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Book Florence and Its Church in the Age of Dante

Download or read book Florence and Its Church in the Age of Dante written by George W. Dameron and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2013-05-27 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By the early fourteenth century, the city of Florence had emerged as an economic power in Tuscany, surpassing even Siena, which had previously been the banking center of the region. In the space of fifty years, during the lifetime of Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321, Florence had transformed itself from a political and economic backwater—scarcely keeping pace with its Tuscan neighbors—to one of the richest and most influential places on the continent. While many historians have focused on the role of the city's bankers and merchants in achieving these rapid transformations, in Florence and Its Church in the Age of Dante, George W. Dameron emphasizes the place of ecclesiastical institutions, communities, and religious traditions. While by no means the only factors to explain Florentine ascension, no account of this period is complete without considering the contributions of the institutional church. In Florence, economic realities and spiritual yearnings intersected in mysterious ways. A busy grain market on a site where a church once stood, for instance, remained a sacred place where many gathered to sing and pray before a painted image of the Virgin Mary, as well as to conduct business. At the same time, religious communities contributed directly to the economic development of the diocese in the areas of food production, fiscal affairs, and urban development, while they also provided institutional leadership and spiritual guidance during a time of profound uncertainty. Addressing such issues as systems of patronage and jurisdictional rights, Dameron portrays the working of the rural and urban church in all of its complexity. Florence and Its Church in the Age of Dante fills a major gap in scholarship and will be of particular interest to medievalists, church historians, and Italianists.

Book Lorenzo de  Medici and the Art of Magnificence

Download or read book Lorenzo de Medici and the Art of Magnificence written by F. W. Kent and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2007-02-01 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the past half century scholars have downplayed the significance of Lorenzo de' Medici (1449–1492), called "the Magnificent," as a patron of the arts. Less wealthy than his grandfather Cosimo, the argument goes, Lorenzo was far more interested in collecting ancient objects of art than in commissioning contemporary art or architecture. His earlier reputation as a patron was said to be largely a construct of humanist exaggeration and partisan deference. Although some recent studies have taken issue with this view, no synthesis of Lorenzo as art patron and art lover has yet emerged. In Lorenzo de' Medici and the Art of Magnificence historian F. W. Kent offers a new look at Lorenzo's relationship to the arts, aesthetics, collecting, and building—especially in the context of his role as the political boss (maestro della bottega) of republican Florence and a leading player in Renaissance Italian diplomacy. As a result of this approach, which pays careful attention to the events of his short but dramatic life, a radically new chronology of Lorenzo's activities as an art patron emerges, revealing them to have been more extensive and creative than previously thought. Kent's Lorenzo was broadly interested in the arts and supported efforts to beautify Florence and the many Medici lands and palaces. His expertise was well regarded by guildsmen and artists, who often turned to him for advice as well as for patronage. Lorenzo himself was educated in the arts by such men, and Kent explores his aesthetic education and taste, taking into account what is known of Lorenzo's patronage of music and manuscripts, and of his own creative work as a major Quattrocento poet. Richly illustrated with photographs of Medici landmarks by Ralph Lieberman, Lorenzo de' Medici and the Art of Magnificence offers a masterful portrait of Lorenzo as a man whose achievements might have rivaled his grandfather's had he not died so young.

Book The Medici Women

    Book Details:
  • Author : Natalie R. Tomas
  • Publisher : Routledge
  • Release : 2017-07-05
  • ISBN : 1351885820
  • Pages : 280 pages

Download or read book The Medici Women written by Natalie R. Tomas and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-07-05 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Medici Women is a study of the women of the famous Medici family of Florence in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Natalie Tomas examines critically the changing contribution of the women in the Medici family to the eventual success of the Medici regime and their exercise of power within it; and contributes to our historical understanding of how women were able to wield power in late medieval and early modern Italy and Europe. Tomas takes a feminist approach that examines the experience of the Medici women within a critical framework of gender analysis, rather than biography. Using the relationship between gender and power as a vantage point, she analyzes the Medici women's uses of power and influence over time. She also analyzes the varied contemporary reactions to and representation of that power, and the manner in which the women's actions in the political sphere changed over the course of the century between republican and ducal rule (1434-1537). The narrative focuses especially on how women were able to exercise power, the constraints placed upon them, and how their gender intersected with the exercise of power and influence. Keeping the historiography to a minimum and explaining all unfamiliar Italian terms, Tomas makes her narrative clear and accessible to non-specialists; thus The Medici Women appeals to scholars of women's studies across disciplines and geographical boundaries.

