Luxury and the ethics of greed in early modern Italy / edited by Catherine Kovesi.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Kovesi, Catherine, editor.

John G. Hartman Memorial Library Fund.

Series:

Early European research ; v. 14.

Early European research ; volume 14

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Luxury--Moral and ethical aspects.

History.

Luxury.

Consumption (Economics).

Italy.

Consumption (Economics)--Italy--History--To 1500.

Consumption (Economics)--Italy--History--16th century.

Luxury--Moral and ethical aspects--Italy--History.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xxx, 305 pages : color illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Turnhout : Brepols, [2018]

Summary:

This book unravels the complex interaction of the paradigms of luxury and greed which lie at the origins of modern consumption practices. In the Western world, the phenomenon of luxury and the ethical dilemmas it raised appeared, for the first time since antiquity, in early modern Italy. Here, luxury emerged as a core idea in the conceptualization of consumption. Simultaneously, greed - which manifested in new and unrestrained consumption practices - came under close ethical scrutiny. As the buying power of new classes gained pace, these paradigms evolved as they continued both to influence, and be influenced by, other emerging global cultures through the early modern period.00After defining luxury and greed in their historical contexts, the volume?s chapters elucidate new consumptive goods, from chocolate to official robes of state; they examine how ideas about, and objects of, luxury and greed were disseminated through print, diplomacy, and gift-giving; and they reveal how even the most elite of consumers could fake their luxury objects. A group of international scholars from a range of disciplines thereby provide a new appraisal and vision of luxury and the ethics of greed in early modern Italy.

Contents:

Introduction

Section 1. Luxury and Greed: Defining the Terms

Luxus: How Luxury Acquired Its Lustre

Dante's She-Wolf: Luxury and Greed in the Divine Comedy

The Language of Luxury in Renaissance Florence

Section 2. Consuming Luxury

'Taste of Luxury' in Renaissance Italy: In Practice and in the Literary Imagination

Chocolate in the Historical Imagination

Vesti bollate: The Italian Fashion Gazette of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries (shapes, colours, decorations)

The Pressures of Magnificence: Senatorial Dress in Sixteenth-Century Venice

Section 3. Disseminating Luxury

Disseminating Luxury on the Streets of Italian Renaissance Cities

Italian Maiolica and Gift-giving Between Women c.1480-1600

Luxury, Technology, and the Diplomatic Gift

Section 4. Faking it: The Pretense of Luxury

Material Fictions of Luxury in Sforza Milan

Cheap Magnificence?: Imitation and Low-Cost Luxuries in Renaissance Italy.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the John G. Hartman Memorial Library Fund.

ISBN:

2503580114

9782503580111

OCLC:

1083187691

Publisher Number:

99980820112