In this newly revised edition of his widely acclaimed work, Peter Burke presents a social and cultural history of the Italian Renaissance. He discusses the social and political institutions that existed in Italy during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and he analyzes the ways of thinking and seeing that characterized this period of extraordinary artistic creativity. Developing a distinctive approach, the author is concerned not only with the finished works of Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, and others, but also with the social background, patterns of recruitment, and means of subsistence of this "cultural elite." He thus makes a major contribution both to our understanding of the Italian Renaissance and to our comprehension of the complex relations between culture and society. An excellent social history of the lives and culture of the artists and artisans which made it possible for the arts to flourish.

Product Description: The Plume and the Palette is dedicated to Josephine von Henneberg. A scholar of Italian Renaissance and Baroque art and architecture, Dr. von Henneberg’s distinguished career spanned nearly four decades. The essays in this volume, ranging from Antiquity to the present, touch on many of Dr...read more

Compiles biographical sketces of nineteen composers from Johann Sebastian Back to Shostakovich, providing information on each composer's background and commentary on their individual works.

Product Description: For Jacob Burckhardt, wrting "The Civilisation of the Renaissance" in Italy in 1860, artistic purpose and commitment to beauty were defining characteristics of Italian Renaissance culture. Burckhardt's analysis has been widely accepted but little has been done to define the Renaissance concept of beauty...read more

Product Description: Widely acknowledged as a prime manifestation of Florentine humanist culture under Lorenzo de'Medici, Botticelli's Primavera cannot be fully interpreted without considering the poetics that expressed the Laurentian cultural program and, in turn, the Renaissance itself...read more

Sixth grader Jerry discovers two ghostly children, trapped with their mad scientist uncle in the nineteenth-century mansion that was their former home, and sets them free

Compiles biographical sketces of nineteen composers from Johann Sebastian Back to Shostakovich, providing information on each composer's background and commentary on their individual works.

Product Description: Despite the paramount importance of confraternities (especially to males) in medieval European society, scholars have tended to neglect not only the social role they played but also the influence they had on the art, drama, music, and thinking of the society in which they not only existed but thrived...read more

This text is an often whimsical, yet deeply erudite, treatment of Michelangelo's nose as the centre of his autobiography, self-creation and iconography. Barolsky's constant movement to very diverse themes, which are all connected, still, with his central concern, Michelangelo's self-image and his art is very illuminating. Barolsky's discussions of Hegel and Pater on art as self-expression, Montaigne's visit to Italy and his view of Socrates, Michelangelo's gift giving, and the relation of Michelangelo and Machiavelli to Pope Julius II, all take the reader back to the Renaissance notion of the creation of an artistic persona and Barolsky's account of why that culture placed great value on this achievement.

Product Description: The years between 1260 and 1320 saw in Tuscany the flourishing of a rich literary and artistic tradition that signalled the beginning of the Renaissance. This study places the remarkable cultural achievements of those early years in full historical perspective...read more

Examines the portrayal of Ganymede by Michelangelo, Correggio, Cellini, and Romano, and discusses Renaissance attitudes towards homosexuality, gender, and marriage