Book Visible Spirit

    Book Details:
  • Author : Irving Lavin
  • Publisher : Pindar Press
  • Release : 2006-12-31
  • ISBN : 1915837073
  • Pages : 827 pages

Download or read book Visible Spirit written by Irving Lavin and published by Pindar Press. This book was released on 2006-12-31 with total page 827 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As early as the 1950s, Professor Irving Lavin was recognized as a major voice in American art history. His sustained production of seminal scholarly contributions have left their mark on an astonishingly wide range of -subjects and fields. Bringing these far-reaching publications together will not only provide a valuable resource to scholars and -students, but will also underscore fundamental themes in the history of art - historicism, the art of commemoration, the relationship between style and meaning, the -intelligence of artists - themes that define the role of the visual arts in human communication. Irving Lavin is best known for his array of fundamental publications on the Baroque artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680). These include new discoveries and studies on the master's prodigious childhood, his architecture and -portraiture, his invention of caricature, his depictions of religious faith and political leadership, his work in the -theatre, his attitude toward death and the role of the artist in the creation of a modern sense of social responsibility. All of Professor Lavin's papers on Bernini are here brought together in three volumes. The studies have been reset and in many cases up-dated, and there is a comprehensive index.

Book Renaissance Florence

    Book Details:
  • Author : Roger J. Crum
  • Publisher : Cambridge University Press
  • Release : 2006-04-03
  • ISBN : 0521846935
  • Pages : 30 pages

Download or read book Renaissance Florence written by Roger J. Crum and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2006-04-03 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the social history of Florence from the fourteenth through to sixteenth centuries.

Book Viewing Renaissance Art

    Book Details:
  • Author : The Open University
  • Publisher : Yale University Press
  • Release : 2007-01-01
  • ISBN : 9780300123432
  • Pages : 342 pages

Download or read book Viewing Renaissance Art written by The Open University and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2007-01-01 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on the values, priorities, and motives of patrons and the purposes and functions of art works produced north and south of the Alps and in post-Byzantine Crete. It begins by considering the social range and character of Renaissance patronage and ends with a study of Hans Holbein the Younger and the reform of religious images in Basle and England. Viewing Renaissance Art considers a wide range of audiences and patrons from the rulers of France to the poorest confraternities in Florence. The overriding premise is that art was not a neutral matter of stylistic taste but an aspect of material production in which values were invested--whether religious, cultural, social, or political.

Book The Church  the Councils  and Reform

Download or read book The Church the Councils and Reform written by Gerald Christianson and published by CUA Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Church, the Councils, and Reform brings together leading authorities in the field of church history to reflect on the importance of the late medieval councils. This is the first book in English to consider the lasting significance of the period from Constance to Trent (1414-1563) when several councils met to heal the Great Schism (1378) and reform the church.

Book A Companion to Cosimo I de    Medici

Download or read book A Companion to Cosimo I de Medici written by Alessio Assonitis and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-11-01 with total page 659 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mining the rich documentary sources housed in Tuscan archives and taking advantage of the breadth and depth of scholarship produced in recent years, the seventeen essays in this Companion to Cosimo I de' Medici provide a fresh and systematic overview of the life and career of the first Grand Duke of Tuscany, with special emphasis on Cosimo I's education and intellectual interests, cultural policies, political vision, institutional reforms, diplomatic relations, religious beliefs, military entrepreneurship, and dynastic concerns. Contributors: Maurizio Arfaioli, Alessio Assonitis, Nicholas Scott Baker, Sheila Barker, Stefano Calonaci, Brendan Dooley, Daniele Edigati, Sheila ffolliott, Catherine Fletcher, Andrea Gáldy, Fernando Loffredo, Piergabriele Mancuso, Jessica Maratsos, Carmen Menchini, Oscar Schiavone, Marcello Simonetta, and Henk Th. van Veen.

