Renaissances: The Cultures of Italy, 1300-1600 (European Studies) - Softcover

Mackenney, Richard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0333629051 ISBN 13: 9780333629055

Publisher: Palgrave, 2004

Synopsis

This highly-illustrated book emphasizes above all the diversity of the Italian Renaissance in the period between the fourteenth and the seventeenth centuries: the enormously varied forms of cultural achievement and the different circumstances that prevailed in various contexts, both urban and courtly. Richard MacKenney examines why the great revival did not touch the whole of Italy or the majority of its people. He argues that, while the wonder and joy of classical rebirth remained vivid, there was also a dimension of anxiety, especially in the challenge that ancient cultures posed to Christian belief.

About this title

Review:

'A vivid, perceptive book. Mackenney astutely articulates and integrates now classic views with new insights into a period and place which, in many ways, have come to define western culture.' - Peter Howard, Monash University 'This is an excellent, succinct and stimulating book, which manages to cut through a mass of literature and present Renaissance men and women on their own terms.' - Dr Stephen Bowd, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK

From the Back Cover:

The Italian Renaissance retains its extraordinary hold on the historical imagination. What began as a rediscovery of the culture and values of the Ancient World came to invent our notion of the 'Middle Ages' and continues to pose sharp and searching questions as to what we regard as the beginning of the 'modern era'. However, what was 'the Italian Renaissance'? Was there a single phenomenon that affected the entire peninsula and had meaning for all or even most of its people from the age of the painter Giotto in the fourteenth century to the age of the astronomer Galileo in the seventeenth?

This richly-illustrated book stresses the plurality of 'the cultures of Italy' and the diversity of the Italian Renaissance: the enormously varied forms of cultural achievement and the different circumstances that prevailed in various contexts, both urban and courtly. Richard Mackenney examines why the great revival did not touch the whole of Italy or the majority of its people and argues that, while the wonder and joy of classical rebirth remained vivid, there was also a dimension of anxiety, especially in the challenge that ancient cultures posed to Christian belief. Mackenney also maintains that, in an Italian context, the triumph of artistic and literary diversity and the tragedy of political disunity went hand in hand.

Covering art, literature, and music, and providing an exploration of the political and social contexts, this is an essential guide to one of the most fascinating periods of Italian history.

About this edition

• Publisher: Palgrave
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0333629051
• ISBN 13: 9780333629055
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 324