The Italian Renaissance

Thirteen of the most important critical essays on the Italian Renaissance are brought together in this volume. Brings together critical essays on the Italian Renaissance. Provides an ideal starting point for non-specialists studying this period. Includes new research as well as classic interpretations. Editorial apparatus helps students to engage with the material.

Cover Illustration. List of Illustrations. Acknowledgements. Part I: Introduction. 1. Understanding the Italian Renaissance. (Paula Findlen). Part II: Was there a Renaissance State?. 2 Civil Traditions in Premodern Italy. (Gene Brucker). 3 Cosimo de'Medici. Pater Patriae or Padrino?. (Anthony Molho). Part III: Urban Life and Values. 4 'Kins, Friends and Neighbors': The Urban Territory of a Merchant Family in 1400. (Christiane Klapisch Zuber). 5 Sumptuary Law and Social Relations in Renaissance Italy. (Diane Owen Hughes). 6 The Virgin on the Street Corner: The Place of the Sacred in Italian Cities. (Edward Muir). Part IV: Gender and Society. 7 'The Most Serious Duty'. Motherhood, Gender and Patrician Culture in Early Renaissance Venice. (Stanley Chojnacki). 8 Gender and Sexual Culture in Renaissance Italy. (Michael Rocke). Part V: The Power of Knowledge. 9 Petrach's Conception of the 'Dark Ages'. (Theodor Mommsen). 10 Commerce with the Classics. (Anthony Grafton). 11 Isotta Nogarola: Women Humanists - Education for What? (Lisa Jardine). Part VI: Patronage, Art and Culture. 12 Haroes and Their Workshops: Medici Patronage and the Problem of Shared Agency. (Melissa Meriam Bullard). 13 The Court Lady's Dilemma. Isabella d'Este and Art Collecting in the Renaissance. (Rose Marie San Juan). Index.