Book Singing of Arms and Men

    Book Details:
  • Author : Kelley Harness
  • Publisher : Oxford University Press
  • Release : 2024-09-27
  • ISBN : 0197761615
  • Pages : 345 pages

Download or read book Singing of Arms and Men written by Kelley Harness and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2024-09-27 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Equestrian ballets (balletti a cavallo), although little known today, emerged as valued dramatic entertainments in early modern Europe, capable of demonstrating the wealth and magnificence of the patrons who commissioned them as well as the horsemanship and military skills of the noblemen who rode in them. Although the horse ballet did not originate in Florence, that city--and its ruling grand dukes, the Medici--acquired a reputation for excellence in the genre. Between 1608 and 1686, the court commissioned horse ballets to commemorate important state events such as Medici weddings or visits by foreign visitors. In Singing of Arms and Men, author Kelley Harness undertakes the first comprehensive study of the seventeenth-century Florentine horse ballets. She demonstrates how these works communicated messages relevant to the occasions for which they were performed, delivered by means of texts sung in styles similar to contemporary opera and punctuated by choreography and dramatic structure. Mock battles fought with swords and pistols animated audiences but also provided visible instances of conflict, which were then interrupted by the sudden arrival of a deus ex machina, who commanded the combatants to instead join forces to defeat a common enemy. The knights then demonstrated newfound cooperation through their creation of choreographed figures danced on horseback in time to music. Documentary evidence confirms that the Medici family expended significant financial and human resources on these one-time events, revealing just how much work it took to appear effortless. Ultimately, Harness shows how the balletto a cavallo played a crucial role in Medici self-fashioning during the period, and that the 250 noblemen invited to lend their equestrian skills both confirmed their family's relationship to the Medici and were provided a venue for demonstrating critical markers of masculine nobility.

Book Transforming the Church Interior in Renaissance Florence

Download or read book Transforming the Church Interior in Renaissance Florence written by Joanne Allen and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2022-05-05 with total page 621 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Before the late sixteenth century, the churches of Florence were internally divided by monumental screens that separated the laity in the nave from the clergy in the choir precinct. Enabling both separation and mediation, these screens were impressive artistic structures that controlled social interactions, facilitated liturgical performances, and variably framed or obscured religious ritual and imagery. In the 1560s and 70s, screens were routinely destroyed in a period of religious reforms, irreversibly transforming the function, meaning, and spatial dynamics of the church interior. In this volume, Joanne Allen explores the widespread presence of screens and their role in Florentine social and religious life prior to the Counter-Reformation. She presents unpublished documentation and new reconstructions of screens and the choir precincts which they delimited. Elucidating issues such as gender, patronage, and class, her study makes these vanished structures comprehensible and deepens our understanding of the impact of religious reform on church architecture.

Book The Power of Tradition

Download or read book The Power of Tradition written by Lex Bosman and published by Uitgeverij Verloren. This book was released on 2004 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book The Architecture of the Christian Holy Land

Download or read book The Architecture of the Christian Holy Land written by Kathryn Blair Moore and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-02-27 with total page 439 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the absence of the bodies of Christ and Mary, architecture took on a special representational role during the Christian Middle Ages, marking out sites associated with the bodily presence of the dominant figures of the religion. Throughout this period, buildings were reinterpreted in relation to the mediating role of textual and pictorial representations that shaped the pilgrimage experience across expansive geographies. In this study, Kathryn Blair Moore challenges fundamental ideas within architectural history regarding the origins and significance of European recreations of buildings in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Nazareth. From these conceptual foundations, she traces and re-interprets the significance of the architecture of the Holy Land within changing religious and political contexts, from the First Crusade and the emergence of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land to the anti-Islamic crusade movements of the Renaissance, as well as the Reformation.

Book Echoes of Women s Voices

    Book Details:
  • Author : Kelley Harness
  • Publisher : University of Chicago Press
  • Release : 2006-02-15
  • ISBN : 9780226316598
  • Pages : 418 pages

Download or read book Echoes of Women s Voices written by Kelley Harness and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2006-02-15 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Harness argues very convincingly that through their patronage of the figurative arts, musical theater, and early opera, the Medici women reinforced their position and their image as powerful women and capable rulers.

