The Medici, Michelangelo, and the Art of Late Renaissance Florence [Hardcover]

Cristina Acidini Luchinat (Author), Suzanne B. Butters (Author), Marco Chiarini (Author), Janet Cox-Rearick (Author), Alan P. Darr (Author), Larry J. Feinberg (Author), Annamaria Giusti (Author), Richard A. Goldthwaite (Author), Lucia Meoni (Author), Kirsten Aschengreen Piacenti (Author), Claudio Pizzorusso (Author), Anna Maria Testaverde (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2002

Florence's cultural history during the Renaissance is intimately associated with the Medici family, arguably the most famous and powerful of all Italian dynasties. Successful merchants and the city's most prominent patrons of the arts and sciences, the Medici ruled Florence from the 15th century until the mid-18th century. This volume focuses upon the Medici grand dukes, who were at the height of their powers from 1537 to 1631. Under the grand dukes, Cosimo I, his sons Francesco I and Ferdinando I, and his grandson Cosimo II, Florence experienced a flowering of the arts, with commissions going to artists such as Michelangelo, Pontormo, Bronzino, Vasari and Giambologna. The Medici used the resulting buildings and works of art as a means to promote and reflect their political and cultural aspirations within their native city and throughout Europe. Michelangelo, celebrated in his own lifetime as the greatest and most influential sculptor, architect and painter, overshadowed much of the city's cultural and artistic life during the 16th century. His legacy is evident in the designs, painting, sculpture and decorative arts of many of his Florentine followers, who continued working for the Medici family.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Florence, Michelangelo's beloved native city, became the capital of the Italian Renaissance thanks to the lavish arts and science patronage of the Medici dynasty. The Medici, Michelangelo, and the Art of Late Renaissance Florence, a beautifully produced volume based on a traveling exhibition, focuses on an especially fertile period, 1537-1631, during which the Medici grand dukes--Cosimo I, his sons Francesco I and Ferdinando I, and grandson Cosimo II--supported not only the seminal Michelangelo but also artists Pontormo, Vasari, Cellini, and Giambologna. Richly descriptive essays offer brisk but vivid portraits of the Medici and the artists they commissioned, consider the city's illustrious if politically volatile tradition of highly skilled craftsmanship, and assess the glory of Renaissance drawing, painting, sculpture, and decorative arts, particularly the remarkable pietre dure, or hard stone inlays, examples of which take the reader's breath away. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

Beautifully produced...Richly descriptive essays offer brisk but vivid portraits. -- Booklist

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (November 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300094957
• ISBN-13: 978-0300094954
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 9.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,472,769 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From a Critic, July 14, 2005

By 

Earl R. Sutton "earlsutton" (Detroit, MI, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Medici, Michelangelo, and the Art of Late Renaissance Florence (Hardcover)

Library Journal
"This catalog for a show of 16th-century Florentine Renaissance art, which originated in Florence and traveled to Chicago and Detroit (ending June 8), demonstrates the power of art to enhance the prestige, politics, and propaganda of princes. Sculptors, painters, architects, and artisans heavily influenced by Michelangelo were eagerly sponsored by the Medici dynasty to build and decorate their palaces. As indicated in Adrian Randolph's Engaging Symbols, the Medici and other prominent Florentine families used art to influence popular and religious perception and opinions. This book, however, takes it one step further. Twelve scholarly essays show how the Medici were able to establish supremacy over not only the arts but the humanities, sciences, and theatrical spectacles important to the life of the city. The catalog contains 225 full-color plates, with detailed information on each item in the show, presenting a rare opportunity to see a vast array of late Renaissance and early Mannerist objects, from paintings and sculpture to tapestries, ceramics, and pietre dure (semiprecious stone inlay). While lacking an index, the work is fully footnoted and contains an extensive bibliography. Academic, museum, and large public libraries will want this good general overview of 16th-century Florentine culture."--Ellen Bates, New York Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

A 381-page, full-color catalogue, published by Yale University Press in association with the Detroit Institute of Arts.