The Italian Renaissance

Cover Illustration.

List of Illustrations.

Acknowledgements.

Part I: Introduction.

1. Understanding the Italian Renaissance. (Paula Findlen).

Part II: Was there a Renaissance State?.

2 Civil Traditions in Premodern Italy. (Gene Brucker).

3 Cosimo de'Medici. Pater Patriae or Padrino?. (Anthony
Molho).

Part III: Urban Life and Values.

4 'Kins, Friends and Neighbors': The Urban Territory of a
Merchant Family in 1400. (Christiane Klapisch Zuber).

5 Sumptuary Law and Social Relations in Renaissance Italy.
(Diane Owen Hughes).

6 The Virgin on the Street Corner: The Place of the Sacred in
Italian Cities. (Edward Muir).

Part IV: Gender and Society.

7 'The Most Serious Duty'. Motherhood, Gender and Patrician
Culture in Early Renaissance Venice. (Stanley Chojnacki).

8 Gender and Sexual Culture in Renaissance Italy. (Michael
Rocke).

Part V: The Power of Knowledge.

9 Petrach's Conception of the 'Dark Ages'. (Theodor
Mommsen).

10 Commerce with the Classics. (Anthony Grafton).

11 Isotta Nogarola: Women Humanists - Education for What? (Lisa
Jardine).

Part VI: Patronage, Art and Culture.

12 Haroes and Their Workshops: Medici Patronage and the Problem
of Shared Agency. (Melissa Meriam Bullard).

13 The Court Lady's Dilemma. Isabella d'Este and Art Collecting
in the Renaissance. (Rose Marie San Juan).

Index.

'These are indeed the essential readings for anyone who wants
to understand how contemporary scholarship has recast and
reinterpreted this pivotal period in human history. Wide ranging
and provocative, this exploration of the Italian Renaissance
fascination with the Ancients, God, and strong leaders is
underpinned by a sophisticated appreciation for the fragile
foundations of society in gender relations, the intimacy of family
life, and the bonds of neighborhood and community.' Edward
Muir, Northwestern University

'This volume brings together classic, brilliant articles
that were formative of present understandings of Italian
Renaissance culture. Given Paula Findlen's lively, engaging
introduction, it will be an invaluable source for teaching.'
Carol Lansing, University of California, Santa Barbara

Paula Findlen is Professor of Italian History at Stanford University. She has been the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Nelson Prize from the Renaissance Society of America. Her previous publications include Possessing Nature: Museums, Collecting, and Scientific Culture in Early Modern Italy (1994), for which she was awarded the 1995 Marraro Prize and the 1996 Pfizer Prize; Merchants and Marvels (2001) with Pamela Smith; and Beyond Florence (2003) with Michelle Fontaine and Duane Osheim. Her most recent book, A Fragmentary Past: The Making of Museums and the Making of the Renaissance, will appear shortly.

P. Findlen, Stanford University, California