Book A People s Church

    Book Details:
  • Author : Agostino Paravicini Bagliani
  • Publisher : Cornell University Press
  • Release : 2023-06-15
  • ISBN : 1501716794
  • Pages : 445 pages

Download or read book A People s Church written by Agostino Paravicini Bagliani and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2023-06-15 with total page 445 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A People's Church brings together a distinguished international group of historians to provide a sweeping introduction to Christian religious life and institutions in medieval Italy. Each essay treats a single theme as broadly as possible, highlighting both the unique aspects of medieval Christianity on the Italian peninsula and the beliefs and practices it shared with other Christian societies. Because of its long tradition of communal self-governance, Christianity in medieval Italy, perhaps more than anywhere else, was truly a "people's church." At the same time, its exceptional urban wealth and literacy rates, along with its rich and varied intellectual and artistic culture, led to diverse forms of religious devotion and institutions. Contributors: Maria Pia Alberzoni on heresy; Frances Andrews on urban religion; Cécile Caby on monasticism; Giovanna Casagrande on mendicants; George Dameron on Florence; Antonella Degl'Innocenti on saints; Marina Gazzini on lay confraternities; Maureen C. Miller on bishops; Agostino Paravicini Bagliani and Pietro Silanos on the papacy and Italian politics; Antonio Rigon on clerical confraternities; Neslihan Şenocak on the pievi and care of souls; Giovanni Vitolo on Naples.

Book The Strasbourg Cantiones of 1539  Protestant City  Catholic Music

Download or read book The Strasbourg Cantiones of 1539 Protestant City Catholic Music written by Daniel Trocmé-Latter and published by Boydell & Brewer. This book was released on 2023-05-23 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Schöffer's Cantiones tell a fascinating story of South-North, Catholic-Protestant co-operation. The Cantiones quinque vocum selectissimæ (Strasbourg: Peter Schöffer the Younger, 1539) are a collection of 28 Latin five-voice motets by composers including Gombert, Willaert, and Jacquet of Mantua. This was Schöffer's first book of Latin motets as well as his last ever musical publication; he was granted an imperial privilege to print it by King Ferdinand I. The pieces had been sent to Schöffer by Hermann Matthias Werrecore, the choirmaster of the Duomo of Milan. However, this was at a time when no liturgical Latin choral singing took place in Strasbourg, following one of the harshest reformations - musically-speaking - across Europe. This book comprises a critical study of the anthology in terms of the circumstances of its assemblage and printing, its confessional significance, and the music itself. It considers the nature of the connection between Schöffer and Werrecore, and why a Protestant publisher based in Protestant Germany would try to sell Latin music that was endorsed by a Catholic monarch and emphatically had no chance of being performed in church in its place of publication. In addition, the monograph includes considerations of the motets themselves, brief biographical details of the composers - including the lesser-known ones (e.g. Ferrariensis, Sarton, Billon) - and a full list of all concordant sources. It will be of interest to performers and scholars alike, combining elements of historical research, musical criticism and - via the transcriptions hosted online - performance.

Book City  Court  Academy

    Book Details:
  • Author : Eva Del Soldato
  • Publisher : Routledge
  • Release : 2017-10-02
  • ISBN : 1351380311
  • Pages : 241 pages

Download or read book City Court Academy written by Eva Del Soldato and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-10-02 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume focuses on early modern Italy and some of its key multilingual zones: Venice, Florence, and Rome. It offers a novel insight into the interplay and dynamic exchange of languages in the Italian peninsula, from the early fifteenth to the early seventeenth centuries. In particular, it examines the flexible linguistic practices of both the social and intellectual elite, and the men and women from the street. The point of departure of this project is the realization that most of the early modern speakers and authors demonstrate strong self-awareness as multilingual communicators. From the foul-mouthed gondolier to the learned humanist, language choice and use were carefully performed, and often justified, in order to overcome (or affirm) linguistic and social differences. The urban social spaces, the princely court, and the elite centres of learning such as universities and academies all shared similar concerns about the value, effectiveness, and impact of languages. As the contributions in this book demonstrate, early modern communicators — including gondoliers, preachers, humanists, architects, doctors of medicine, translators, and teachers—made explicit and argued choices about their use of language. The textual and oral performance of languages—and self-aware discussions on languages—consolidated the identity of early modern Italian multilingual communities.