Radke (one of my profs) and Paoletti's new textbook on Italian Renaissance art is an updated approach to the material, with lively language that makes you feel as if you're travelling, even if you're using this book at home. Works are presented by city rather than in a straight chronology. This would be excellent preparation for a trip - you can read about the cities you will visit, and save the rest for later. With guidance, older children and teens could benefit from this text before a trip.

---

Product Description

KEY BENEFIT: A glance at the pages of Art in Renaissance Italy shows at once its freshness and breadth of approach, which includes thorough explanation into how and why works of art, buildings, prints, and other forms of visual production came to be. The authors also discuss how men and women of the Renaissance regarded art and artists, why works of Renaissance art look the way they do, and what this means to us. Unlike other books on the subject, this one covers not only Florence and Rome, but also Venice and the Veneto, Assisi, Siena, Milan, Pavia, Padua, Mantua, Verona, Ferrara, Urbino, and Naples–each governed in a distinctly different manner, every one with individual, political, and social structures that inevitably affected artistic styles. Spanning more than three centuries, the narrative brings to life the rich tapestry of Italian Renaissance society and the art that is its enduring legacy. Throughout, special features, including textual sources from the period and descriptions of social rituals, evoke and document the people and places of this dynamic age. The book covers the art and artists of Italy during the Renaissance–Florence, Rome, Milan, Venice, Naples and other regions, from the 13^th through the 15^th centuries. For Renaissance art enthusiasts and others interested in the art of Italy’s Renaissance.

---

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #285749 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-23
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 544 pages

From Library Journal
This fine work by Paoletti and Radke (art history, Wesleyan Univ. and Syracuse Univ., respectively) is wide in scope, covering the years from 1300 to the late 1500s, and purposely opens discussion to include many major Italian cities, in response to Vasari's bias solely for Florence. Whereas other books are organized by time (Frederick Hartt's History of Italian Renaissance Art, Abrams, 1994. 4th ed.), by artists (Sydney J. Freedberg's Painting in Italy, Yale Univ., 1992. o.p.), or by patronage (Alison Cole's Virtue and Magnificence, Abrams, 1995), this book's essence is the relationships among artist, art, location, and public. Other recent books have used this focus, but Paoletti and Radke manage a more adroit presentation. Primary source material is interspersed throughout the text to set concepts in their historic framework. Appendixes, including city maps, ruling genealogies, and artist's biographies, are constructive. Highly suitable as an introductory text, this is an excellent choice for public libraries.?Nadine Dalton Speidel, Cuyahoga Cty. P.L., Parma, Ohio
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The publisher, Prentice-Hall Humanities/Social Science
"Art mattered in the Renaissance... People expected painting, sculpture, architecture, and other forms of visual art to have a meaningful effect on their lives," write the authors of this importand new look at Italian Renaissance art. A glance at the pages of Art in Renaissance Italy shows at once its freshness and breadth of approach, which includes thorough explanation into how and why works of art, buildings, prints, and other kinds of art came to be. Also discussed is how men and women of the Rena issance regarded art and artists as well as why works of Renaissance art look the way they do, and what this means to us. Unlike other books on the subject, this one covers not only Florence and Rome, but also covers Venice and the Veneto, Assisi, Siena, Milan, Pavia, Padua, Mantua, Verona, Ferrara, Urbino, and Naples -- each governed in a distinctly different manner, every one with its own political and social structures that inevitably affected artistic styles. Spanning more than three centuries, the narrative brings to life the rich tapestry of Italian Renaissance society and the art works that are its enduring legacy. T hroughout, special features evoke and document the people and places of this dynamic age.

From the Back Cover

"Art mattered in the Renaissance," write the authors of this important book on Italian Renaissance art. "Viewers expected works of art to be meaningful, purposeful, and functional, not just beautiful."

Art in Renaissance Italy, Second Edition, has a freshness and breadth of approach that sets the art in its context, exploring why it was created and who commissioned the palaces and cathedrals, the paintings and sculptures. For, as the authors claim, Italian Renaissance artists were no more solitary geniuses than are most architects and commercial artists today.

Unlike other books on the subject, Art in Renaissance Italy, Second Edition, covers not only Florence and Rome. Here too are Venice and the Veneto, Assisi, Siena, Milan, Pavia, Genoa, Padua, Mantua, Verona, Ferrara, Urbino, and Naples—each one distinctively governed, each with unique political and social structures that inevitably affected artistic styles.

Spanning more than three centuries, the narrative brings to life the rich tapestry of Italian Renaissance society from the mid-13th century to 1600. Special features evoke and document the people and places of this dynamic age. "Contemporary Scene" boxes provide fascinating glimpses of daily life: the food that people ate, how they entertained themselves, society's methods of punishing miscreants, and more. "Contemporary Voice" boxes quote directly from Renaissance painters and writers (Ghirlandaio, Vasari, Ghiberti, Alberti, Veneziano, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Castiglione, Cellini, and Aretino), shedding light on how artworks were created—even down to paint quality and fees.

New to the Second Edition is a fresh, open design and expanded page size with more color pictures; a fuller discussion of individual cities (notably Milan, Naples, and Venice); a section on 16th-century Genoa; and more "Contemporary Voice" boxes. The artists' biographies have now been incorporated into the main text and more discursive captions with stylistic analyses of artworks have been added.

A brilliant selection of familiar and unfamiliar illustrations presents the visual arts as an integrated whole. Frescoes are shown in situ and close-up, sculptures are displayed in their architectural setting, and examples of other arts such as intarsia and prints are included.

An invaluable reference section includes genealogies of influential families, listings of popes and doges, plans of major Italian cities, a timechart, a bibliography, and a glossary.

Innovative and scholarly, yet accessible and beautifully presented, Art In Renaissance Italy, Second Edition, is set to become a definitive work on this most significant era of Western culture.

---

Customer Reviews

tons of info, great pics
I lived in Italy for over a year and this was the primary text book for my renaissance art history class. It was a wonderful book with pictures and so much information, I had to purchase it for myself.

Art in Renaissance Italy, Second Edition
I needed this book for my college Ren. Art class and our bookstore wasn't getting it in on time. PLUS they were ONLY selling it for $80.00!! I have always had wonderful results with amazon and trust their speedy delivery.
The books information is extremely indepth with wonderful colored pictures to go along with our professors lectures. I've developed a desire to see Florence and the Or San Michele there. If someone were to ask me about it 2 months ago, i would have asked them to repeat themselves. But indepth on monuments, paintings, cities and regions all over the country and throughout the 12th- 16th centuries.

A must for any artist!
This book is far and above what I had expected. Emphasis was placed on being user friendly, which is paramount with such a heavy topic. Side bars on the inner political, religious, and general public life help to clarify what influenced the artist in making choices of subject, style, and composition. I now have a clearer understanding of why I paint how I do, and why we as a culture critique art the way we do.