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The Medici, Michelangelo, and the Art of Late Renaissance Florence

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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.