Art in Renaissance Italy

With a freshness and breadth of approach that sets the art in its context, this book explores why works were created and who commissioned the palaces, cathedrals, paintings and sculptures. It covers Rome and Florence, Venice and the Veneto, Assisi, Siena, Milan, Pavia, Genoa, Padua, Mantua, Verona, Ferrara, Urbino and Naples. Chapters are grouped into four chronological parts, allowing for a sustained examination of individual cities in different periods. 'Contemporary Scene' boxes provide fascinating glimpses of daily life and 'Contemporary Voice' boxes quote from painters and writers of the time. Innovative and scholarly, yet accessible and beautifully presented, this book is a definitive work on the Italian Renaissance. This revised edition contains around 200 new pictures and nearly all colour images. The chapter structure has also been improved for yet greater geographic and chronological clarity, and a new page size makes the volume more user-friendly.Preface 10 Introduction: Art in Context 12 Part I: The Late Thirteenth and the Fourteenth Century 47 1 The Origins of the Renaissance 48 2 Rome: Artists, Popes, and Cardinals 56 3 Assisi and Padua: Narrative Realism 67 4 Florence: Traditions and Innovations 77 5 Siena: City of the Virgin 99 6 Naples: Art for a Royal Kingdom 124 7 Venice: The Most Serene Republic 135 8 Pisa and Florence: Social Upheaval 150 9 Visconti Milan and Carrara Padua 174 Part II: The Fifteenth Century 203 10 Florence: Commune and Guild 204 11 Florence: The Medici and Political Propaganda 251 12 Rome: Re-establishing Papal Power 289 13 Venice: Affirming the Past and Present 313 14 Courtly Art: The Gothic and Classic 336 Part III: The First Half of the Sixteenth Century 377 15 Sforza Milan: Ducal Splendor 362 16 Florence: The Renewed Republic 387 17 Rome: Julius II, Leo X, and Clement VII 397 18 Florence: Mannerism and the Medici 437 19 Mantua, Parma, and Genoa: The Arts at Court 425 20 Venice: Vision and Monumentality 464 Part IV: The Later Sixteenth Century 499 21 The Rome of Paul III 500 22 The Council of Trent and Innovations in Northern Italian Art 527 23 Florence under Cosimo I 24 Rome: A European Capital Genealogies 548 List of Popes 553 List of Venetian Doges 553 Time Chart 554 Glossary 556 Bibliography 558 Literary Credits, Picture Credits 566 Index 567