppose, reflect and redraw in their turn. Part 3 ('Representations') looks at the role of exemplary intermediaries and the workings of mediation represented on the early modern English stage. Key features High quality anthology on phenomena of cultural exchange in the Renaissance era With contributions by outstanding international experts

Renaissance Theory presents an animated conversation among art historians about the optimal ways of conceptualizing Renaissance art, and the links between Renaissance art and contemporary art and theory. This is the first discussion of its kind, involving not only questions within Renaissance scholarship, but issues of concern to art historians and critics in all fields. Organized as a virtual roundtable discussion, the contributors discuss rifts and disagreements about how to understand the Renaissance and debate the principal texts and authors of the last thirty years who have sought to reconceptualize the period. They then turn to the issue of the relation between modern art and the Renaissance: Why do modern art historians and critics so seldom refer to the Renaissance? Is the Renaissance our indispensable heritage, or are we cut off from it by the revolution of modernism? The volume includes an introduction by Rebecca Zorach and two final, synoptic essays, as well as contributions from some of the most prominent thinkers on Renaissance art including Stephen Campbell, Michael Cole, Frederika Jakobs, Claire Farago, and Matt Kavaler.

A captivating portrait of the crucible of magic, science, and religion at the court of the doomed dreamer Rudolf II in Renaissance Prague. At the end of the sixteenth century, the greatest philosophers, alchemists, astronomers, and mathematicians of the day flocked to Prague to work under the patronage of the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II. The Theatre of the World is the enchanting story of Rudolf II, an emperor more interested in the great talents and minds of his times than in the exercise of his power. Rarely leaving Prague Castle, he gathered around him a galaxy of famous figures: the Italian painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo, the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, the German mathematician Johannes Kepler, and the English magus John Dee. Entranced, like Hamlet, by the new Renaissance learning, Rudolf found it nearly impossible to make decisions. He faced the threats of religious discord and the Ottoman Empire, along with deepening melancholy and an ambitious younger brother. As a result, he lost his empire and nearly his sanity, but he enabled Prague to enjoy a golden age of peace and creativity before Europe was engulfed in the Thirty Years War. "The Theatre of the World" is a beguiling and dramatic human story filled with angels and devils, high art and low cunning, talismans and stars. It offers a captivating perspective on a pivotal moment in the history of Western Civilization. "From the Hardcover edition."

Suggests lodging, food, and sightseeing highlights along with travel tips and cultural information.

An intriguing portrait of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II, heir to the Habsburg empire, focuses on the thirty-six-year reign and the extraordinary mathematicians, alchemists, artists, astronomers, and philosophers who made up his court--including Johannes Kepler, Tycho Brahe, Francis Bacon, and others--and made Prague the artistic and scientific center of Europe. 25,000 first printing.