The Italian Renaissance : the essential readings / edited by Paula Findlen.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Findlen, Paula.

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

Series:

Blackwell essential readings in history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Renaissance--Italy--Historiography.

Renaissance.

Civilization.

Historiography.

Italy--Civilization--1268-1559--Historiography.

Italy.

Physical Description:

xii, 354 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Malden, MA : Blackwell, 2002.

Summary:

Thirteen of the most important critical essays on the Italian Renaissance are brought together in this volume. Designed to introduce readers to both recent and classical interpretations, the collection provides an ideal starting point for study of this period.Topics covered include the structures of power, urban life and values, gender, family and society, the power of knowledge, and patronage and art. Taken together, the readings illuminate the origins, course and outcome of the Italian Renaissance.Editorial introductions and annotations to each essay provide a helpful framework for students engaging with critical aspects of the subject for the first time. An overall introduction discusses the themes and approaches that have dominated the recent historiography of the Renaissance, as well as the debates about how to define the Renaissance and its relationship to Italy; it also considers different approaches to the 'end' of the Renaissance.

Contents:

1 Understanding the Italian Renaissance / Paula Findlen 4

Part II Was There a Renaissance State? 41

2 Civic Traditions in Premodern Italy / Gene Brucker 47

3 Cosimo de' Medici: Pater Patriae or Padrino? / Anthony Molho 64

Part III Urban Life and Values 91

4 "Kin, Friends, and Neighbors": The Urban Territory of a Merchant Family in 1400 / Christiane Klapisch-Zuber 97

5 Sumptuary Law and Social Relations in Renaissance Italy / Diane Owen Hughes 124

6 The Virgin on the Street Corner: The Place of the Sacred in Italian Cities / Edward Muir 151

Part IV Gender and Society 167

7 "The Most Serious Duty": Motherhood, Gender, and Patrician Culture in Renaissance Venice / Stanley Chojnacki 173

8 Gender and Sexual Culture in Renaissance Italy / Michael Rocke 192

Part V The Power of Knowledge 213

9 Petrarch's Conception of the "Dark Ages" / Theodor E. Mommsen 219

10 Commerce with the Classics / Anthony Grafton 237

11 Isotta Nogarola: Women Humanists

Education for What? / Lisa Jardine 273

Part VI Patronage, Art, and Culture 293

12 Heroes and Their Workshops: Medici Patronage and the Problem of Shared Agency / Melissa Meriam Bullard 299

13 The Court Lady's Dilemma: Isabella d'Este and Art Collecting in the Renaissance / Rose Marie San Juan 317.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

0631222820

0631222839

OCLC:

49226054