Although we live in an era when vast sums of money are lavished on wedding festivities, we are not unique: in Renaissance Italy, middle- and upper-class families spent enormous amounts on marriages that were intended to establish or consolidate the status and lineage of one or both of the respective families.
This lavishly illustrated book explores the social and economic background to marriage in Renaissance Florence and discusses the objects—paintings, sculptures, furniture, jewelry, clothing, and household items—associated with marriage and ongoing family life. By analyzing urban palaces and their furnishings, Jacqueline Marie Musacchio shows how families interacted with art on a daily basis. This began at marriage, when the bride brought a dowry and the groom provided the home and its furnishings. It continued with the accumulation of objects during the marriage and the birth of children. And it ended with the redistribution of these same objects at death. Through the examination of art, documents, literature, and more, this lively book traces the life cycle of the Florentine Renaissance family through the art and objects that surrounded them in their home.
Jacqueline Marie Musacchio is associate professor of art at Wellesley College. She is the author of The Art and Ritual of Childbirth in Renaissance Italy (Yale).
Product Details
Hardcover: 346 pages
Publisher: Yale University Press (February 24, 2009)
This review is from: Art, Marriage, and Family in the Florentine Renaissance Palace (Hardcover)
When art historians talk about context in works of art they often give mere lip service and then go about discussing objects in the same old way. This book renders a fresh look at some familiar objects, placing context front and center in the discussion. Indeed, for many reasons this is a book that is long overdue, both for its subject matter and its content. Although scrupulously researched, this work has none of the stuffiness associated with scholarly books. It provides an immediately accessible and vibrantly written text alongside gloriously illustrated images that fully illuminate the expressed ideas. Some of the objects are familiar to anyone knowledgeable in Italian Renaissance art, others are much more obscure, and for that reason, intriguing. Combining these works in artful context is one of the glories of this book. For anyone interested in daily life in the Italian Renaissance, this book is a must have.
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