The History Of Florence In Painting

Description

A landmark, hardcover, slipcased volume that tells the story of the archetypal Renaissance city anew, through its art. Placed at the heart of Italy, Florence was already in the Middle Ages a center of commerce and fine craftsmanship. Spurred on by a few powerful dynasties of merchants and financiers--above all the Medici, but also the Strozzi, the Pitti, and others--the city became the leading force in the Renaissance of the arts, literature, and science. Challenging the primacy of the Venetian Republic and even the city of the Popes, Florence attained a glory that was reflected down through the later centuries of Medici rule. And Florence was all along a city of painters, who recorded its sights; the likenesses of its leaders and luminaries; its battles, civic myths, and patron saints; and, of course, the changing tastes of their Tuscan patrons.
In this magnificent volume are assembled a wide variety of artworks, both familiar and rarely seen, that, interwoven with an authoritative text, illustrate the eventful history of Florence-from the age of Cimabue and Giotto, through the High Renaissance of Leonardo and Michelangelo, to the Mannerism of Vasari and Bronzino, and even to the era of modern travelers like Sargent and Degas. The History of Florence in Painting is a feast for the eyes and the intellect, and worthy companion to the previous volumes in this series, The History of Venice in Painting, The History of Paris in Painting, and The History of Rome in Painting.

Author description

Antonella Fenech Kroke is a historian of Renaissance art, specializing in Giorgio Vasari, and a member of the Centre d'Histoire de l'Art de la Renaissance in Paris. Cyril Gerbron, an art historian, teaches at the Sorbonne. Stefano Calonaci is a historian of the city of Florence. Neville Rowley is currently a visiting professor of art history at the University of Campinas, Brazil.

Table of contents

Table of Contents from: The History of Florence in Painting Introduction Rejoice, Florence, For Thou Art So Great Antonella Fenech Kroke From Dante to Savonarola The Renaissance: The Fourteenth And Fifteenth Centuries Cyril Gerbron From The Republic To The Medici State The Sixteenth Century Antonella Fenech Kroke An Extended Period of Stability Under Medici Rule The Seventeenth Century Stefano Calonaci Florence and Europe Light and Shadow: The Eighteenth Century Stefano Calonaci The Century of Nostalgia The Nineteenth Century Neville Rowley Biographies of Artists Index of Proper Names