Product Description

Nestled in the Apennines, cradle of the Renaissance, home of Dante, Michelangelo, and the Medici, Florence is unlike any other city in its extraordinary mingling of great art and literature, natural splendor, and remarkable history. Intimate and grand, learned and engaging, Michael Levey's Florence renders the city in all of its madness and magnificence.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #288994 in Books
• Published on: 1998-11-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

Amazon.com
The usual tourist group's stay in Florence begins with the Duomo, runs through the paintings in the Uffizi, includes a visit to Michaelangelo's "David" and ends with a parade through a handful of churches. But the visitor who first reads Sir Michael Levey's portrait of the city will find rewards off that well-worn track. The city, a self-styled "new Athens" supported a wealth of artists, sculptors, humanists, and scholars, not to mention more than its share of wealthy individuals, who taken together, helped turn Florence into one of the world's great provincial outposts. Layering telling details, little-known facts and carefully explained social and intellectual history, Levey weaves a dense tale of this charming city, from the Middle Ages to the Quattrocento, through the Renaissance and on up to the early years of this century.

From Publishers Weekly
Starting with the early Renaissance and continuing into the 19th century, Levey has amassed an admirable trove of material about one of the world's most beguiling cities. Levey, former director of London's National Gallery and author of Early Renaissance, understandably focuses on art and architectural history, adding periodic updates on the political goings-on during each of the periods covered. The chapter on early-14th century Florence, for instance, describes the striking buildings of the time (including many towers used as prisons) and the city's increasing organization into various districts before moving on to greater detail on certain important works of art, such as Andrea Orcagna's Orsanmichele tabernacle and Andrea Pisano's bronze doors. Some of the writing about art becomes numbing, not because of Levey's style but because in an attempt to reflect the volume of art produced in Florence, he covers so much of it. There's little about the daily life of normal Florentines here, and sometimes too much space is dedicated to events like the return of the Medici Pope Leo X. An entire chapter is devoted to "Triumphal Entries and Fatal Exits," which, following more strictly chronological chapters on the Florence of Lorenzo de' Medici and of Savonarola, seems an awkward attempt to cover certain works he is loathe to leave out. If at times the detail overwhelms the big picture, the 150 illustrations (50 in color) and Levey's excellent artistic counsel make this a worthy guide for anyone seriously seeking Florence.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
"It is deliberately not purely an historical account, nor is it offered as an outline of Florentine art through the ages, and still less is it a guide-book." Well, what is it, then? Written by a past director of the National Gallery in London, this book is almost a personal tour of Florence, providing unusual insights and detail. Written for "the intelligent, interested, general reader" in a scholarly yet sometimes cumbersome style, it meanders through history and art providing the reader with an intimate view of Florentine personalities and environs. As a general overview of Florence's history with an art twist, this source would be an interesting addition to both academic and public libraries, but it is not an essential purchase.?Jennifer L.S. Moldwin, Detroit Inst. of Arts Lib.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Great resource
This was a required book for my study abroad which I took in Italy. This was a great book, although it is quite extensive, so with that it might be better used for a more in depth study then a simple read.

The book provided a great resource for papers (yes plural) on many aspects of Florence and it really does make a great portrait of Florence. It's a great city and a great book!

Massive, illuminating scholarship - an eye opener
Having read Michael Levey's From Giotto to Cezanne and A History of Western Art, I approached Florence - A Portrait thinking I knew what to expect. I did find the attention to detail, the keen critical evaluation and aesthetics that I expected. I did not envisage the book would turn out also to be quite the gargantuan work of scholarship and erudition that it is. Florence - A Portrait is much more than a history of art in the city state. It is almost a biography of the place, replete with historical, economic and political detail. What is missing, of course, is a picture of Florentine life from the point of view of the ordinary citizen, but we cannot criticize Michael Levey for not including what probably does not exist.

I visited Florence thirty years ago and have never returned. At the time, memories of Kenneth Clark's Civilisation were very clear in my mind and I focused on renaissance Florence, almost to the derision of the rest. Even after such time I found my memories of the architecture, paintings and sculptures were still fresh, however, when I read Michael Levey's descriptions. But his descriptions do more than merely list a presence or critique a style. He offers context, critical evaluation, origins and influences when he considers these - and any - works of art. He identifies flattery or criticism, idolatry or satire where an untutored eye would see only colours and shapes.

The book is presented chronologically. It walks us through the early years of the renaissance and deals with the extent of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in minute detail. Then, as a more anonymous baroque era dawns, the account speeds up somewhat.

Michael Levey also makes crucial and important points about the nature of Florentine government in this later era, an era that is so often dismissed as decadent when compared to the golden age that preceded it. The account is comprehensive, detailed and illuminating, but is written in a lively style which is never dull. It's a book that would be more interesting after a visit than before and would not work as a guide book on grounds of size and weight! But it is a truly rewarding read.

It is noteworthy in its treatment of the baroque era. Most visitors to Florence are there for the renaissance, and this later work is often dismissed as over-ornate, opulence for opulence sake, over-stated, crass bad taste. Michael Levey corrects this view by evaluating this later period in the context of and as a development of its precursor. While reading his account, I was interested to learn just how much those who commissioned works simply wanted to make a grandiloquent statement about wealth and power. So Damien Hearst's skull is conceptually right within the tradition of Western art. Michael Level, incidentally, also pointed out that late medieval and early renaissance artists were often pressured into using greater quantities of gold leaf to endow as much value as possible to their work. There is, after all, very little that's new under this sun.

A Fascinating Journey
It is as though we are moving through the streets of Florence with Mr. Levey at our side telling us fascinating stories about the people and places of the city by the Arno. Anyone with an interest in Florence will find this volume a wonderful companion to the larger histories and art books. We are the beneficiaries of the author's lifetime of experience and understanding in the matters of the Renaissance and its center, Florence. Highly recommended.