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Worldly Goods (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "CONSTANTINOPLE (now Istanbul) stands on a peninsula at the mouth of the Bosphorus, dominating the route from the Black Sea via the Sea of Marmora..." (more)
Key Phrases: portrait medal, ooo ducats, Francesco Gonzaga, Jakob Fugger, Catholic Church (more...)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Drawing from her earlier and more academic studies, Lisa Jardine approaches the challenge of creating a new history of the Renaissance with remarkable bravura and all the boldness required to deliver a fresh and highly readable story of an age we think we know so well. In Worldly Goods, Jardine argues that while the Renaissance was indeed marked by a flourishing cultural identity, it was the material and commercial spirit of the 15th and 16th centuries that set the tone. Commerce and international trade provided the enormous fortunes that funded artistic production, and luxury goods, including great works of art, became important as means of displaying newly acquired wealth and status. It was an urge to own, a ceaseless quest for new horizons and exotic treasures, that fueled the cultural output of the Renaissance, according to Jardine, and that taste for conspicuous displays of opulence characterizes the Western experience of the arts and culture to this day.

That Worldly Goods succeeds in telling a captivating new story of the Renaissance is testimony to Jardine's literary and scholarly success at a difficult task. That her book, richly illustrated and well written, makes contemplation of its subject a thrill is testimony of a very good read.



From Publishers Weekly

Arguing that acquisitiveness ranked among the chief traits of leading Renaissance figures, Jardine (Erasmus, Man of Letters), a noted British academic, seeks to reinterpret the forces at work in an era traditionally defined in terms of the triumph of humanism. Writing with critical intelligence and authority, Jardine characterizes the artistic masterpieces of the period as "strictly commercial" undertakings designed to glorify their owners while doubling as convertible capital. Extravagant expenditures on conspicuous display in the interest of dynasty-building drew the Habsburg emperor Maximilian so deeply into debt to Jakob Fugger, the prominent German financier, that Maximilian was forced to cede long-term rights in the profits from his silver and copper mines in exchange for further loans. The struggle to control the globe led to intrigue at the highest levels-both Columbus and Magellan took advantage of stolen maps for their landmark voyages-and Jardine's examination of exploration and commerce provides a window onto the times. Her extended discussion of the rapidly emerging book trade highlights the role of financiers such as the Medicis, the Pope's main bankers, whose keen interest in profits led them to ensure that even books proscribed by the Church remained in circulation. By analyzing the Renaissance narrowly in terms of the ascendancy of modern mercantile capitalism, Jardine likens the period to our own. The risk of such an approach is to slight the hold of antiquity on the shapers of our modern world. Author tour.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 496 pages
  • Publisher: Nan A. Talese (November 1, 1996)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0385476841
  • ISBN-13: 978-0385476843
  • Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.4 x 1.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,090,572 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Lisa Jardine
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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First Sentence:
CONSTANTINOPLE (now Istanbul) stands on a peninsula at the mouth of the Bosphorus, dominating the route from the Black Sea via the Sea of Marmora into the eastern Mediterranean. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
portrait medal, ooo ducats
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Francesco Gonzaga, Jakob Fugger, Catholic Church, Low Countries, Federigo da Montefeltro, King of Portugal, Aldus Manutius, Indian Ocean, Ludovico Sforza, Martin Luther, Emperor Charles, Thomas More, King of Hungary, Cape of Good Hope, Emperor Maximilian, Pope Paul, Suleiman the Magnificent, Cardinal Bessarion, Erasmus of Rotterdam, Ottoman Empire, Sigismondo Malatesta, Willibald Pirckheimer, Duke of Milan, Lord Nicholaus, Pope Nicholas
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars The Early Stages of Consumption!, September 10, 1999
By Bruce Loveitt (Ogdensburg, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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If you sometimes feel that the modern age is spiritually bankrupt, what with all the conspicuous consumption and "keeping up with the Jones's" that goes on and if you yearn for earlier and simpler times- well, you might find this book a bit of a revelation. Ms. Jardine shows us that even back in the 15th and 16th centuries wealthy people wanted to acquire all the art, jewelry,books, etc. they could afford and when they got carried away even more than they could afford. Kings and princes would borrow beyond their means and die surrounded by opulence and debt. Collectors of beautiful objects would become so obsessive that they sometimes could not wait for other wealthy people to die so that they could get their hands on their collections too! People would even collect books as status symbols. A wealthy nobleman might retain a scholar to travel through Europe to buy the "right" books to add to his library. These would be in Latin and Greek. The fact that the nobleman might not be capable of reading the language in question wouldn't matter for the book would look good in his library. Ms. Jardine has an engaging style and the book is beautifully illustrated. My only complaints are that the section dealing with printing tends to give some obvious historical information which is not central to the books thesis and that as you near the end of the book you may feel that things are becoming a bit repetitious. But overall I found the book very enjoyable!
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The more things change, the more they stay the same..., March 16, 1998
By Jeff Abell (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
As someone who has been teaching the history of the arts for many years, the Renaissance is often a frustrating period to teach. Most of the histories stress the "Great Men" approach, discussing the "genius" of Leonardo, Michaelangelo, et al, as though these dudes had been beamed into Italy from the planet Krypton. Lisa Jardine has finally anchored the artistic and humanistic achievements of the Renaissance in the believable realities of the rise of commodities trading, political gamesmanship, mutlicultural curiosity, and emerging market savvy, making the Renaissance sound remarkably like the present day. Jardine permits us to see Renaissance art in the same terms that the patrons who commissioned these works saw them, which is no small achievement. Her discussion of the relation between Luther's critique of the Pope and the rise of German business interests is quietly brilliant. On top of all this, the book is lusciously illustrated, a treat for the eye as well as the mind. If you think you just don't "get" the Renaissance, you need to read this book, for Jardine has provided us with insights not just into the past, but into how we think and act today.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars The birth of conspicuous consumption in the Renaissance, April 22, 2003
This review is from: Worldly Goods: A New History of the Renaissance (Paperback)
This is an impressive book about the economic underpinnings of Renaissance art, generously illustrated, and rich in examples to demonstrate the author's points.

The main theses of Lisa Jardine are that a "competitive urge to acquire was a precondition for the growth in production of lavishly expensive works of art" (12) and that "the seeds of our own exuberant multiculturalism and bravura consumerism were planted in the European Renaissance" (34).

Ms. Jardine argues convincingly that economics influence aesthetics. In the mid-fifteenth century the social rise of the merchant brought with it an aesthetic of expenditure, and "the art of Flanders like the art of Venice celebrated the triumph of worldly goods." (124) She describes at length the emergence of book manufacturing and trading in Europe, because "nowhere is the interrelatedness of cultural innovation and shrewd financial exploitation of a new market opportunity more strikingly illustrated than in the emerging book trade." (128)

One of the most interesting points she makes appears almost as a footnote. It is the fact that the conspicuous consumption of the European Renaissance is in imitation of the lavish splendor of the rulers of the Muslim Ottoman Empire. "Ostentation and authority went hand in hand; to be ostentatious was an important part of being considered a figure of civic worth." (72) To show one's wealth meant to show one's power. Pursuing this idea a bit further, one could argue that the initial spark for the phenomenon of conspicuous consumption in Renaissance Europe came - as so many other things - from the Muslim East.

The next question would be, how come this initial spark fired Europe's development but fizzled in the area where it came from? This is largely the story of how innovations are made and spread, and how the European 'newcomers' in the Renaissance caught up with and overtook their Muslim competitors (and models). For this story of comparative economic history, one has to look elsewhere, of course. It is not the focus of Lisa Jardine's book - which is not meant as a criticism.

However, there is one minor gripe I have with "Worldly Goods." The book is very good at arguing its case, but I felt a bit overwhelmed by the sheer amount of evidence supporting the book's rather uncontroversial, straightforward theses. For my taste, the main ideas of the book are not revolutionary or provocative enough to sustain the long narrative.

Overall, "Worldly Goods" is a successful hybrid of art history and economic history. Maybe art historians will grumble that the book does not paint the full picture of Renaissance Art (it does not), and economic historians will complain that it does not fully explain the mechanics of the rise of capitalism in Renaissance Europe (it does not). But there are other books for that. "Worldly Goods" delivers what it promises: a cogent and undogmatic study of the influence of economics on Renaissance art.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars A long and dull read
This book makes up for a lack of a coherent narrative with endless quotes. Jardine discusses the many ways in which the trade in worldly goods - spices, books, works of art,... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Sabine F. Schnittger

4.0 out of 5 stars Yesterday's Astrolabe is Today's iPhone
Lisa Jardine shows us that the Renaissance featured just as much competition, consumerism, exploration, innovation, nationalism, and bigotry as our modern world, and concludes... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Jeff M. Brown

4.0 out of 5 stars Wealth and commerce stimulate art and luxury
Although a good book with a valid and interesting point, the subtitle "A New History of the Renaissance" is too pretentious. Read more
Published on February 19, 2004 by Guillermo Maynez

5.0 out of 5 stars Revelatory Reexamination of the Renaissance
Were Britisher Lisa Jardine resident on this side of the Pond, she would be familiar in our mouths as household words, celebrated in print and film and certified a MacArthurian... Read more
Published on November 17, 2002 by Paul Frandano

4.0 out of 5 stars Persuasive, but no footnotes
I really would not have expected a book with at least some academic intent to have no apparatus whatever whereby the reader may take under view the same sources. Read more
Published on September 16, 2002 by Henry Misbach

5.0 out of 5 stars Money and Wealth talk
Lisa Jardine's book "Worldly Goods" is in itself a refreshing view of the Renaissance. The typically structure of the period is to lecture on the enlightement of... Read more
Published on September 14, 2001 by Ian Cruickshank

3.0 out of 5 stars Excellent annecdotes, but could have used more structure
Ms. Jardine has written a very good book, her usage of historical annecdotes to portray the penetration of affluence during the Renaissance is well written and her stories are... Read more
Published on April 22, 1999 by F. Lybrand

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful book with an intriguing view of the Renaissance
This is an absolutely beautiful book -- almost worth buying for the quality of the paper and print and the illustrations alone. But it's more than that. Read more
Published on January 12, 1997

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